JERUSALEM — Iran said Tuesday that it would send a blockade-busting ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza, fueling concern in Israel, where commandos were training for another possible confrontation at sea.
Israel warned Iran to drop the plan. The Iranian announcement came days after Israel eased its 3-year-old blockade of Gaza under international pressure after its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month.
“No one in their right mind can believe that a ship sent by the ayatollahs and their Revolutionary Guards has anything to do with humanitarian aid,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “I don’t think there is one single country in this region and beyond that would let such an ayatollahship come near its coasts.”
Security officials said the prospect of an Iranian boat headed for Gaza had Israel deeply worried, and naval commandos were training for the possibility of taking on a vessel with a suicide bomber onboard. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose operational details.
After an international outcry over the killing of nine Turkish activists in a May 31 raid, Israel eased its land blockade of Gaza but insisted on maintaining a naval blockade it says is necessary to keep weapons shipments out of the hands of Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, with its violently anti-Israel agenda, overran the Palestinian territory in June 2007.
Iran’s state television reported that an Iranian ship called Infants of Gaza would sail Sunday for Gaza carrying 1,100 tons of relief supplies and 10 pro-Palestinian activists.
Israel considers Iran the most serious threat because of its suspect nuclear program, its long-range missiles and its support for Lebanese and Gaza militants.
The Iranian ship is one of several that activists say will head for Gaza in the next few months. One is said to be heading for Gaza from Lebanon within days.
International Mideast envoy Tony Blair has been at the forefront of global efforts to ease the Israeli blockade, and on Tuesday, he told Gaza businessmen and civic leaders that he expected the amount of goods entering Gaza to nearly triple within weeks. Gazans say they need far more than that.
Construction materials desperately needed to rebuild after Israel’s offensive against Hamas 17 months ago have been largely barred because Israel said militants could use them to build bunkers.
The majority of Gaza’s 1.5 million people have been trapped in their tiny territory for three years, and a ban on trade wiped out tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister criticized on Tuesday a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes to make room for an Israeli tourist center in disputed east Jerusalem after the U.S. expressed concern that the project could incite violence.
A Jerusalem municipal body approved the plan on Monday for shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community center on the site next to the walled Old City where some say the biblical King David wrote his psalms.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is in the U.S. for talks with the Obama administration, said Jerusalem officials “are not displaying common sense or good timing, and not for the first time.”
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s office rejected Barak’s criticism, saying the plan would rehabilitate a neglected section of the city and that he wants to build thousands of apartments for Arab residents. The plan still faces additional stages of approval and inevitable court challenges.
Information for this article was contributed by Karin Laub, Nasser Karimi, Aron Heller and Jamal Halaby of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 06/23/2010