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CAMPAIGNERS caught up in a worldwide controversy after being captured by the Israeli Navy on a mercy mission to help poverty-stricken Palestinians are determined to continue with their quest.
Bahraini officials made an unprecedented visit to Israel to collect five Bahrainis
detained trying to enter the Gaza Strip to deliver aid.
The Bahrain News Agency said the delegation was sent by the interior and foreign ministries to collect Khaled Abdelkader, Khaled Al Shenoo, Kathoum Ghuloom, Fatima Al Attawi and Juhaina Alqaed from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.
Israeli officials detained the five on Tuesday on a boat bound for Gaza from Cyprus that was trying to break the Israeli blockade on the territory.
Last Friday's trip marked the first visit by a delegation from Bahrain to Israel, although one of the detainees said the Bahraini government officials did not exit the plane while it was at the airport. Bahrain has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Bahrain has a very small Jewish population, one of which, Huda Noono, is the country's current ambassador to the US and Canada.
Bahrain's foreign minister created a stir when he said in an interview last year that Middle East nations should form a regional organisation that includes Israel and Iran to
try to resolve their disputes.
It was a rare call for Arab countries to create a broad grouping alongside Israel and Iran. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab nations that have peace deals with Israel.
Other Arab nations have said they won't establish ties with Israel until it signs peace deals with the Palestinians and Syria.
The news agency reported that the detainees had been received by the Bahraini mission from the Israeli authorities and were safe and in good health.
One of those released, Mr Al Shenoo, said that the five flew from Tel Aviv to Amman, Jordan and then Bahrain. They were among 21 people on board the Spirit of Humanity - including Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire - which was intercepted and rammed by the Israeli Navy on its way to deliver medical aid, toys and reconstruction kits for 20 family homes.
"We will do it again because we have a goal to help our brothers in Gaza," he said.
Household poverty is worsening in Gaza, with over half of all households in the area living below the poverty line, according to a recent report released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
In spite of 'significant amounts of emergency and humanitarian assistance', last year the number of households in Gaza below the consumption poverty line surged to an all-time high of 51.8 per cent. Israel imposed a near-total embargo of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas militants took control of the territory. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during recent military action, 900 of them civilians, 300 of these women and children.
