International Athletes Might Join Freedom Flotilla 2

Local Editor

The European campaign to End the siege on Gaza (ECESG) revealed that it will soon make contacts with a number of well-known international athletes, particularly in Europe, to explore the possibility of their participation in Freedom Flotilla 2.

Iker Casillas, Spanish goalkeeper who wrested the 2010 World Cup on the national squad, and his countryman and world's top tennis player, Rafael Nadal, according to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), expressed their interest to participate in the Flotilla.

Freedom Flotilla 2 is scheduled to sail to the Gaza Strip by the end of September.

Rami Abdo, a member of the campaign, reiterated in a statement from Paris on Wednesday that a number of athletes expressed interest in participating in Freedom Flotilla 2, and that the European campaign will make during the next few days a series of phone calls in France and Spain with a number of well-known athletes, such as Casillas and Nadal.

Abdo said that communications will be done in secrecy, especially since "Israel" has already pressured European countries to prohibit their citizens from involvement in the flotilla.

Al Hayat Lebanese daily quoted Casillas as saying that he would not attend World Cup championship celebrations in Madrid, expressing his sorrow for what is happening in Gaza.

As for Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, he condemned "Israel's" 2008-2009 attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The campaign said that more than 35 news organizations have requested to participate in Freedom Flotilla 2, in an attempt to provide unprecedented news coverage to detect "Israeli" follies against international peace activists.

"Israel" put the Gaza blockade into effect in mid-June 2007, reinforcing the restrictions it had already put in place. Ever since, the siege has deprived the 1.5 million Gazans of food, fuel and other life's basic necessities.