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It had bobbed its way in the Mediterranean for
nearly 800 km (500 miles) from the Greek island of Rhodes,
placed in the water by a vacationing British couple in July.
"We are currently on holiday on Rhodes and we would love to know
how far this bottle got, even if it's just the next beach," said
the letter inside, signed "Faithfully, Zac and Beth".
By replying to the email address they enclosed, Soltan
discovered the two were Bethany Wright, a university student,
and her boyfriend, Zac Marriner.
"Hello, Thank you for picking up this bottle. As a reward here
are some magic flowers," the couple wrote in their letter.
By the time the bottle reached Gaza's shores last week, the
flowers had wilted.
But Soltan said on Monday he was buoyed by the thought that
currents could carry a carefree message into troubled waters
under Israeli naval blockade and fishing zone restrictions -
measures Israel says are necessary to prevent arms smuggling by
Gaza's hostile Hamas Islamist rulers.
"As a fisherman I felt this letter traveled through borders and
international waters without restrictions while we as fishermen
are unable to go beyond six miles," he said. "I hope one day we
would become as free as this bottle was."
(Writing by Nidal Almughrabi; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)
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