23/07/2010 European pro-Palestinian activists are reportedly asking internationally-renowned sports champions to join a potential Gaza-bound relief convoy.
 
The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is seeking to ensure the attendance of 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, Israeli website Ynetnews reported on Thursday, quoting London-based daily Al-Hayat as saying.
 
The seaborne mission, dubbed Freedom Flotilla II, would leave in September to break Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip.
 
Tel Aviv 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 necessities.
 
ECESG also helped organize the Freedom Flotilla, which came under a bloody Israeli attack before reaching the coastal sliver. The assault in international waters killed nine Turkish activists, triggering global outrage and worldwide pleas for an international investigation.
 
Casillas, meanwhile, shunned championship celebrations in his native land, citing "deep sorrow over what happened in Gaza," the Al-Hayat report said. "It's unthinkable that people take part (in the celebrations) and laugh after seeing what is going on in the Gaza Strip".
 
The jubilations are "partial, as long as the Gaza Strip remains besieged," he added.
 
Nadal also condemned "Israel's aggression against the Gaza Strip" during Operation Cast Lead, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians at the turn of 2009.
 
Source: Press TV