22 July,2010 02:54 PM IST | | Agencies
Spain's World Cup winning football captain Iker Casillas and world number one tennis player Rafael Nadal have been approached to support an aid ship "Freedom Flotilla 2" to Gaza which will set sail next month.
According to a report in 'The al-Hayat' newspaper today, the promoters of the ship are in talks with a number of world famous soccer players.
The organisation said it is in touch with French and Spanish soccer players, including Golden Gloves winning goalkeeper Casillas, but the talks are a hush-hush affair as they feel the players or their clubs may come under Israeli pressure.
"It's unthinkable that people take part (in celebrations) and laugh after seeing what is going on in the Gaza Strip," various reports quoted Casillas as saying.
Casillas has also reportedly stated that Spanish celebrations surrounding the World Cup triumph in South Africa are "partial as long as the Gaza Strip remains besieged.
Al-Hayat also named Nadal as a potential flotilla passenger, saying he "condemned Israel's aggression against the Gaza Strip" during its offensive in the coastal territory last year.
The first Freedom Flotilla sent by the campaign group met with a fatal incident in which nine activists were killed in an Israeli raid and dozens of others wounded, including Israeli commandos, in clashes onboard the ship. It led to an international outcry but Israel has re-iterated its resolve to prevent any ship trying to break its blockade of the 1.5 million populated Palestinian territory ruled by Islamist Hamas faction.
