The Gaza-bound Juliano ship left Greece yesterday (Wednesday, July 6) afternoon, after suffering huge delays due in part to a ban set by Athens on the departure of flotilla ships from its ports. On board the ship are 20 activists. Last week flotilla organizers said that Israel had sabotaged the ship in an attempt to prevent it from sailing.

“We are at sea,” Israeli peace activist Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, told Israeli press. “All roads lead to Gaza. It will be a small but high-quality flotilla.”

Dror Feiler (Photo: Al Ittihad)

According to Feiler: “At this point I can only say that after a lengthy battle we finally succeeded in departing. The Greeks gave us a lot of trouble, but we met all of their conditions and they couldn’t hold us any longer,” he said. “It was like David versus Goliath.”  Feiler also lamented the fact that a Swiss company in Greece had reneged on a deal to provide cement for the people of Gaza.

“They gave us our money back, said they had been pressured and that they could not hold up their end of the deal,” he said, adding that the flotilla organizers plan to sue the company.

The Swiss company that had sold cement to peace activists planning to sail to Gaza as part of an international aid flotilla said Wednesday that due to “force majeure,” it had decided to cancel the deal.  Interbulk has sold the Swedish delegation some 3,000 tons of cement, which were meant to be transferred to Gaza.