Washington – The United States Tuesday called for anybody wanting to deliver goods to Gaza “to act responsibly” and work through official channels, as Israeli warships shadowed a Libyan aid vessel suspected of trying to breach the naval blockade.
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“We have urged the Libyan government to avoid any unnecessary confrontation,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, adding that Washington called “on all parties to act responsibly in meeting the needs of the people of Gaza.
Israeli warships accompanied the Libyan aid ship on Tuesday, which it said had been intent on working around the Jewish state’s naval blockade on the tiny Palestinian territory.
“We… have urged all those wishing to deliver goods to do so through established channels so their cargo can be inspected by the government of Israel and transferred by land crossings into Gaza,” Crowley told reporters.
Fears of a new standoff come six weeks after Israeli commandos launched a pre-dawn operation to prevent a flotilla of aid ships from breaching the blockade.
In the resulting skirmishes, nine Turks, including a dual US national, were shot dead and dozens of other people injured, including nine Israeli commandos.
Crowley said Monday that US envoy George Mitchell would return to the Middle East this week in hopes of helping restart long-dormant direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians, saying Washington urged all parties to enter “direct negotiations as quickly as possible.”
One torpedo will make the job!
Act responsibly & go away!
sink em
What a pathetic weak and spineless statement from the appeasers at the State Dept.
What else would you expect from this Administration and the State Dept. to boot……
“act responsible” this is insane! they should turn back, what exactly does this mean?
#4 –what would you have the US state dept say-“we think the Israelis should sink the ship”? a bissel seichel please
And both parties shud enter in to negotiations as quickly as possible lol. Oh ok thell do that then.