Iranian group recruits volunteers to fight Israel

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A group of influential conservative Iranian clerics launched an online registration drive on Monday seeking volunteers to fight against Israel in response to its air assault on the Gaza Strip. About 3,550 people registered Monday with the Combatant Clergy Society's Web site. The weeklong online campaign gives volunteers three options on ways they can fight Israel : military, financial and propaganda.

The group, which has considerable political and economic power in Iran , did not provide further details on the program including how it would contact the volunteers or implement the program.

The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran 's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.

Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel .

Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. About 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since the air assault began Saturday. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.

Also Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent sent a ship carrying 2,000 tons of food to Palestinians living in Gaza to be delivered via Egypt . An Iranian military plane also landed at Cairo International Airport carrying 24 tons of food and medicine destined for Gaza .

The head of Iran 's Red Crescent, Masoud Khatami, said three more ships were waiting to be loaded with humanitarian aid, and Iranian hospitals were ready to receive injured Gazans, according to the official Iran news agency, IRNA.

Israeli naval ship shoots Gaza aid boat

An Israeli naval ship shot on Tuesday a small boat carrying international activists with aid destined for Gaza under Israel siege, agencies said.

There were no reported casualties from the shooting involving the small cabin cruiser "Dignity" that sailed from Cyprus late on Monday. One passenger said nobody was hurt.

Free Gaza Movement told Reuters their boat, carrying 3 1/2 tons of medical aid with 16 people aboard, was rammed and shot at while in international waters about 70-80 miles off Gaza by Israeli naval vessel.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel 's Foreign Ministry, denied there had been any shooting, he said the two ships made "physical contact".

Palmor said that an Israeli vessel "clashed with the ship."

Israel said the Free Gaza Movement boat would be prevented to dock in the Gaza Strip.

A passenger on the Free Gaza Movement boat said it was now trying to reach Lebanon after the shooting.

"The boat was hit on its left side. There is a problem with the fuel and we are trying to head to Sidon ," said Katia Christodoulou, a photographer for the Cyprus News Agency.
Free Gaza Movement said their boat was safe, but had sustained damage.

Israel declared the coastal territory a "closed military zone" after it launched air attacks on Gaza on Saturday, killing nearly 400 Palestinians.

Hospitals were already facing shortages of medicines and other medical products due to the Israeli siege imposed after the Hamas government seized full control of the territory in 2007.

As well as more than three tons of aid, the Dignity was carrying three doctors to help treat the more than 1,600 wounded in recent days.

Two International Human Rights Activists witnessed the killing of two young girls in Beit Hanoun this morning. A young boy was also seriously injured in the attack.

The two girls, one four years old, the other twelve years old were killed as they took out garbage from their home. The deaths came as Israeli missiles destroyed an agricultural co-operative, a PFLP community centre and a police station in the Beit Hanoun area.

"It is impossible to avoid civilian casualties in a densely populated area. No one is safe from the Israeli air strikes. I saw two girls, ages 4 and 12 hit by a bomb from an F16. They were outside clearing some rubbish around their homes. The 4 year old girl died and the 12 year old girl was being taken to the hospital on a donkey cart. The people of Gaza have nothing left from the ongoing siege: there is not even an ambulance to take a child to the hospital. There is no excuse in dropping bombs on Gaza , as civilian deaths are unavoidable. The reality for the children of Gaza will not change until there is international pressure on Israel to end the bombings and the ongoing siege." - Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish/British) - Free Gaza Movement

http://www.muslimne ws.co.uk/ news/news. php?article= 15381

Silence is Consent. If you don't speak up you accept what is happening.

Images of civilian slaughter: http://hosting04. imagecross. com/image- hosting-16/ 9411Gaza- Massacre- Dec-2008. jpg  

Israel & Palestine images: http://s254. photobucket. com/albums/ hh90/islamirama/ Politics/ ?action=view¤t=10c33093. pbw/marineaquarium