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Rachel Corrie determined to reach Gaza

More than 100 of the activists who were aboard six-ship flotilla brought Jordan border for deportation; MV Rachel Corrie set sail Monday despite Israeli raid.

International activists vowed on Tuesday to try to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip with another ship carrying humanitarian aid, a day after an Israel Navy attack on the first six-ship convoy left nine people dead and several more wounded.

The Irish-owned MV Rachel Corrie, a converted merchant ship bought by pro-Palestinian activists and named after an American woman killed by Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003, set off on Monday from Malta, organizers said.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen urged Israel to let the vessel to finish its mission. The ship was carrying 15 activists including a northern Irish Nobel Peace laureate.

An Israel Occupation Forces officer pledged that the newest ship would also be stopped, setting the stage for a fresh crime after Monday’s deadly attack.

“We will be ready for the Rachel Corrie,” the lieutenant said.

But activists said they were determined to follow through with their plan. “We are an initiative to break Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million people in Gaza. Our mission has not changed and this is not going to be the last flotilla,” Free Gaza Movement activist Greta Berlin, based in Cyprus, told Reuters.

Passengers on the MV Rachel Corrie include Northern Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Corrigan-Maguire and Denis Halliday, an Irish former senior UN diplomat, and several other Irish citizens.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told parliament he had spoken with Halliday on Tuesday afternoon.

“We will be watching this situation very closely — as indeed will the world — and it is imperative that Israel avoid any action which leads to further bloodshed,” Martin said.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that the ship would reach Gazan waters by Wednesday, but activist Berlin said it might not attempt to reach Gaza until early next week.

The Rachel Corrie was carrying medical equipment, wheelchairs, school supplies and cement, a material Israel has banned in Gaza, organizers said.

Mark Daly, a member of Ireland’s upper house of parliament who had been due to join the convoy but was refused permission to leave Cyprus, told Reuters in Dublin that the ship had fallen behind the rest of the convoy because it was slower.

Passengers aboard it had heard about the attacks but decided not to turn back, he said.

“After having a discussion among themselves about what to do, they decided to keep going,” Daly said.

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