The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail yesterday from Barcelona, after a delay due to bad weather, and is expected to reach Gaza in mid-September, aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by sea.
A few days earlier, a representative of the dockworkers’ union in Genoa declared that if communication with the activists is lost “even for 20 minutes,” all commercial shipments to Israel will be blocked. In the city, 50,000 people demonstrated in support of Palestine and in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla initiative.
From the port of Genoa, one of the largest in Europe, 13,000–14,000 shipping containers are sent to Israel every year.
At the same time, fears are mounting over a possible annexation of part of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, occupied since 1967, as Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the annexation of 82% of the West Bank, saying it was the “appropriate response” to the imminent recognition of the State of Palestine by a growing number of Western countries.
At present, 147 of the 193 UN member states recognize the State of Palestine. Since late July, five more countries have announced they will recognize it in September, some under conditions: France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and most recently, Belgium.
What is fyi.news?
