Spain: Women-led flotilla sails from Barcelona to Gaza Strip

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Partly financed by the city of Barcelona too. And Pisarello, the deputy mayor, wrote a tart letter to the Israeli consul demanding respect for the city's initiative. Perhaps the consul should write back demanding that the municipal authorities respect the rights of sub-Saharan migrants who try to make a living selling counterfeit clothes and knick knacks in the area next to the port. There's a considerable police deployment there every morning to keep them away and the streets are repeatedly hosed down so as to make it hard for the migrants to display their goods. Barcelona's port is overlooked by Montjuic, the Jews' hill, where there used to be a Jewish cemetery. Only a handful of Jews live in Barcelona today. Oh and note the brilliant family name of the woman quoted here.

From The Local Spain:

Some 20 women of different nationalities set sail for the Gaza Strip from Barcelona on Wednesday evening, in the latest attempt to break a crippling blockade imposed by Israel.

"We think that through this act organised by women, we can give more visibility to the important role of Palestinian women in the fight for freedom," said Zohar Chamberlain, one of the organisers, just before two yachts left the Spanish Mediterranean city.

 Chamberlain, an Israeli living in Spain, told AFP she felt she had a "double duty" to denounce the land, sea and air blockade imposed in 2006 on Gaza, which is controlled by Islamist group Hamas.

 It "doesn't only make Palestinians suffer, it corrupts the souls of Israelis as one can't remain human if one treats our Palestinian brothers as if they weren't our brothers." Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from receiving materials that could be used for military purposes. 

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