Antalya: An offer by Israel to accept Gaza-bound aid via its own ports was rejected by the organisers of the Freedom Flotilla on Monday.
It emerged late on Monday that Israel had offered the Freedom Flotilla the option of bringing the 10,000 tonnes of aid to its port of Ashdod instead of sailing to Gaza and breaching Israel's blockade.
The offer was rejected by the organisers, the most prominent of whom is the Turkish charity IHH. "We know how they [Israel] have behaved in the past," said Bulent Yildirim, president of IHH. "Why would we believe them?"
Much of the aid that the flotilla is carrying appears on Israel's list of goods that are banned from entering the strip, such as building material.
It is believed that the Israeli authorities contacted Turkish officials about the offer, who relayed it to the flotilla organisers.
The move is also an indication of the depth of official Turkish involvement in the campaign.
Secret warning
Some of the ships are registered in Turkey and are flying Turkish flags.
Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Turkey had secretly warned Israel against barring the ships from entering Gaza.
After its offer was spurned, Israeli is said to have turned to the government of Egypt, discussing with it the possibility of bringing the shipments to the Egyptian port of Arish. That offer, too, was rejected. The flotilla now ranks highly on Israel's agenda as the media across the world and in Israel pick up on the story.
Israel's foreign ministry has deployed employees to scan social networking sites like twitter in order to present its own stand on Gaza. The ministry's twitter account has been posting 20 to 30 tweets an hour almost exclusively on the flotilla.
Yildirim told passengers to be ready for a smear campaign by Israel which would focus on selling the story that the flotilla was an effort to strengthen Hamas, which rules Gaza.
"Remember, we are only here to help the Palestinian people, and do not sway towards any group," he said.
Yildirim urged participants to respect people from other religions on the ship, including Jews and Christians. He said all of them stood "shoulder to shoulder" for the sake of Palestinians.
Ships leaving from Turkey had 2,100 tonnes of cement, 750 tonnes of iron, 50 tonnes of marble, 98 generators, 90 prefabricated homes, 16 full playgrounds and textiles.
