Ruwani Perera
ON BOARD THE MARIANNE (Freedom Flotilla/Māori Television/Pacific Media Watch): COMMENT: It's a two-and-a-half day trip from where we are now to the shores of the Gaza Strip.
Onboard feelings are subdued. There has been articles written in the media today which argue both arguments.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs director Dore Gold has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressing his concerns that the Freedom Flotilla is breaching the maritime blockade Israel has placed on the area.
Gold sees the flotilla's actions as provocation, fuelling tensions in the area. He adds that Israel has no interest in a confrontation but will enforce the blockade meant to stop arms being smuggled into Gaza.
On the other side a general and former chief of the Israeli Military Intelligence is calling for the Israeli government not to intervene with the sailing convoy which doesn't carry weapons.
I have been around the Marianne, all 6 metres of her, and have not seen weapons hidden away. The activists here are focussed on drawing attention to the plight of the Palestinians.
It's hard to maintain momentum when much of the past two days has been waiting on other boats in the flotilla.
Planned rendezvous
We have just received news that our planned rendezvous with contacts in Crete were meant to meet us and hand over supplies. Greek police in Crete have stopped the small tender and will not let it out of Greek territory waters. We are in international waters.
Stalemate.
Now there's doubt hanging over the other boats in the flotilla and questions around if they will be allowed to leave.
There's a lot of tension on board and the captain has to make some big decisions.
As well as supplies, we were also going to collect some new passengers. The ex-president of Tunisia and a delegate from Israeli TV were meant to join us. This would have been politically beneficial for the flotilla.
The captain has set a course for Gaza. When we do that is still a question to be answered.
Māori Television was invited to join "Freedom Flotilla III" as media to document the latest attempt to break the Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza and reach the Gaza Strip. Native Affairs reporter Ruwani Perera joins other international journalists on board the flotilla.
Māori TV crew on board peace flotilla mission to Gaza
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
