From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Sat Jan 17 2009 - 00:33:58 EST
http://www.inteldaily.com/news/163/ARTICLE/9285/2009-01-14.html
Greece hinders US arms delivery to Israel
(Press TV) -- The US has to re-route arms shipment to Israel Athens
declined to allow a Greek port be used as a transit point, fearing
nationwide protests.
The transit was called off by the Greek government on Tuesday, after the
issue provoked a media outcry in Greece, where Israel's 19-day-old
offensive in Gaza is deeply unpopular.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, however, painted a different picture,
saying that the route had been changed to avoid Greece, "because the Greek
government had some issue with the off-loading of some of that shipment in
their country."
Morrell declined to say what type of arms were included in the shipment.
This is while the US military claimed that the shipment of 325 containers
of ammunition from the Greek port of Astakos to a US stockpile in Israel
was canceled in light of the proximity of the Israeli port of Ashdod - the
shipment's destination - to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Opposition parties in Greece have called for public demonstrations in
Astakos on Wednesday and Thursday, raising fears of fresh nationwide
protests, only weeks after violent anti-government riots were subdued.
Since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip on
December 27, more than 975 people have been killed and another 4,500 have
been wounded.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----