Chamblee54

There is doubt that the aid flotilla to Gaza will take place. The Greek government is blocking the ships from leaving. The US vessel Audacity of Hope set sail, but was turned back by the Greek Coast Guard.
WitnessGaza has an interactive map showing the location of seven ships: Stefano Chiarim, Louise Michel, Audacity of Hope, Juliano, Guernika, Tahrir, Saboteret. A Swedish news site has this report: Earlier this summer the Swedish Ship to Gaza group reported damage to their boat Juliano, while berthed in Piraeus harbour in Greece. The Israeli government later rejected the claims of the Swedish Ship to Gaza movement that “foreign agents” had sabotaged their boat, calling it a ‘James Bond-esque’ insinuation, with no bearing on reality.
The second part of this feature is a repost from two years ago. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
A boat carrying supplies to Gaza was stopped by Israel. Cynthia McKinney was taken into custody. In a telephone statement, Miss McKinney said : “…I had a suitcase full of crayons for children…My cellmates came to the Holy Land so they could be free from the exigencies of superpower politics… “
As the fishwrapper tells the tale, Miss McKinney was offered a quick release if she would sign a statement. According to her mother, Leola McKinney, the statement was written in Hebrew.  The story also has this tidbit: “Israeli officials blame Cynthia McKinney and her group for the controversy, saying they were looking for confrontation to attract publicity. The officials note that Palestinian Authority and the rest of the international community had agreed to the off-shore blockade to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.”
A google search of “officials note that Palestinian Authority and the rest of the international community had agreed to the off-shore blockade to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza” did not yield the text of a statement by “Israeli officials”. Nor did it shed any light on an “international community agreement”. The ding ding ding you hear is a BS detector.
A google search for “palestinian authority agrees to blockade of Gaza” yields little except confusion. There is an article which says : “Hamas Saturday accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of supporting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip in a bid to weaken the Islamic movement which controls the territory.” The PA denies the charges, and says Hamas is playing politics. Ding, ding, ding.
What sort of government agrees to a blockade of its own people? What “international Community” has the authority to say it is OK? Even if the “international community” (or, for Cynthia McKinney, the intergalactic community) does agree to it, a blockade is an act of war. The suffering in Gaza continues, and that is the other certainty in this story.