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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jordanian flotilla contingent blames Turkey for stopping them

One of the unanswered questions about the flop flotilla is - what happened to the Jordanian ship, the Noor, that was supposed to participate?

While no one seriously was worried about violence from the Europeans and Americans trying to reach Gaza, the Jordanian ship - which was to represent many Arab countries - was another matter.

So what happened to it?

A new article in Palestine Today has the organizers of the Jordanian "Lifeline" group that was behind the initiative blaming Turkey for foiling their plans to sail to Gaza.

Apparently, their plan was to sail to Gaza from Turkey instead of Greece. This plan was meant to be a surprise. But the Turks would not allow them into port, instead forcing them to drop anchor three miles out to sea. (While they were there, a Jordanian passenger ship did go to Turkey to dock.)

The ship considered going to Gaza anyway, but now the Bulgarian crew's contract is up, and they want to get a Syrian crew now and perform some repairs. So the story is not completely over yet.