The organizers of the vessel Freedom have asserted the right of 'innocent passage' guaranteed under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 and called upon international authorities to protect the small yacht.
I leave untouched, for now, the claim of Israel that the seizure of Al Awda was without incident but I cannot refrain from commenting that Israel has learnt well from those that gifted Palestine to them for their 'homeland'. The British are past master at 'drawing a line in the sand' and carving up nations, replacing large entities with smaller ones, easier to control and dominate. That is what Israel is doing in international waters, drawing lines that other vessels belonging to other nations cannot cross.
And that is what it has done in Gaza. Within Gaza, which it claims is no longer Israeli territory, it has set up a three-mile-deep 'security zone' running the entire length of the border between Gaza and Israel, a zone that no Gazan can enter without risking being shot dead by Israeli forces while still in Gaza!
Lines have been drawn by Israel even in the West Bank, carving it into small ghettos that cannot be entered or left by Palestinians without permission from checkpoints set up by Israel!
As for Israeli Navy's threat that it would use 'any measures necessary' to stop ships in international waters, the only 'necessary measures' would be to end the blockade of Gaza.
From what is known, one cannot but conclude that it was Israel that was violating international law by intercepting and seizing a ship in international waters.
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