Contrasting reception in store

Gaza: The ‘guests' are the same but the possible hosts and their intentions are different.

Both Palestinians and Israelis are preparing to ‘host' the international activists who are on their way to break the siege on Gaza.

The passengers of the Freedom Flotilla will end up either in Gaza, their intended destination, or in Ashdod, if they are forcibly diverted to the Israeli port city.

With a population of about 210,000, Ashdod is the fifth-largest city in Israel, located in the south of the country on the Mediterranean coast.

Ashdod is an important regional industrial centre. It is Israel's largest port, accounting for 60 per cent of the country's imported goods. Over 95 per cent of Ashdod's population is Jewish — the rest are Arabs.

On the other hand, Gaza City, which is less than an hour's drive from Ashdod, is crowded, with more than 800,000 people.

The port in Gaza is the only one serving the Occupied Territories since the Oslo Accords in 1994. It was built to service fishing vessels. Israel is planning to seize all the boats by force and put the volunteers aboard them into tents. They will then be tried and deported.

Israel also plans to seize the aid that was meant for Palestinians in Gaza.

Eighty per cent of the people in Gaza live in poverty and most depend on supplies provided by international non-governmental organisations and United Nations agencies. But they are more than happy to share the food they get with their expected guests, who have risked their lives for Gazans.

Palestinians in Gaza don't have fancy hotels or big dreams or even a clean beach. All they have to offer is Arabian hospitality.

Underlining this point, Kalil Hamada of the International Committee for Breaking the Siege said: "We set up some tents to host the volunteers as hotels may be full, although many people suggested to host some of the volunteers in their homes".

Abu Mohammad, 65, is living in a beach camp. A father of five children, the grocery-store owner, said: As soon as I see any volunteer I will take him home and prepare a meal in his honour".