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'We won't give up - we will return': Mankell

Published: 8 Jul 11 07:09 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/34808/20110708/

Swedish bestselling crime author Henning Mankell slammed Greece for blocking the aid flotilla to Gaza as some of Sweden's pro-Palestinian activists returned home on Thursday.

"That we were not able to leave (for Gaza) has to do with the fact that the
Greek government has sold its soul for a silver coin," the 63-year-old writer, who was taking part in the flotilla, told reporters at the airport in Sweden's second-largest city Gothenburg.

Greece, he was quoted by the TT news agency as saying, "has given in to
Israeli threats, to American threats and didn't let us leave, which is of
course a scandal."

"But we will come back. We won't give up," he added.

The author of the popular Kurt Wallander detective series had already returned from Greece, but was at the airport to welcome his fellow activists from Ship to Gaza's Swedish branch.

Mankell, whose books have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and
have been adapted to film and television, was on board a vessel seized by the Israeli army last year.

This year, Greece thwarted the hopes of a 10-boat flotilla aiming to reach Gaza by imposing a ban on any ships setting sail from Greece in an attempt to run the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.

Officials in Athens say they imposed the ban for the "safety" of the activists on board in the wake of last year's bloody showdown when Israeli commandos raided a six-ship flotilla in a confrontation that left nine Turkish activists dead.

More than 300 activists from 22 countries had signed up to participate in this year's flotilla, among them dozens of middle-aged and elderly Americans and Europeans.

Israel has made no secret of its determination to prevent the Freedom Flotilla II from reaching Gaza, which has been under a blockade since 2006 after militants there snatched an Israeli soldier who is still being held at a secret location.

Earlier this summer the Swedish Ship to Gaza group reported damage to their boat Juliano, while berthed in Piraeus harbour in Greece.

The Israeli government later rejected the claims of the Swedish Ship to Gaza movement that "foreign agents" had sabotaged their boat, calling it a ‘James Bond-esque’ insinuation, with no bearing on reality.

On Wednesday, Juliano finally set sail from its berth in the Greek harbour of Piraeus - not towards Gaza, but to Palea Fokea, a small coastal town south of Athens.

According to Ship to Gaza Sweden, Juliano - along with those activists that have chosen to stay - will now wait in a mediterranean port for the rest of the flotilla to be released.

Those that have returned home are all ready to head out again and start the journey towards Gaza if the opportunity will arise, according to a Ship to Gaza statement.

"No blockade in the history of mankind has survived forever.... No people
can accept oppression. Sooner or later, Israel will experience the same thing that happened to the South African apartheid system," Mankell said, according to AFP..

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.se)

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10:38 July 8, 2011 by nukeiran
Can someone please explain to me, how come nobody is even thinking about doing the same for the Syrien people? 20 people murderd every day! (from what actually gets out)

And nothing!

Mankell and co. will never realize how anti-semitic they really are. They just don't get it.
10:39 July 8, 2011 by donutwallah
A top writer, but sadly deluded.
12:06 July 8, 2011 by krrodman
Be honest Mankell! The flotilla wasn't stopped by Israel/Greece. The flotilla was stopped by Turkey. The flotilla was designed to focus negative attention on Israel., and in so doing shift the focus of attention away from all of the negative things happening in Syria and Iran. The plight of the Palestinians is a canard. They can get all of the aid that they need through Egypt.

Turkey correctly recognized that the Syrian/Iranian incursion into the eastern Mediterranean had to be stopped. Once Turkey withdrew support for the flotilla, it was dead in the water.
13:37 July 8, 2011 by glamshek
@krrodman

How many more Palestinians do you wanna kill ? What is their crime ? Just that they are asking for their homeland to be free of Zionists ? Daily they are being butchered , killed, raped, slaughtred but you are still thinking that Israel is ok .. what a senseless man you are.
14:30 July 8, 2011 by MC7669
Hi Mankell.....whatZup? Mankell .....wake up... you can take the boat to Ethiopia to protest for the release of the two journalists arrested...... there you will learn how the Israelis were so nice with you compered to the Ethiopians!!!! How about Syria??? you are afraid?! The Syrians will not even let you in one second ......Mankell wake up!!! wake up.....
14:39 July 8, 2011 by glamshek
In Syria, there is a ray of hope in the shape of Bashar al Assad. He is the only one Arab leader who speaks up straight and is out of the shackle of Israel and USA and Saudi zions. Why don't people bother about Bahrain ?? Just coz US got its military station there? Down with Israel, Down with USA
15:13 July 8, 2011 by MichaelZWilliamson
That reminds me, I need to send more ammo to the IDF.

So many idiots, so few bulldozers.
15:23 July 8, 2011 by Shapronn
Funny, you can so easily tell who is an anti-Semite by their comments.
15:37 July 8, 2011 by prince T
Who cares about what mankell thinks. The comments i have read here shows that flotila is about tarnishing the image of Israel and hlping the Palestines. Palestines get billions in aids every year. Most of the money goesnin to manufacturing bombs.
15:40 July 8, 2011 by guliver
Glamshek

An untruth and wrong picture as the IDF is butcher,kill,rape ,slaughter Palestinians.

Gaza was evacuated from settlers and army since Ariel Sharon was in power,since then Hamas keep promise to destroy our land and we suffer allready 9 years from shelling on our villages in the Israeli side inside the international border with Gaza.Sderot,Netivot,Kfar Aza,Nirim,Zikim ,Saad,Erez,Yad Mordechai, Ashkelon a,Ashdod and Beer Sheva,the farmers can not go many days to work in he fields and many houses were damage , in Sderot a 12 years old boy lost his legs by bomb,in Ashdod a 35 old woman was killed in the park while walking, in Saad they fired an anti tank missile on school bus killed 14 years old boy,

idf react when the soldiers or our villages are under attack.

We recognized the two states solution allready on 29.11.47 with decision 181 of the UN on the division of Palestine in 2 states a Jewish one and an Palestinian one,the arabs rejected that decision for 63 years and open a repeated wars in order to eliminate us:1948,1967,1973 ,It is famous the 3 no of Gamal Abdel Nasser the President of Eygpt:No to recognize Israel,No to peace with Israel,No to cease fire with Israel,After the arabs failled to eliminate us with wars they went on to attack us with terrorists acts: in the streets, in the buses,in cinema, in restaurants,in airplanes and abroad but they failled also with those actions,then after 63 years of hostility Eygpt and Jordan understood that violance will not resolve the issue but just talks and peace treaty so we signed peace with this countries and as Sadat the President of Eygpt said :we got all our land back without shoting a single shot, and the same was with Jordan.

Then Arafat came and there was Oslo agreement,with Oslo agreement we came back to the same UN decision from 29.11.47 which we had accepted-2 states living side by side in peace, then Rabin was murded and Barak went on with talks first in Camp David and after in Eilat ,the parties were very very close to a 2 states solution,that wrote Bill Clinton in his memory book, but then Arafat insisted on immediate evacuation of the occupied territory but Barak ageed just to step by step evacuation after the Eygptian peace treaty model...

Short after that Arafat broke the negotiation and opened the armed first Intifada hope to convince the world and Israel to accept an immediate withdrown,

This was the second big mistake of the Palestinians after the mistake of rejecting the UN decision from 29.11.47..followedyears of terrorism with many civilians killed both sides without bringing any solution to the palestinian people,
15:47 July 8, 2011 by millionmileman
Henning Mankell seems to think he is Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with his "I shall return parody".

The fact that these clowns are only trying to create an event with Israel when hundred are being slaughtered in Syria shows their contempt for the truth and the left-wing built in bias.

From January 2009 until June 2010 Israel delivered to Gaza over 1.2 million tons of supplies and 135 million litres of fuel. This was accomplish by an endless convoy of mainly Swedish Scania and Volvo trucks. Yes the Israelis love Swedish vehicles.

Well here is my contempt, to these fools on ships. Enjoy this spoof parody: "The Audacity of Dopes"

named after the US Ship and Barack Hussain Obama's caustic book.

http://youtu.be/Y5CsGViY5JQ
16:21 July 8, 2011 by krrodman
@glamshek

Do you shed the same tears for the innocent Syrians and Iranians being slaughtered by their own governments as you do for the Palestinians? Do you have the same anger for Assad and Ahmadinejad as you do for Netenyahu?

In fact because of your myopic view you missed my point entirely. The flotilla and the plight of the Palestinians is but a very small part of a much larger geopolitical game. The Turks, a Muslim country, pulled the plug on the flotilla to counter a much greater threat, the incursion of Iran into the eastern Mediterranean.
16:58 July 8, 2011 by Britt-Marie7
You should stay home, Mankell and write your books instead. Shame on you for being so anti-semitic and supportive of Hamas and the killing that they do. I am glad that you were being stopped and you will be again if you try to do the same with your pro-Palestinian activist. And, it would not hurt if you brush up on what's actually going on in the world. Your views are very narrow to not see the whole picture.
17:12 July 8, 2011 by MarshaLynn
The anti-semitism of the left is so baffling. It's like a mass delusion. Actually, American Jews are anti-semitic themselves, hating Israel. On what planet does this make sense? A tiny nation trying to survive in a sea of Muslim shark nations bent on its destruction. And those sharks are able to convince American and European leftists that Palestinians are victims being abused and murdered by Israelis. Western society simply will not survive when mass delusion of this magnitude rules the day.
17:14 July 8, 2011 by fredlave
Maybe Mankell should write a Wallander novel about Palestinian terrorists and baby killers. Maybe a car bomb outside a swedish shopping center.
21:25 July 8, 2011 by johan rebel
A hairdresser who cut the hair of a female customer was arrested in Gaza today, no doubt with Mankell's full support.
23:13 July 8, 2011 by prince T
Glamshek hatred for israel has blinded him. Glam will want all of to agree with him in his deluded view. If you dont agree with Glamshek then you are a Zoonist whivh his holy book told him to destroy. He claim there is hope in Syria that slaughter people everyday without press to report. They cant go to hospspital and no one to defend them. Glam and Mankell shoul go there.
10:57 July 9, 2011 by Earandur Lissesul
Well why didn't you redirect your convoy to Ethiopia Mr Mankell, they seem to be in need of some aid. Why because you would miss out on getting a reaction out of israel which is all that these convoys are about
18:13 July 9, 2011 by motti
Glamshek. your malicious libelous accusations are without fact. Will you please nelighten uis with your "revised" historical facts. Please supply dates, numbers of those killed, and where. At least that way, an investigation will be carried out. I have never seen gas chambers, torture cells, nor ovens in Israel. Of course, if you are mentioning dead Arabs, do you mean those in various Islamic lands who kill each other and also non Moslems. Of that, there is more than enough proof. Your lies, for that is all they are, are not worth the space on this web. I believe you and your kind need to rid your frustrations of life back in the old country. you are unable to change in Arab lands. Sooner rather than later, you will all go back to the desert caves, especially when your oil runs out.

I remember Arabs first coming to London the late 60's and purchasing beautiful glats in London. They deposited their excretia in show boxes and threw them out of the windows. Oh, that was after they wiped themselves clean on the drapes and curtains. They had never seen a toilet, let alone running water.
14:33 July 10, 2011 by Cornelius Hamelberg
I am at a loss: I have posted two innocuous responses to the news item above; they appeared and then mysteriously dis-appeared. Why? What's goin' on? Whose moderation watch is it on the Local?

Perhaps I'll be third time lucky?

All I said the last time was: Good luck next time Mr. Mankell.

And that before setting off on Flotilla number 3, since "Humanitarian crisis in Gaza" is the reason for his naval activism, he had better take a look at this:

http://unitedwithisrael.org/what-humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza/
23:05 July 10, 2011 by big5
The blockade is necessary to keep Hamas from receiving arms shipments from Iran and Syria. It's legitimate for that reason. Mankell & Co are either useful idiots or actively anti-semitic.
19:59 July 12, 2011 by Methusalem
People like Mr. Mankell are smart people, they can do something with their fingers, but they are regrettably unwise. This planet needs wise people.
09:13 July 16, 2011 by MC7669
Iranboy ------ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4095895,00.html

did you know!????
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