13 juli 2010
Erdogan vows that Turkey will not Let Israel Get away with Flotilla Attack
Predictably, the Israeli military investigation of itself with regard to the commando attack on the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship on May 31 is a whitewash that says the deployment of deadly fire by the troops was justified. Eyewitnesses reported that one seated photographer was abruptly shot between the eyes, and that another innocent’s head exploded when he was shot from above. The report mentions the Israelis airlifting the humanitarian workers whom they had injured to shore for medical treatment but not the nine persons, one of them an American citizen, whom they killed.
Despite a resignation among intellectuals in the United States to Israel having gotten away with it again, the mood is quite different in Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said again on Monday that he ‘has no intention of letting Israel get away with its “pirate-like” and “barbarous” attack which led to the death of civilians. ‘
Erdogan said, “I’m saying it very clearly: The Mavi Marmara and those on board who were carrying medicine and games for children were subject to a barbarous and pirate-like attack in international waters. We will never give up pursuing this point,”
Erdogan also expressed impatience with the failure of the Obama administration to pressure the Israelis about the attack, saying that President Obama had said he agreed with Erdogan’s stance when they met privately, but then seemed not to have followed through when Obama met recently with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Or, Erdogan speculated, perhaps press reports about the Obama-Netanyahu love fest were inaccurate (i.e. behind the scenes Obama may have actually read Netanyahu the riot act about the assault on the Gaza aid flotilla).
IHH, the Turkish charity backing the flotilla effort, rejected the Israeli report, contrasting the firearm-toting Israeli commandos to the civilians aboard. Aljazeera English has video:
(2:49) Turkish group dismisses Israeli report on Gaza flotilla raid
Israel responded last month to the IHH flotilla efforts by putting the organization on a terrorism watch list.
Writing in Today’s Zaman, Ayse Karabat reports on the reaction of Turkish intellectuals such as Sedat Laçiner to the Israeli military report. Laçiner observed, ‘as someone who lives in Ankara, I was able to contact the Mavi Marmara and able to ask them how the situation was. They told me that there was a group of people on the ship, preparing sticks to use against Israeli soldiers if they tried to intercept them. If I knew that, sure Israel knew about it, too.’
Nihat Ali Özcan of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, said, “Recent developments in the world tell us that if you confront a group, you have to learn their conflict culture, not their physical capacity. The passengers of the ship were from a civil society organization, but not a Norwegian-style [one].”
Kürsat Atilgan, a retired military officer now serving in the Turkish parliament, criticized Israel as a ‘paranoid state’ and said that it was impossible to know at what distance from their shores their paranoia would kick in.
Turkey continues to demand an apology from Israel, and has closed off its airspace to the Israeli air force.
http://www.juancole.com/2010/07/erdogan-vows-that-americans-will-stand-up-to-us.html
Press: No surprises in Israel flotilla report
Israeli General Giora Eiland
General Giora Eiland's investigation found "some mistakes" were made
There was little surprise in the Israeli and Palestinian press that an internal report into Israel's raid of a Gaza-bound aid ship failed to identify culprits for the death of nine activists in the operation. The investigation, led by retired Israeli Gen Giora Eiland, found that "some mistakes" were made but also praised the "professional and courageous" behaviour of the troops involved.
Israel's press praised a "thorough" investigation but said that the inquiry left open the question of how to attribute blame for the mistakes made. It was suggested that the report, which was restricted to the military's conduct, left open the possibility that fault lies with political leaders or intelligence officials.
Eiland's report was largely ignored by the Palestinian, Turkish and Middle East press. One Palestinian paper summed up the general indifference by noting that an inquiry conducted internally was unlikely to point fingers. An Iranian commentator said that Israel's "backtracking" over the incident is further evidence of its weakness.
EDITORIAL IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ
As expected, Eiland carried out the task thoroughly and in depth, exposing flaws and recommending ways to correct them. Also as expected, Eiland didn't put anyone's head in a noose. The report does not whitewash the cracks in intelligence gathering and operational planning, but it leaves unanswered the question of command responsibility for what Eiland himself has described as "substantive errors within the senior ranks".
ALEX FISHMAN IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARANOT
Throughout his briefing, Eiland reiterated that his inquiry had not extended to the political hierarchy, Mossad or the Israeli Security Agency and that these are also worth investigating. Thus he elegantly passed the ball from the military court to the political court.
OFER SHELAH IN ISRAEL'S MA'ARIV
Seldom has a report about a failed operation been received with so much satisfaction by the subjects of the investigation... Eiland rightly avoided calling for someone's head, but there is also a gap between the facts of his report and the soft words he used to express them. Eiland believes his report points to deep problems. But the subjects of the report see no names in the headlines and move on ... [Chief of Staff Gabi] Ashkenazi appointed Eiland knowing that he would provide him with a report that has everything except a clear bottom line.
YAAKOV KATZ IN ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST
The running theme [in the report] was that while the Israeli Defence Force made plenty of mistakes ahead of the operation and even during it, none of them were the result of negligence and none of them constituted failures that someone should pay the price for... This fits in with expectations and predictions of what Eiland's report would contain.
EDITORIAL IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS
The conclusions of the Israeli investigating committee into the crime against the Freedom Flotilla were unsurprising... the inquiry places no blame on anyone... it does not ask that anyone apologise or be put on trial. It made sure not to anger anyone, at least in Israel.
HANIF GHAFARI IN IRAN'S RESALAT
In recent years, the resistance of Muslims and freedom-loving people across the world against the atrocities of the Israeli regime, allied to Israel's backtracking over events such as attacking the Freedom Flotilla, has sent a clear message to the major powers: they are approaching their expiry date and their hegemony over international organisations is coming to an end. BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8814730.stm
Israeli whitewasher on flotilla inquiry once called for ’suffering of 100s of 1000s of people’
by Norman Finkelstein
The head of the investigation that said Israel made some mistakes but basically did the right thing in raiding the Mavi Marmara on May 31 is General Giora Eiland. A note from Norman Finkelstein:
It's useful to remember who Giora Eiland is. The Goldstone Report listed Eiland as one of the ideological architects of the Gaza massacre: http://fwd4.me/06D1
[Paragraph] 1196. After the war in southern Lebanon in 2006, a number of senior former military figures appeared to develop the thinking that underlay the strategy set out by Gen. Eiskenot. In particular Major General (Ret.) Giora Eiland has argued that, in the event of another war with Hizbullah, the target must not be the defeat of Hizbullah but “the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure and intense suffering among the population… Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah’s behaviour more than anything else”. [Giora Eiland, "The Third Lebanon War: Target Lebanon," Strategic Assessment (November 2008)]
Update from Finkelstein on the central issue here:
Israeli philosopher Asa Kasher, despite doing his utmost to defend the Gaza massacre, nonetheless said that “a democratic state...cannot use human beings as mere tools to create deterrence. Human beings are not tools to be used,” and that “killing for the sake of deterrence is something akin to terrorism.” Asa Kasher, “Operation Cast Lead and Just War Theory,” Azure (Summer 2009), p. 51; Asa Kasher, “A Moral Evaluation of the Gaza War,” Jerusalem Post (7 February 2010).
http://fwd4.me/06D2
Exclusive Intifada Interview with Greta Berlin – Free Gaza Movement
Free Gaza Movement founder Greta Berlin
Elias Harb interviews one of the leading voices in the movement to bring freedom to the people of Gaza.
Greta Berlin (France/US, English) has been an advocate for justice for the Palestinians since the early 60s. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine and is a 1948 refugee. She has an MFA in Theatre and
Free Gaza Movement founder Greta Berlin
a bachelor’s in English and, when she’s not working with the Palestinians, has spent the past 32 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations. In 2003, she volunteered with the ISM, working in several villages in the occupied West bank as well as manning their media office, then returned to work again in 2003, 05 and 07.
She is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement and was on board the FREE GAZA, the first boat with internationals to reach this besieged strip of the Mediterranean in 41 years. She then helped run three more successful voyages to Gaza between October 22 and December 23, 2008 working on the land crew and media in Cyprus, sending more than 50 human rights workers to Gaza on board the DIGNITY. She is available to speak in Europe or the U.S.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, May 31, showing a terrifying disregard for human life, Israeli naval forces surrounded and boarded ships sailing to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. On the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos opened fire on civilian passengers, killing at least 9 passengers and wounding dozens more. The final death toll is yet to be determined.
Elias Harb interviews Greta Berlin Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement
Elias Harb: Can you tell us what motivated you to the Palestinian Cause and the Free Gaza Movement and when was the movement founded?
Greta Berlin: I married a 1948 Palestinian refugee from Safad and have two Palestinian/American children. I’ve been part of justice for Palestine since 1967. Once you go and see what has happened to the Palestinians (I call them the final victims of WWII, because they have paid the price for what Europe did to the Jews), it is impossible to leave. I am no longer married, my children are grown, I am still working for justice.
The movement was founded in September/October 2006. A group of us were trying to figure out how to bring to the attention of the world what was happening in Gaza. One of the people working for justice for Palestine, Michael Shaik, emailed us and said, “OK. I have been thinking about this for a long time but am aware that I’m better at ideas than practicalities, so I’ll outline what I’d envisaged and let the rest of you do the sanity check. My plan was this: – Charter a big boat to sail from New York. Make it clear that its purpose is to “Break the Siege of Gaza” (that can be the slogan of the campaign). It is very important that the boat have a big send off with speeches by important people that will get it as much publicity as possible.” That kernel of an idea is what started the movement (of course, in a much smaller set of boats).
EH: How many times have the Free Gaza movement tried to break the Israeli siege and have you succeeded in getting any boasts into Gaza so far?
GB: The Freedom Flotilla was our 9th voyage. We successfully entered Gaza five times. This attempt was the fourth time we were stopped. If you look on our website under http://www.freegaza.org/en/boat-trips/passenger-lists, you will find the stories and passengers there.
EH: Israel declares that it had the legal right to confront the flotilla from reaching Gaza. Do you think there is any justification in that stance??
GB: Israel has no right to stop us under international law UNLESS it wants to admit that it occupies Gaza. Since Israel says it no longer occupies Gaza and Gaza is free, they have no right to stop us. In addition, the blockade is collective punishment against a civilian population that is WAY out of line. International law, Amnesty International and the International Red Cross have all said the same thing. Israel’s blockade is illegal. The illegal entity in the neighborhood is Israel, not us.
EH: Are there still passengers still held in Ashdod detention camp, and any updates on whereabouts of the missing passengers?
GB: There are no missing passengers, everyone is accounted for. There are no passengers held in Ashdod. There are, however, five very seriously injured passengers still in hospital, two are not expected to live…making the count really 11 murdered.
EH: Israel is saying that those on board the ships were violent terrorists not humanitarians. Israeli Prime Minister went so far to state that the Jewish state is a victim of an Iran-backed campaign to arm the Hamas rulers of Gaza with missiles that could hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. What is your position on that?
GB: Silly man. What do you expect from a man who is the head of a country founded on terrorism? Israelis think everyone is a terrorist, because that’s how they got their country originally. The only guns on board those six boats belonged to Israel. As far as the Free Gaza movement is concerned, we are a civilian organization that works with other civilians in Gaza such as PNGO and Al Aksa Hospital. Our cargo was designated for NGOs in Gaza and all cargo was inspected by maritime experts before it left port.
EH: Have there been any suits filed or are there plans for filing suits from countries or passengers of the Flotilla?
GB: Yes, and we are working on filing suits over the next few weeks
EH: Israel seized all cameras and communication equipment from flotilla passengers. Do you know of plans for getting personal property appropriated back from Israel?
GB: We have demanded all equipment and tapes be returned. They stole the equipment, ruined our cameras, shot several journalists who were trying to film the assault (killing one of them). We estimate that Israel stole over a million dollars of computers, cameras and phones. We also insist that our boats be returned. Israel still has our boat from last July when they hijacked it, kidnapped our passengers and hauled them into Israel for a week.
EH: Israel has announced it has eased the blockade on Gaza, Has the humanitarian Crises improved in Gaza, can you update on?
GB: Well, if you want ketchup and chocolate, then the blockade has been eased. If you want to rebuild your society, it has not. The people of Gaza want their freedom, not handouts from the international community. What right do they have to collectively punish a population of 1.5 million Palestinians for resisting occupation and for voting in one of the fairest elections held in the Middle East?
EH: Do you feel the Mainstream Media as a whole was fair in reporting the Israeli Israeli armed forces attack on the Gaza ‘Freedom Flotilla?’
GB: It was better than usual until the Israeli lobby started in on our occupied Congress. In Europe, everyone pretty much knows what Israel did was illegal. Unfortunately, Americans are still being lied to continuously.
EH: It seems pro-Israeli lobbies have succeeded in pressuring most members of U.S. Congress to declare that Israeli had a right to defend itself, despite the massacre of innocent civilians and violations of International law. Do human rights activists have an objective to get around the pro-Israeli support in Congress?
GB: We work on it all of the time. We had people show up at Brad Sherman’s meeting in a Temple (he’s the one who wants to arrest all of us). We had people show up in Congress dressed in prison garb ready to be arrested, people like Col. Ann Wright, Ramzi Kysia, Medea Benjamin. It will take a long time for Congress to shake itself loose from Zionist (both Christian and Jewish) influence.
EH: I read in witness Gaza.com that there is a Libyan boat headed for Gaza, do you have any new information on that Boat. Also are there any plans for a new flotilla in the near future?
GB: We do not have any connection to the Libyan boat since we do not deal with governments who want to send boats. Our organization is made up of people from civil society (although we certainly take members of Parliament) who work civilian to civilian. Yes, we are going again sometime in the fall.
E.H: Lastly, what gives you and all of those associated with The Free Gaza Movement so much courage to continue?
G.B: Hmmmmmm. I always say, “Never underestimate the power of pissed off women.” (but I suppose you want a better answer than that). Of the five founders, four are women. Of the nine members on the interim board, seven are women. Of the six people in the office in Cyprus when the massacres happened, five were women.
Women are a powerful force for justice and always have been.
EH: Thank you Greta Berlin
http://fwd4.me/06Cu
Knesset revokes Arab MK Zoabi's privileges over Gaza flotilla
In 34-16 vote, Knesset approves stripping Zoabi of three parliamentary privileges over Gaza flotilla; Zoabi: Knesset is punishing me out of vengeance.
The Knesset on Tuesday voted to revoke three parliamentary privileges from Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) due to her participation in the aid flotilla that sailed to Gaza in late May.
Thirty-four lawmakers voted in favor of stripping Zoabi's privileges and 16 voted against, after a heated debate, in which Zoabi accused her fellow lawmakers of punishing her out of vengeance.
The Knesset's House Committee previously recommended revoking Zoabi's privileges after she participated in the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which resulted in an IDF raid that killed nine activists.
"You are punishing me out of vengeance," Zoabi told fellow parliamentarians. "When you threaten the Arab MKs and the Arabs' protectors, you threaten democracy and co-existence between Jews and Arabs."
"I have the right and the duty to fight for my rights and my values," she continued, adding that "my positions are often different from those of the Likud, Kadima and most of the MKs. That’s why I don’t represent Kadima, the Labor Party or the Likud, but those who voted for me and in my case I represent the consensus of the Arab MKs."
"You have no freedom of choice with regards to the rules of democracy," Zoabi added. "There are fixed rules that do not change at whim. You do not need to protect democracy, but to protect me for democracy's sake."
Last week the Knesset committee recommended rescinding from Zuabi three key privileges, one of which is the privilege to exit the country – meant to prevent Zoabi from fleeing Israel if she commits a felony or has debts in Israel.
Another privilege to be rescinded is carrying a diplomatic passport, which according to the Knesset's legal adviser, is a privilege that does not grant diplomatic immunity so revoking it would not make it more difficult for Zoabi to fulfill her duties.
The third privilege is the right to have the Knesset cover litigation fees of an MK if he or she faces trial.
MK Yariv Levin (Likud), chairman of the Knesset committee that decided on rescinding her privileges, told Zoabi that she doesn’t belong in the Knesset.
"You have no place in the Israeli Knesset, you are unworthy of holding an Israeli ID and you embarrass the citizens of Israel, the Knesset, the Arab population and your family," he said.
Meanwhile, MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu) was escorted out of the hall after she handed Zoabi a lookalike Iranian passport with a photograph of her in it, saying that it will serve her on her diplomatic incitement trips.
"In every civilized country, a member of parliament who crosses the red line and identifies with the enemy and arming the enemy with weapons of mass destruction aimed at destroying his country's national foundations will not find in his pocket a diplomatic passport of the country he aims to destroy," Michaeli said.
"Ms. Zoabi, I take your loyalty to Iran seriously and I suggest you contact [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and ask him to give you an Iranian diplomatic passport that will assist you with all your diplomatic incitement tours, because your Israeli passport will be revoked this evening," she added and proceeded to hand Zoabi a lookalike Iranian passport that she had produced for her.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) interrupted Levin and said that the Knesset plenum was not the platform to express his personal feelings but rather the committee's decision.
Rivlin said: "I was not happy with Hanin Zoabi's actions, but if she broke an Israeli law may the Attorney General, who was solely and unequivocally given the power to decide, rise and press charges against her."
"We, as Knesset members, were chosen due to our beliefs. Today it is in our favor, and tomorrow it might not be; there is a complex ideological struggle between what was once left and right," Rivlin said, adding, "I believe that everyone should have the right to speak their minds, even if what they say hurts me."
The House Committee decision to recommend the rescinding of Zoabi's privileges was passed by a majority of seven to one, with MK Ilan Gilon of Meretz opposing.
The Balad party condemned the Knesset committee decision calling it "racist and anti-democratic."
"The MKs who incite against Zoabi spill her blood – they are calling on the public to harm her and following their decision, her life will be threatened," Balad said in a statement. "These MKs will be responsible for any harm that may be caused to her."
http://fwd4.me/05vo
14 juli 2010
7 flotilla victims wanted to be martyrs, report says
According to report, eight of the nine passengers belonged to the IHH radical Islamic group.
Seven out of the nine passengers who were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship on May 31 had expressed their desire to die before the flotilla set sail for the Gaza Strip, according to a report put out Tuesday by an Israeli research center.
According to the report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center – known as MALAM – eight of the nine passengers belonged to the IHH radical Islamic group and other Turkish organizations that, MALAM claimed, have a radical Islamic character. The report quoted a Turkish newspaper in which one of the passengers, 19-year-old Furqan Dogan, said that he wanted to be a martyr.
“These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid. Is there anything more beautiful than this?” the newspaper quoted from Dogan’s diary.
The MALAM report cited “growing evidence” that seven out of the nine passengers killed had “in one way or another” expressed their desire to die as martyrs aboard the flotilla.
The IDF has claimed that the nine were part of a group of mercenaries that attacked navy commandos with clubs, knives and metal bars as they boarded the ship’s upper deck.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=181358
They asked for it
by Norman Finkelstein
The Israeli Intelligence and Information Center has done a report on the flotilla raid saying that 7 out of 9 victims wanted to be martyrs.
Big news in Israel.
About the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Center:
In March 2010 the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released a voluminous refutation of the Goldstone Report.[i] It was based largely on “interrogations of terrorist operatives,” “reports from IDF forces,” “Israeli intelligence information,” and unverifiable and indecipherable photographic evidence. Despite ample evidence assembled by human rights organizations, the Israeli document denied that Gazans were suffering a humanitarian crisis before the Israeli attack (it blamed Hamas for the shortages that did arise);[ii] denied that the Israeli raid on Gaza on 4 November 2008 caused the breakdown of the ceasefire with Hamas;[iii] and denied that Israel used Palestinians as human shields.[iv]
It also falsely alleged that the Goldstone Report made “almost no mention of the brutal means of repression used by Hamas against its opponents”;[v] that the Report devoted “just three paragraphs” to Hamas’s “rocket and mortar fire during Operation Cast Lead” and downplayed Israeli civilian deaths;[vi] that the Report “absolved” Hamas “of all responsibility for war crimes”;[vii] that the Report gave “superficial” treatment to “the terrorists organizations’ use of civilians as human shields”;[viii] and that the Report relied on “the unreliable casualty statistics provided by Hamas.”[ix]
On more than one occasion the Israeli document tests the limits of chutzpah and credulity: it rebukes not Israel but Hamas for “unwillingness to cooperate with the [Goldstone] Mission,” and purports that “Hamas operatives would position innocent civilians near IDF tanks to prevent IDF soldiers from shooting at them.”[x] So, Hamas dragged Palestinian civilians to Israeli tank positions, ordered them to stay put, and then beat a retreat. Regrettably, the document never says if the civilians did stay put.
[i] Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Hamas and the Terrorist Threat from the Gaza Strip: The main findings of the Goldstone Report versus the factual findings (March 2010).
[ii] Ibid., p. 69.
[iii] Ibid., pp. IV, 8, 73, 80. Whereas a prior publication of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center had reported that Hamas was “careful to maintain the ceasefire,” and sought to “enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations”, in this document it is alleged that the ceasefire was “systematically and repeatedly violated by Hamas,” and Hamas “made no effective effort to impose the lull” on the other “terrorist organizations.” Still, its own graphs showed that just one rocket and one mortar were fired at Israel in October 2008 and it did concede that “the first five months of the lull were relatively quiet” (ibid., pp. 74, 79).
[iv] Ibid., p. IV.
[v] Ibid., pp. 3, 35 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1345-72).
[vi] Ibid., pp. 95, 97 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1604-6, 1610-36, 1647-74, 1682-91; the Report explicitly stated that “the impact on [Israeli] communities is greater than the numbers of fatalities and injuries actually sustained” (para. 1647)).
[vii] Ibid., pp. VIII, 57 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1687-91). The document chastised the Goldstone Report for referring to “Palestinian armed groups” instead of explicitly implicating Hamas, but the Report reciprocally referred to “Israeli armed forces.”
[viii] Ibid., p. 120 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 475-98).
[ix] Ibid., pp. 315, 321-22 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 352-63). The document indulged the baseless speculation that Palestinian families seeking “financial compensation” might have reported deaths from “natural causes” as invasion-related (ibid., p. 322).
[x] Ibid., pp. 318, 196.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/they-asked-for-it.html[/b][/b] 6 jul 2011, 23:31 , Respect
Maria 14 juli 2010
Israel and the Flotilla Intifada
Yesterday, an Israeli military inquiry committee published a report about Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. While criticising "mistakes" made by the Israeli navy, such as its failure to coordinate with the Mossad before the raid and to properly plan the raid, the report is essentially a whitewash. Aside from these criticisms, it commends the raid. It does not hold the Israeli commandos involved culpable in any way for the deaths of nine people on board the Mavi Marmara, instead praising them for showing courage in their confrontation with unarmed activists, which it portrays as terrorists. This report suggests that Israel has learned no lessons from its murderous raid. Its image across the world has taken a battering and if it thought that it could deter any further aid convoys it was sorely mistaken.
Following the raid on the flotilla, new aid convoys are being planned. The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza is now organising a "Freedom Flotilla 2", which will set sail for Gaza in August. It will consist of more ships than the first one and carry 4,000 activists. An aid ship from Lebanon is on its way to Gaza via Cyprus. A Libyan aid ship, the Amalthea, organised by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation and carrying one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons is due to reach Gaza today but is been surrounded and forcibly diverted by the Israeli navy toward Egypt. In addition to the ships, there have been overland convoys. An Algerian aid convoy and a convoy organised by Egyptian opposition MPs entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing last month, but they were forced by the Egyptian authorities to leave their aid behind. A Jordanian overland convoy also began its journey to Gaza yesterday 14 July.
These aid missions have a very low chance of success. Those attempting to reach Gaza by sea are exposing themselves to great danger, as the Israeli government has shown that it is not averse to killing unarmed activists. Overland convoys trying to reach Gaza through the Rafah crossing almost invariably have their aid confiscated by the Egyptian authorities. The convoys to Gaza appear to be on a perilous and futile mission. Why then, do the activists of the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, the Free Gaza Movement, and the Turkish humanitarian group IHH, which has been so much maligned in the media, persist in their efforts to send aid to Gaza? The reason is that this is the only way to end the siege of Gaza. The European Union, the United States and the Arab countries, are all collaborating with the Israelis in the siege of Gaza, and while they are prepared to make occasional statements criticising it, they are not prepared to exert even the smallest amount of pressure on Israel to end the siege. When global public opinion turned against Israel after its raid on the flotilla, the U.N. Security Council refused to condemn the raid under U.S. pressure and the U.S. vice president, Joe Biden, defended Israel's actions. In order to placate world opinion, Israel announced that it would "ease" the blockade on Gaza. However this "easing" will have little effect on the lives of ordinary people in Gaza. Exports remain prohibited, crippling Gaza's economy. The import of building materials is still banned, ensuring that the damage done by Israel's war against Gaza – which destroyed 39% of Gaza's houses - goes unrepaired and that thousands of people remain homeless.
Israel's three year siege of Gaza has devastated that territory. 52% of children suffer from malnutrition. The water supply system has collapsed. 80% of the population live in poverty. However, the international community has shown that it is willing to tolerate this and with Israel's announcement of the "easing" of the blockade, international pressure on Israel has also eased. The United States and the European Union are willing to allow Israel to get away with meaningless gestures which will do nothing to alleviate the plight of the people of Gaza. However, the aid convoys will continue to keep the siege of Gaza in the global spotlight and keep up the pressure on Israel and the international community to lift the siege. Israel's image across the world is now in tatters thanks to the raid on the flotilla. The Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign is gaining momentum, particularly on the cultural level with actors and musicians cancelling concerts and appearances in Israel. With their perseverance and determination, the convoys will be able to make Israel's siege of Gaza unsustainable.
http://fwd4.me/06Rb
'Gaza blockade is legitimate'
Israel defended its right to stop aid ships headed for the Gaza Strip during a hearing of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva on Wednesday, AFP reported.
The two-day committee hearing began on Tuesday, discussing whether Israel was violating obligations under the UN treaty on civil and political rights.
"No ship can breach this blockade, be they civil or military ships. Whoever violates the blockade is heading for retaliation," Israeli envoy Sari Rubenstein reportedly told the Human Rights Committee. "The blockade is legitimate. Under international law... a blockade can be imposed on the sea," she added.
"These are not activists for peace, but messengers of death," Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar said, in reference to those aboard the Mavi Marmara, on the second day of the session.
"We cannot sweep aside with a stroke of the hand the application of the treaty [on civil and political rights] in the Palestinian territories," said a member of the committee, Christine Chanet, according to AFP's report.
The UN said Israel is responsible for Gaza's 1.5 million population as it controls access to its sea and air ports. Israel said it is not an occupier, because as it does not control territory within the Gaza Strip.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=181410
Flotilla journalists to sue Israel
More than 30 journalists were on board the flotilla when it was intercepted by Israel
A group of journalists has announced that it plans to sue Israel over its deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip in May.
Lawyers have already begun preparing lawsuits in several European countries, according to several of the journalists, who met in Istanbul on Wednesday. The group accused Israel of violating international law.
One of the nine people killed on board the Mavi Marmara, the main ship, was Cevdet Kulclar, a Turkish journalist.
Reporters who were on board the ships say the Israeli government never returned their equipment or passports, and that Israeli soldiers later used their credit cards.
An Italian journalist, Manolo Luppichini, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in June that his credit card was used to make NIS250 ($65) worth of purchases in Israel.
In a statement released after their meeting, the journalists said they are demanding compensation for their losses, the return of their equipment, and an international inquiry into Israel's treatment of the reporters on board the flotilla.
The group of more than 30 journalists includes reporters from Turkey, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Several of the journalist on board the ship were from Al Jazeera.
http://fwd4.me/06DJ
Israel's boat problem
Israel’s siege on Gaza essentially consists of one thing – surrounding the territory and controlling all exit and entry points. Logically, to break the siege you enter or exit the territory against Israel’s will. Exiting without permission is not an option, so on came the boats...
In theory it’s a simple, perhaps even genius idea. It started shortly after the siege began – back then Israel sporadically let in small boats carrying aid. Israel let them in because they had more to lose by stopping them than by allowing through a few lefty activists (and the odd politician) carrying a gratuitous amount of aid.
But the boats got bigger, and so too did the problem. Israel then decided the ships were a “security risk” and began intercepting them at sea to prevent them docking in Gaza. For many within the Israeli military, the mistake was made years ago when the boats were first allowed in – had they been stopped from the start, perhaps the blockade-busting boat idea would not have taken off and they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now.
Flotilla intifada
What happened onboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31 was nothing short of disastrous for Israel – it’s public image got a battering and its illogical policy of blocking food and supplies to people in Gaza was exposed. What was onboard that ship – wheelchairs and children’s books- revealed just how nonsensical and downright cruel the blockade was. Even Israel’s masters of spin struggled to explain why notepads were a security risk to the state.
The Foreign Ministry has been busy doing damage control from the botched flotilla raid. It’s almost there, but it's made very clear to the security establishment another boat blunder will throw away all its efforts. That puts the military in a bit of a predicament, because riding on the tail winds of the Mavi Marmara, is a summer boat (and convoy) intifada.
Following the raid on the flotilla, new aid convoys are already in the works. The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza is organising a "Freedom Flotilla 2", due to set sail for Gaza next month. It’s said to consist of more ships than the first one and as many as 4,000 activists. An aid ship from Lebanon has been much delayed but organisers are still adament to get to Gaza. A Jordanian overland convoy also began its journey to the Strip this week.
What a difference a boat makes….
But apart from calling attention to the plight of Gazans, and making us all sudden maritime experts able to track down every ship in the Mediterranean with the click of a button – what difference will more ships make? In the weeks that followed the deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara, Israel announced it was “easing” the Gaza siege. What that actually meant was they were increasing the amount of food and supplies being let into the Strip via the land crossings they control and clarifying their policy on what is allowed in.
As the situation in Gaza is so desperate, even that was seen as quite an achievement.
But it’s worth considering it was a move in the works well before the Mavi Marmara set sail. Many months ago the Egyptians began building an underground wall that will effectively cut off the smuggling tunnels that run between Gaza and Egypt. If that wall was completed before the “ease” it would, quite simply, have starved Gaza. People there rely almost solely on the tunnels not just for food and cigaretters but for fuel, generators and other essentials. Israel was not going to allow 1.7 million people to starve on live TV. In short, something had to give before the wall was completed.
Consider too that one of the “gestures” the US was reportedly pressuring Israel to make to entice the Palestinian Authority to indirect peace talks (which the PA eventually agreed to in an apparent U-turn) was an easing of the Gaza siege. I’m not saying the flotilla had no impact on the decision to ease the siege, but it may have been more of a catalyst than an instigator.
Ship vs siege: Fair fight?
The real success of the flotilla should be seen within a wider context. It has become the beacon of a non-violent form of resisting Israel’s occupation that is making huge strides.
The current boycott movement in the West Bank is attracting attention – it’s an embarrassment for Israel casting a shadow over the democratic, moral state it purports to be with many comparing this boycott to the divestment policy against South Africa during apartheid in the 1980s.
Events onboard the Marmara ended in bloodshed and violence but the theory behind the flotilla was logical and peaceful. Israel is a highly militarized state. Dealing with violence is what it knows how to do best. An Israeli soldier confronted by a man holding a gun moving towards him knows exactly what to do. But swap that gun for a banner saying ‘Free Gaza’ and the soldier will panic. He was trained for combat not crowd control.
And that’s why whether it’s a ship, a boat, a truck or a plane, both the success and the danger of this movement lies in the way it plays so simply to Israel’s weakest point.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/07/14/israels-boat-problem
15 juli 2010
U.S. Government Considers Listing Turkish Charity As ‘Terrorists’
The US State Department is considering whether to designate a Turkish charity as a ‘terrorist group’ after the organization sent a ship of medical and school supplies to the Gaza Strip in May.
The aid ship was attacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, and nine aid workers, including one US citizen, were killed.
The Foundation for Human Rights and Humanitarian Relief is a Muslim charity based in Turkey that funds humanitarian aid missions to troubled and impoverished places around the world.
Formed in 1992 with the goal of assisting Muslims in Bosnia, the charity has branched out to many places, including Lebanon, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and the Palestinian territories.
Although the Israeli-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center says the Turkish charity is quote “a radical Islamic organization with an anti-Western orientation," the group has never been linked to any violent activities or groups.
When the aid ship was attacked by the Israeli navy in May, the U.S. Congress issued a statement declaring full support for the Israeli act of piracy, and the Obama administration did not criticize the attack.
Despite the fact that smuggled video footage shows passengers being killed execution-style by Israeli commandos, the U.S. government has continued its policy of unquestioning support of the Israeli attack.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59132
19 juli 2010
Syria and Turkey insist on int'l inquiry into flotilla
Syria and Turkey issued a joint statement Monday insisting on the need for an international inquiry of the May 31 Gaza-bound flotilla, which was boarded by Israeli commandos and resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens.
Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and declared the need for an investigation into the "crime committed by Israel against the Turkish flotilla."
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri also attended the meeting.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=181945
20 juli 2010
Israel rescinds travel warning on Turkey
Counter-Terrorism Bureau announces it is now safe to travel to Turkey, despite government's anti-Israel comments; however Israelis warned to stay away from mass rallies, avoid political arguments
The Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Tuesday cancelled a travel warning issued on Turkey after the calamitous IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in May.
The bureau issued a statement saying the warning had been withdrawn due to a "calm and lack of mass rallies against Israel".
No Fear
However the bureau recommended that Israelis residing in Turkey "stay away from any rally that may be, and refrain from getting into political arguments with locals".
Elkana Har-Nof, an official with the bureau, told Ynet that the cancelation of the warning means "Israelis can now travel to this country without fear".
He said the decision to post the warning came after the slew of anti-Israel rallies held in Turkey after the flotilla raid.
"The warning was not based on intelligence but rather a fear that the mass rallies there, which were rather outspoken, will deteriorate to violence against Israelis," he said.
"Since then, for the past month and a half, there have been no rallies, and from an intelligence point of view no terror threats are known of."
Har-Nof qualified his statement, however, by saying that "tomorrow morning something new could develop", and warned Israelis against getting caught up in unnecessary political demonstrations.
"The rules of behavior for the entire world apply there as well: Don't stand out, don't speak Hebrew in problematic areas and don't bear any sign of Israeli identity," he said.
The cancelation of the warning was unexpected, as the Turkish government continues to improve ties with Lebanon and Syria. On Monday Damascus hosted a summit attended by leaders from the three countries, in which they called for increased efforts at "ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip".
http://fwd4.me/08y7
'South Africa to reinstate Israel envoy, after recalled over Gaza flotilla'
Israeli Navy personnel board one of the ships of the Gaza aid flotilla on Monday May 31, 2010.
Government reiterates call for international probe and end to Gaza siege, but says ambassador needed to monitor developments in Middle East.
South Africa has decided to reinstate its ambassador to Israel nearly two months after recalling him to protest the deadly naval raid on a Turkish-flagged ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, AFP reported on Tuesday.
In its statement to that effect, the South African foreign ministry said that it would still support calls for international probe into the commando raid that killed nine Turkish citizens on May 31.
"South Africa reiterates its call that any investigation should be a 'prompt, impartial, credible and transparent', in line with UN recommendations," said the statement, adding that it urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip "which is causing untold suffering to thousands of innocent civilians."
South Africa had decided to send Ambassador Ismail Coovadia back to Tel Aviv so that he could monitor developments in the Middle East, the statement clarified.
http://fwd4.me/08y5
22 juli 2010
Gaza flotilla sponsor IHH responds to "slanderous, fabricated" allegations in NY Times article
The Turkish nongovermental organization IHH, which sponsored the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which was attacked and hijacked by Israel in international waters on 31 May 2010, killing 9 and injuring dozens, has responded to a recent article in the New York Times.
The IHH response, written by attorney Ugur Yildirim demands corrections to the "unsubstantiated, almost slanderous, and fabricated comments," it says are contained in the article.
One of the false allegations in the NY Times article is that "Germany banned the charity’s offices, citing its support for Hamas, which Germany considers a terrorist organization."
In fact, Germany banned an organization called "Internationale Humaniterien Hilfs Organizatione" which while it also goes by the same initials "IHH" is not the same organization.
On the link is a copy of the full IHH letter to the New York Times, which I received via email from IHH's information department.
http://fwd4.me/09fy
23 juli 2010
Palestinian passports for flotilla activists
ACTIVIST FIACHRA Ó Luain, who travelled on the Challenger 1 as part of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, said he had been offered and would accept a Palestinian passport.
A spokesman for the General Delegation of Palestine in Ireland confirmed passports and honorary citizenship had been offered to all those who participated in the flotilla last month.
“It’s an honour to be offered the passport and honorary citizenship. I don’t feel I’ve done enough to deserve it. It only redoubles my determination to help bring about a complete end to the siege of Gaza,” Mr Ó Luain said.
He said his Irish passport was detained by Israeli officials at Ben Gurion airport when he was deported from Tel Aviv in June. It was subsequently returned.
Mr Ó Luain said he would not now relinquish his Irish passport.
“However, I may in my next meeting with [Minister for Foreign Affairs] Micheál Martin ask him to keep my Irish passport until such time as I’m satisfied he’s taken all necessary action to guarantee the safety of Irish passports.”
Dr Fintan Lane of the Free Gaza Movement said he regarded as “genuine” the offer from the Palestinian Authority.
“Our official position is it’s up to individual participants on the flotilla to decide whether or not to accept the offer,” he said. “We see it as an act of appreciation from Palestine. We accept some people might have political differences with the Palestinian Authority and consequently might decide not to avail of the offer. Other people won’t. It’s meant to be a positive gesture. We are not suggesting people do one thing or the other.”
Dr Lane said the offer had been relayed to the Irish flotilla participants through a Turkish organisation also involved– the foundation for human rights and freedoms and humanitarian aid (IHH).
Hufeyan Oruc, who described himself as an IHH board member, said: “It’s true. The Palestinian Authority said, you have done very important things for Palestine. We want to accept you as a Palestinian citizen. We don’t know if it’s actual citizenship or honorary citizenship. In any case, we will accept.”
Earlier this month, Mr Ó Luain called for Irish economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel. Mr Martin has said this would be futile and counter-productive.
http://fwd4.me/0CF0
Three Spaniards file charges over Israel flotilla raid
The activists say the move broke international law
Two Spanish activists and a journalist arrested in a raid by Israel on a Gaza-bound flotilla are filing charges against Israel's prime minister.
The three accuse Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, six cabinet ministers and the navy commander of illegal detention, torture and deportation.
They claim the move contravened international law.
Earlier, Israel said it would return the three Turkish vessels it had seized during the raid on 31 May.
Nine Turkish activists died when Israeli marines attacked the flotilla, sparking an international outcry.
The pro-Palestinian convoy was carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid for Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's blockade of the territory.
Laura Arau, Manuel Tapial and David Segarra, who were on the Mavi Marmara ship, say they were held illegally in international waters by Israeli forces, tortured and forcibly deported to Turkey.
Spanish courts are yet to accept the case.
'No conditions'
Meanwhile, Israel has announced it will return three ships that were part of the convoy to Turkey, Israeli public radio has reported.
Turkey had already been informed of the decision by the inner cabinet in Jerusalem, the report said.
Talks to return the cruise ship Mavi Marana and two other vessels were held up by Israel's demand that the ships' owners should sign guarantees that they would not mount new aid missions to Gaza.
However, the inner cabinet decided to return the vessels without further conditions, an Israeli official is reported to have said.
The incident soured relations between Israel and Turkey, which withdrew its ambassador and suspended joint military exercises after the raid.
Turkey has also demanded an apology, which Israel has refused to issue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10741416
UN names Gaza raid investigation team
The UN Human Rights Council appointed a team of international experts today to investigate a raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
The fact-finding team comprises three independent experts - Sir Desmond de Silva (Britain), Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia) - a UN statement said.
The 47-member forum voted to set up the inquiry last month to look into what it called violations of international law in Israel's attack in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0723/breaking39.html
Ex-UN prosecutor De Silva on panel to investigate Israeli flotilla raid
GENEVA-The UN Human Rights Council appointed former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva and two other people on Friday to investigate Israel's May 31 forcible boarding of a boat bringing aid to the Gaza Strip.
A statement said the British lawyer will be joined by Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam in examining whether Israel violated international law.
Israel has refused to co-operate with previous investigations ordered by the 47-nation council.
Eight Turks and one Turkish American were killed in the raid on a flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade on Gaza.
Israel says its naval commandos were acting in self-defence after being attacked by pro-Palestinian activists, and an Israeli military report concluded last week that flawed intelligence-gathering and planning led to the deadly encounter.
The report praised the commandos who took part in the operation and said they were justified in opening fire.
There is an investigation going on by Israel and it should be allowed to continue to do its job,Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David said.
He didn't say if Israel would co-operate with the UN council's investigation.
Two more blockade-busting ships are planning to sail to Gaza, this time from Lebanon, though precise dates have yet to be released.
In a statement Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called this an uncalled-for provocation, like previous flotillas. He said Israel would stop the ships if they refused to sail to a southern Israeli port. The cargo, he said, could be transferred from there to Gaza, except for weapons, ammunition or other items with military uses.
Barak said he held the Lebanese government responsible for making sure that the ships respect the blockade.
http://fwd4.me/0CEV
24 juli 2010
Israel to Release Flotilla Ships And Prepare For Lawsuit
Tall Aviv –PNN- Israel agreed to return the Turkish ships it captured during the deadly Gaza Flotilla Raid. Israel killed nine activists in international water on May 31 and will now face a lawsuit for its actions.
ImageIsrael faced international condemnation for its violent actions against the humanitarian-aid carrying flotilla earlier this summer. The ships attempted to break Israel's three year blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the inauguration of democratically-elected Hamas.
Israeli has held three captured Turkish ships at the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifi despite Turkey's numerous demands for the their return. However on Friday, Israel agreed to release the captured boats, presumably in an effort to appease the Turkish government, media sources report.
Previously, Israel said it would only return the boats if Turkey guaranteed that they would never again be used in a Gaza flotilla effort. Yet on Friday, no such condition was mandated, Haaretz reports.
The boat return comes four days after the Israeli army released its investigation on the Gaza flotilla raid. Maj Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland made no apologies for Israeli's violent actions:
"To my relief, the investigation found no negligence or failures on any significant matters, and that it was due to mistakes made at the relatively top levels that caused the results to be different from what was planned," Eiland said according to Haaretz.
Three discontented Spanish activists affiliated with the Gaza flotilla will pursue a lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his forum of top six cabinet ministers and the Israel Navy. Their 83-page document includes complaints of illegal arrest and unwanted force, the Republica newspaper reports.
It is suspected that nine other lawsuits will be filed by European countries outraged by the raid in addition to a United Nations Human Rights Council investigation headed by the former president of the International Criminal Court, Canadian Philippe Kirsch
http://fwd4.me/0CEW
Watch Video: UN To Investigate The Flotilla Attack
(2:13) UN To Investigate The Flotilla Attack
The President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Friday appointed three pre-eminent experts to an independent international fact-finding mission to "investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance" on 31 May.
ImageAmbassador Phuangketkeow made the announcement of the appointment of the three experts.
"Well we have three very qualified people in the international independent fact finding mission. The first person is Mr. Karl T. Hudson-Philips. He is a former Judge with the International Criminal Court and he was also the Minister of Legal Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. The second person is Sir. Desmond de Silva, he's a Queen's Counsel, he comes from the United Kingdom and he was the Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court on Sierra Leone. And the third person is a lady from Malaysia, and her name is Mary Shanthi Dairiam, and she is known for her background in Human Rights and she was also a member of the CEDAW, The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.” Phuangketkeow announced.
The establishment of the independent international fact-finding mission was decided on 2 June 2010 through a Human Rights Council resolution. The Council had previously held an urgent debate on the raid on the Flotilla by Israeli navy, which left nine aid workers killed and 54 injured. The attack took place while the aid ships was sailing in international waters.
"The members of the panel were selected on the basis of the qualification that they have especially in the areas of international law, human rights and humanitarian law, but the main consideration was that these three persons are known for their independence, their impartiality, their integrity which I think is very important in successfully carrying out their mission." Phuangketkeow, UNHRC President, added.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8570&Itemid=63
25 juli 2010
Israel: We won't assist 'obsessive' UN Gaza flotilla probe
Decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week.
Israel does not intend to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council's investigation into Israel's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of May. The raid resulted in nine deaths.
According to a senior Israeli official, the sense at the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office is that cooperating with the investigative committee would only confer legitimacy upon the UNHRC, which has consistently acted against Israel.
"This is an unnecessary committee," the official said, "which is the product of an obsession with Israel."
The decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week. It is believed it will be accompanied, however, by a decision to cooperate with a separate flotilla committee acting on behalf UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The secretary general's team is expected to examine the conclusions of Israel's Turkel Committee as well as the results of a Turkish investigation into the flotilla incident.
Although the decision by the Human Rights Council to look into the case was made two months ago, the makeup of its investigative panel was only announced Friday. The committee will consist of Desmond de Silva of Britain, the former chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal on events in the African country of Sierra Leone; International Criminal Court judge Karl Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, a women's rights activist.
The three-member panel is to submit its conclusions by mid-September, before which it is expected to try and visit Israel, Gaza and Turkey. In light of Jerusalem's expected decision not to cooperate with the panel, it is not thought the members will be allowed into Israel.
Over the weekend, Israel prepared for a possible attempt by another flotilla, this time from Lebanon, to run the Gaza naval blockade. Syria and Hezbollah are thought to be organizing the flotilla in an effort to divert international attention from the imminent release of conclusions from an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent a message to Lebanon over the weekend demanding the government there stop the flotilla. The Lebanese government, however, vehemently denied that any such flotilla is in the offing.
The country's transportation minister, Ghazi al-Aridi, told the daily Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar he was unaware of any such plans. He said that if he did ever receive such a request, it would be considered based on applicable laws and regulations. Al-Aridi added that Lebanon supports the Palestinians, but is committed above all to observing international law.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to release the Mavi Marmara and two other Turkish ships that were part of the flotilla at the end of May and had been towed to port in Israel. Despite earlier demands that the ships' owners promise the vessels would not be used in future Gaza-bound flotillas, the three Israeli leaders decided to release the ships unconditionally.
http://fwd4.me/0Aqa
Israel Rejects UN Plan to Probe Flotilla Raid
The Mavi Marmara ship, the lead boat of a flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip which was stormed by Israeli naval commandos in a predawn confrontation, sails into the port of Ashdod, Israel, 31 May 2010 (file photo)
A United Nations body is moving ahead with an investigation of the deadly flotilla incident off the coast of the Gaza Strip in late May, despite Israeli opposition.
Israel has rejected a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Israeli raid on a Gaza aid flotilla two months ago. Commandos stormed the ships as the vessels tried to run the Israeli blockade. Nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
Israel faced world outrage, and the U.N. demanded an international investigation. But Israel refused, on grounds that a U.N. report on the Gaza War last year was biased. The Goldstone Report accused Israel of war crimes and rejected Israeli claims that the army acted in legitimate self-defense after years of Palestinian rocket attacks.
"I definitely suggest that we don't give in on any demands that would demand creating something like a Goldstone II, or anything of the kind, because we already have bitter experience," said Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein.
Instead, Israel has launched two of its own inquiries: a closed one by the military, and the other a civilian probe with foreign observers.
"We have an Israeli committee investigating, checking what exactly happened, and international observers joining the committee, watching the work of the committee. So the truth will not only be obvious to us but later to the whole world," added Edelstein.
Israel has said that commandos acted in self-defense after they were attacked by activists wielding clubs and knives aboard the flotilla. But the U.N. Human Rights Council says an independent investigation is necessary to look into what it called Israeli "violations of international law."
http://fwd4.me/0AqZ
26 juli 2010
UN Promises Delivery of Freedom Flotilla Cargo to Gaza
London, July 26, 2010, Six weeks after the Freedom Flotilla ships were forcibly boarded in international waters, their passengers illegally jailed and the cargo impounded by the Israeli authorities, the office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO) has promised to deliver the full humanitarian aid cargo to UN. agencies in Gaza.
“The cargo finally being processed for delivery this week consists of supplies prevented by Israel from entering Gaza for the last three years. On the MV Rachel Corrie, the cargo ship of the Free Gaza Movement, we were carrying 20 tons of paper, plus pens & books for schools & universities, over 50 tons of medical supplies & 550 tons of cement for Al Shifa Hospital. Instead of docking in Gaza & distributing the supplies to the intended recipients, Israel impounded cargo, searched, then handed over to an overburdened UN, who can give no guarantees that it will get to the intended schools or NGO's." said Niamh Moloughney, coordinator of the Free Gaza Movement – Ireland.
The Rebuilding Alliance, one of the U.S. organizations to place humanitarian cargo on the Rachel Corrie is none-the-less hopeful that the backpacks, sports equipment, and building materials donated by hundreds of Americans will be delivered to the designated Gaza non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) .
“When we first learned of the Freedom Flotilla, we asked our partner NGO’s in Gaza what we could send that would matter most to them, given the 3 year-long blockade,” said Donna Baranski-Walker, Executive Director of the Rebuidling Alliance, a San Mateo CA-based nonprofit. “They asked Americans to send messages to children, along with backpacks, sports equipment, and cement to build a kindergarten.”
Added Ms. Moloughney, “Israel has insisted that cargo be brought into Ashdod for delivery, but this ignores the overall illegitimacy of Israel's closure policy. It also means that once more Israel profits from its illegal acts. The 'easing' of the blockade means nothing to families whose homes and businesses are still in ruins and allows them only to be consumers of Israeli goods."
The Free Gaza Movement repeats that only a complete end to Israel's punitive closure policy will suffice in starting to repair the economy of this decimated slice of the Mediterranean, the only territory in the world that does not have access to its own sea.
“We ask people throughout the world to press their governments to open Gaza, not just for aid but for movement and trade as well, to truly end the collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population,” said Huwaida Arraf, chair of the Free Gaza Movement. “That’s why we will continue to send ships to Gaza loaded with civilian supplies Israel refuses to allow into Gaza – and on return, fill our ships with goods from Gaza for export. We look forward to international cooperation in developing a sea route certification system to assure aid, fair trade and the safety of all.”
Israel continues to hold all of the vessels that it illegally commandeered, including the seven ships of the Freedom Flotilla, as well as the Spirit of Humanity, which Israel hijacked in June 2009.
http://fwd4.me/0CF9
Israel Slams UNHRC Flotilla Probe
Israel has criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for appointing what it calls a biased committee to probe Tel Aviv's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
An unnamed Israeli official in an interview with AFP on Sunday called the three-member fact-finding panel as "biased."
He further alleged that the council's team of experts intended to satisfy an anti-Israeli majority that controls the body.
The UNHRC on Friday appointed former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam to investigate the May 31 attack in which Israeli commandos killed nine peace activists and injured many others.
The panel of experts would investigate whether the commando operation breached international law.
The UN body described the panel as "completely unbiased," urging Israel to cooperate. Tel Aviv has refused to collaborate with previous investigations conducted by the UN body.
The Human Rights Council condemned the incident during an emergency session days after the operation and decided to set up a commission of inquiry.
The three-member panel is due to present its findings in mid-September.
http://fwd4.me/0CF8
Erdogan vows that Turkey will not Let Israel Get away with Flotilla Attack
Predictably, the Israeli military investigation of itself with regard to the commando attack on the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship on May 31 is a whitewash that says the deployment of deadly fire by the troops was justified. Eyewitnesses reported that one seated photographer was abruptly shot between the eyes, and that another innocent’s head exploded when he was shot from above. The report mentions the Israelis airlifting the humanitarian workers whom they had injured to shore for medical treatment but not the nine persons, one of them an American citizen, whom they killed.
Despite a resignation among intellectuals in the United States to Israel having gotten away with it again, the mood is quite different in Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said again on Monday that he ‘has no intention of letting Israel get away with its “pirate-like” and “barbarous” attack which led to the death of civilians. ‘
Erdogan said, “I’m saying it very clearly: The Mavi Marmara and those on board who were carrying medicine and games for children were subject to a barbarous and pirate-like attack in international waters. We will never give up pursuing this point,”
Erdogan also expressed impatience with the failure of the Obama administration to pressure the Israelis about the attack, saying that President Obama had said he agreed with Erdogan’s stance when they met privately, but then seemed not to have followed through when Obama met recently with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Or, Erdogan speculated, perhaps press reports about the Obama-Netanyahu love fest were inaccurate (i.e. behind the scenes Obama may have actually read Netanyahu the riot act about the assault on the Gaza aid flotilla).
IHH, the Turkish charity backing the flotilla effort, rejected the Israeli report, contrasting the firearm-toting Israeli commandos to the civilians aboard. Aljazeera English has video:
(2:49) Turkish group dismisses Israeli report on Gaza flotilla raid
Israel responded last month to the IHH flotilla efforts by putting the organization on a terrorism watch list.
Writing in Today’s Zaman, Ayse Karabat reports on the reaction of Turkish intellectuals such as Sedat Laçiner to the Israeli military report. Laçiner observed, ‘as someone who lives in Ankara, I was able to contact the Mavi Marmara and able to ask them how the situation was. They told me that there was a group of people on the ship, preparing sticks to use against Israeli soldiers if they tried to intercept them. If I knew that, sure Israel knew about it, too.’
Nihat Ali Özcan of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, said, “Recent developments in the world tell us that if you confront a group, you have to learn their conflict culture, not their physical capacity. The passengers of the ship were from a civil society organization, but not a Norwegian-style [one].”
Kürsat Atilgan, a retired military officer now serving in the Turkish parliament, criticized Israel as a ‘paranoid state’ and said that it was impossible to know at what distance from their shores their paranoia would kick in.
Turkey continues to demand an apology from Israel, and has closed off its airspace to the Israeli air force.
http://www.juancole.com/2010/07/erdogan-vows-that-americans-will-stand-up-to-us.html
Press: No surprises in Israel flotilla report
Israeli General Giora Eiland
General Giora Eiland's investigation found "some mistakes" were made
There was little surprise in the Israeli and Palestinian press that an internal report into Israel's raid of a Gaza-bound aid ship failed to identify culprits for the death of nine activists in the operation. The investigation, led by retired Israeli Gen Giora Eiland, found that "some mistakes" were made but also praised the "professional and courageous" behaviour of the troops involved.
Israel's press praised a "thorough" investigation but said that the inquiry left open the question of how to attribute blame for the mistakes made. It was suggested that the report, which was restricted to the military's conduct, left open the possibility that fault lies with political leaders or intelligence officials.
Eiland's report was largely ignored by the Palestinian, Turkish and Middle East press. One Palestinian paper summed up the general indifference by noting that an inquiry conducted internally was unlikely to point fingers. An Iranian commentator said that Israel's "backtracking" over the incident is further evidence of its weakness.
EDITORIAL IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ
As expected, Eiland carried out the task thoroughly and in depth, exposing flaws and recommending ways to correct them. Also as expected, Eiland didn't put anyone's head in a noose. The report does not whitewash the cracks in intelligence gathering and operational planning, but it leaves unanswered the question of command responsibility for what Eiland himself has described as "substantive errors within the senior ranks".
ALEX FISHMAN IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARANOT
Throughout his briefing, Eiland reiterated that his inquiry had not extended to the political hierarchy, Mossad or the Israeli Security Agency and that these are also worth investigating. Thus he elegantly passed the ball from the military court to the political court.
OFER SHELAH IN ISRAEL'S MA'ARIV
Seldom has a report about a failed operation been received with so much satisfaction by the subjects of the investigation... Eiland rightly avoided calling for someone's head, but there is also a gap between the facts of his report and the soft words he used to express them. Eiland believes his report points to deep problems. But the subjects of the report see no names in the headlines and move on ... [Chief of Staff Gabi] Ashkenazi appointed Eiland knowing that he would provide him with a report that has everything except a clear bottom line.
YAAKOV KATZ IN ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST
The running theme [in the report] was that while the Israeli Defence Force made plenty of mistakes ahead of the operation and even during it, none of them were the result of negligence and none of them constituted failures that someone should pay the price for... This fits in with expectations and predictions of what Eiland's report would contain.
EDITORIAL IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS
The conclusions of the Israeli investigating committee into the crime against the Freedom Flotilla were unsurprising... the inquiry places no blame on anyone... it does not ask that anyone apologise or be put on trial. It made sure not to anger anyone, at least in Israel.
HANIF GHAFARI IN IRAN'S RESALAT
In recent years, the resistance of Muslims and freedom-loving people across the world against the atrocities of the Israeli regime, allied to Israel's backtracking over events such as attacking the Freedom Flotilla, has sent a clear message to the major powers: they are approaching their expiry date and their hegemony over international organisations is coming to an end. BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8814730.stm
Israeli whitewasher on flotilla inquiry once called for ’suffering of 100s of 1000s of people’
by Norman Finkelstein
The head of the investigation that said Israel made some mistakes but basically did the right thing in raiding the Mavi Marmara on May 31 is General Giora Eiland. A note from Norman Finkelstein:
It's useful to remember who Giora Eiland is. The Goldstone Report listed Eiland as one of the ideological architects of the Gaza massacre: http://fwd4.me/06D1
[Paragraph] 1196. After the war in southern Lebanon in 2006, a number of senior former military figures appeared to develop the thinking that underlay the strategy set out by Gen. Eiskenot. In particular Major General (Ret.) Giora Eiland has argued that, in the event of another war with Hizbullah, the target must not be the defeat of Hizbullah but “the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure and intense suffering among the population… Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah’s behaviour more than anything else”. [Giora Eiland, "The Third Lebanon War: Target Lebanon," Strategic Assessment (November 2008)]
Update from Finkelstein on the central issue here:
Israeli philosopher Asa Kasher, despite doing his utmost to defend the Gaza massacre, nonetheless said that “a democratic state...cannot use human beings as mere tools to create deterrence. Human beings are not tools to be used,” and that “killing for the sake of deterrence is something akin to terrorism.” Asa Kasher, “Operation Cast Lead and Just War Theory,” Azure (Summer 2009), p. 51; Asa Kasher, “A Moral Evaluation of the Gaza War,” Jerusalem Post (7 February 2010).
http://fwd4.me/06D2
Exclusive Intifada Interview with Greta Berlin – Free Gaza Movement
Free Gaza Movement founder Greta Berlin
Elias Harb interviews one of the leading voices in the movement to bring freedom to the people of Gaza.
Greta Berlin (France/US, English) has been an advocate for justice for the Palestinians since the early 60s. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine and is a 1948 refugee. She has an MFA in Theatre and
Free Gaza Movement founder Greta Berlin
a bachelor’s in English and, when she’s not working with the Palestinians, has spent the past 32 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations. In 2003, she volunteered with the ISM, working in several villages in the occupied West bank as well as manning their media office, then returned to work again in 2003, 05 and 07.
She is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement and was on board the FREE GAZA, the first boat with internationals to reach this besieged strip of the Mediterranean in 41 years. She then helped run three more successful voyages to Gaza between October 22 and December 23, 2008 working on the land crew and media in Cyprus, sending more than 50 human rights workers to Gaza on board the DIGNITY. She is available to speak in Europe or the U.S.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, May 31, showing a terrifying disregard for human life, Israeli naval forces surrounded and boarded ships sailing to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. On the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos opened fire on civilian passengers, killing at least 9 passengers and wounding dozens more. The final death toll is yet to be determined.
Elias Harb interviews Greta Berlin Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement
Elias Harb: Can you tell us what motivated you to the Palestinian Cause and the Free Gaza Movement and when was the movement founded?
Greta Berlin: I married a 1948 Palestinian refugee from Safad and have two Palestinian/American children. I’ve been part of justice for Palestine since 1967. Once you go and see what has happened to the Palestinians (I call them the final victims of WWII, because they have paid the price for what Europe did to the Jews), it is impossible to leave. I am no longer married, my children are grown, I am still working for justice.
The movement was founded in September/October 2006. A group of us were trying to figure out how to bring to the attention of the world what was happening in Gaza. One of the people working for justice for Palestine, Michael Shaik, emailed us and said, “OK. I have been thinking about this for a long time but am aware that I’m better at ideas than practicalities, so I’ll outline what I’d envisaged and let the rest of you do the sanity check. My plan was this: – Charter a big boat to sail from New York. Make it clear that its purpose is to “Break the Siege of Gaza” (that can be the slogan of the campaign). It is very important that the boat have a big send off with speeches by important people that will get it as much publicity as possible.” That kernel of an idea is what started the movement (of course, in a much smaller set of boats).
EH: How many times have the Free Gaza movement tried to break the Israeli siege and have you succeeded in getting any boasts into Gaza so far?
GB: The Freedom Flotilla was our 9th voyage. We successfully entered Gaza five times. This attempt was the fourth time we were stopped. If you look on our website under http://www.freegaza.org/en/boat-trips/passenger-lists, you will find the stories and passengers there.
EH: Israel declares that it had the legal right to confront the flotilla from reaching Gaza. Do you think there is any justification in that stance??
GB: Israel has no right to stop us under international law UNLESS it wants to admit that it occupies Gaza. Since Israel says it no longer occupies Gaza and Gaza is free, they have no right to stop us. In addition, the blockade is collective punishment against a civilian population that is WAY out of line. International law, Amnesty International and the International Red Cross have all said the same thing. Israel’s blockade is illegal. The illegal entity in the neighborhood is Israel, not us.
EH: Are there still passengers still held in Ashdod detention camp, and any updates on whereabouts of the missing passengers?
GB: There are no missing passengers, everyone is accounted for. There are no passengers held in Ashdod. There are, however, five very seriously injured passengers still in hospital, two are not expected to live…making the count really 11 murdered.
EH: Israel is saying that those on board the ships were violent terrorists not humanitarians. Israeli Prime Minister went so far to state that the Jewish state is a victim of an Iran-backed campaign to arm the Hamas rulers of Gaza with missiles that could hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. What is your position on that?
GB: Silly man. What do you expect from a man who is the head of a country founded on terrorism? Israelis think everyone is a terrorist, because that’s how they got their country originally. The only guns on board those six boats belonged to Israel. As far as the Free Gaza movement is concerned, we are a civilian organization that works with other civilians in Gaza such as PNGO and Al Aksa Hospital. Our cargo was designated for NGOs in Gaza and all cargo was inspected by maritime experts before it left port.
EH: Have there been any suits filed or are there plans for filing suits from countries or passengers of the Flotilla?
GB: Yes, and we are working on filing suits over the next few weeks
EH: Israel seized all cameras and communication equipment from flotilla passengers. Do you know of plans for getting personal property appropriated back from Israel?
GB: We have demanded all equipment and tapes be returned. They stole the equipment, ruined our cameras, shot several journalists who were trying to film the assault (killing one of them). We estimate that Israel stole over a million dollars of computers, cameras and phones. We also insist that our boats be returned. Israel still has our boat from last July when they hijacked it, kidnapped our passengers and hauled them into Israel for a week.
EH: Israel has announced it has eased the blockade on Gaza, Has the humanitarian Crises improved in Gaza, can you update on?
GB: Well, if you want ketchup and chocolate, then the blockade has been eased. If you want to rebuild your society, it has not. The people of Gaza want their freedom, not handouts from the international community. What right do they have to collectively punish a population of 1.5 million Palestinians for resisting occupation and for voting in one of the fairest elections held in the Middle East?
EH: Do you feel the Mainstream Media as a whole was fair in reporting the Israeli Israeli armed forces attack on the Gaza ‘Freedom Flotilla?’
GB: It was better than usual until the Israeli lobby started in on our occupied Congress. In Europe, everyone pretty much knows what Israel did was illegal. Unfortunately, Americans are still being lied to continuously.
EH: It seems pro-Israeli lobbies have succeeded in pressuring most members of U.S. Congress to declare that Israeli had a right to defend itself, despite the massacre of innocent civilians and violations of International law. Do human rights activists have an objective to get around the pro-Israeli support in Congress?
GB: We work on it all of the time. We had people show up at Brad Sherman’s meeting in a Temple (he’s the one who wants to arrest all of us). We had people show up in Congress dressed in prison garb ready to be arrested, people like Col. Ann Wright, Ramzi Kysia, Medea Benjamin. It will take a long time for Congress to shake itself loose from Zionist (both Christian and Jewish) influence.
EH: I read in witness Gaza.com that there is a Libyan boat headed for Gaza, do you have any new information on that Boat. Also are there any plans for a new flotilla in the near future?
GB: We do not have any connection to the Libyan boat since we do not deal with governments who want to send boats. Our organization is made up of people from civil society (although we certainly take members of Parliament) who work civilian to civilian. Yes, we are going again sometime in the fall.
E.H: Lastly, what gives you and all of those associated with The Free Gaza Movement so much courage to continue?
G.B: Hmmmmmm. I always say, “Never underestimate the power of pissed off women.” (but I suppose you want a better answer than that). Of the five founders, four are women. Of the nine members on the interim board, seven are women. Of the six people in the office in Cyprus when the massacres happened, five were women.
Women are a powerful force for justice and always have been.
EH: Thank you Greta Berlin
http://fwd4.me/06Cu
Knesset revokes Arab MK Zoabi's privileges over Gaza flotilla
In 34-16 vote, Knesset approves stripping Zoabi of three parliamentary privileges over Gaza flotilla; Zoabi: Knesset is punishing me out of vengeance.
The Knesset on Tuesday voted to revoke three parliamentary privileges from Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) due to her participation in the aid flotilla that sailed to Gaza in late May.
Thirty-four lawmakers voted in favor of stripping Zoabi's privileges and 16 voted against, after a heated debate, in which Zoabi accused her fellow lawmakers of punishing her out of vengeance.
The Knesset's House Committee previously recommended revoking Zoabi's privileges after she participated in the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which resulted in an IDF raid that killed nine activists.
"You are punishing me out of vengeance," Zoabi told fellow parliamentarians. "When you threaten the Arab MKs and the Arabs' protectors, you threaten democracy and co-existence between Jews and Arabs."
"I have the right and the duty to fight for my rights and my values," she continued, adding that "my positions are often different from those of the Likud, Kadima and most of the MKs. That’s why I don’t represent Kadima, the Labor Party or the Likud, but those who voted for me and in my case I represent the consensus of the Arab MKs."
"You have no freedom of choice with regards to the rules of democracy," Zoabi added. "There are fixed rules that do not change at whim. You do not need to protect democracy, but to protect me for democracy's sake."
Last week the Knesset committee recommended rescinding from Zuabi three key privileges, one of which is the privilege to exit the country – meant to prevent Zoabi from fleeing Israel if she commits a felony or has debts in Israel.
Another privilege to be rescinded is carrying a diplomatic passport, which according to the Knesset's legal adviser, is a privilege that does not grant diplomatic immunity so revoking it would not make it more difficult for Zoabi to fulfill her duties.
The third privilege is the right to have the Knesset cover litigation fees of an MK if he or she faces trial.
MK Yariv Levin (Likud), chairman of the Knesset committee that decided on rescinding her privileges, told Zoabi that she doesn’t belong in the Knesset.
"You have no place in the Israeli Knesset, you are unworthy of holding an Israeli ID and you embarrass the citizens of Israel, the Knesset, the Arab population and your family," he said.
Meanwhile, MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu) was escorted out of the hall after she handed Zoabi a lookalike Iranian passport with a photograph of her in it, saying that it will serve her on her diplomatic incitement trips.
"In every civilized country, a member of parliament who crosses the red line and identifies with the enemy and arming the enemy with weapons of mass destruction aimed at destroying his country's national foundations will not find in his pocket a diplomatic passport of the country he aims to destroy," Michaeli said.
"Ms. Zoabi, I take your loyalty to Iran seriously and I suggest you contact [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and ask him to give you an Iranian diplomatic passport that will assist you with all your diplomatic incitement tours, because your Israeli passport will be revoked this evening," she added and proceeded to hand Zoabi a lookalike Iranian passport that she had produced for her.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) interrupted Levin and said that the Knesset plenum was not the platform to express his personal feelings but rather the committee's decision.
Rivlin said: "I was not happy with Hanin Zoabi's actions, but if she broke an Israeli law may the Attorney General, who was solely and unequivocally given the power to decide, rise and press charges against her."
"We, as Knesset members, were chosen due to our beliefs. Today it is in our favor, and tomorrow it might not be; there is a complex ideological struggle between what was once left and right," Rivlin said, adding, "I believe that everyone should have the right to speak their minds, even if what they say hurts me."
The House Committee decision to recommend the rescinding of Zoabi's privileges was passed by a majority of seven to one, with MK Ilan Gilon of Meretz opposing.
The Balad party condemned the Knesset committee decision calling it "racist and anti-democratic."
"The MKs who incite against Zoabi spill her blood – they are calling on the public to harm her and following their decision, her life will be threatened," Balad said in a statement. "These MKs will be responsible for any harm that may be caused to her."
http://fwd4.me/05vo
14 juli 2010
7 flotilla victims wanted to be martyrs, report says
According to report, eight of the nine passengers belonged to the IHH radical Islamic group.
Seven out of the nine passengers who were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship on May 31 had expressed their desire to die before the flotilla set sail for the Gaza Strip, according to a report put out Tuesday by an Israeli research center.
According to the report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center – known as MALAM – eight of the nine passengers belonged to the IHH radical Islamic group and other Turkish organizations that, MALAM claimed, have a radical Islamic character. The report quoted a Turkish newspaper in which one of the passengers, 19-year-old Furqan Dogan, said that he wanted to be a martyr.
“These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid. Is there anything more beautiful than this?” the newspaper quoted from Dogan’s diary.
The MALAM report cited “growing evidence” that seven out of the nine passengers killed had “in one way or another” expressed their desire to die as martyrs aboard the flotilla.
The IDF has claimed that the nine were part of a group of mercenaries that attacked navy commandos with clubs, knives and metal bars as they boarded the ship’s upper deck.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=181358
They asked for it
by Norman Finkelstein
The Israeli Intelligence and Information Center has done a report on the flotilla raid saying that 7 out of 9 victims wanted to be martyrs.
Big news in Israel.
About the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Center:
In March 2010 the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released a voluminous refutation of the Goldstone Report.[i] It was based largely on “interrogations of terrorist operatives,” “reports from IDF forces,” “Israeli intelligence information,” and unverifiable and indecipherable photographic evidence. Despite ample evidence assembled by human rights organizations, the Israeli document denied that Gazans were suffering a humanitarian crisis before the Israeli attack (it blamed Hamas for the shortages that did arise);[ii] denied that the Israeli raid on Gaza on 4 November 2008 caused the breakdown of the ceasefire with Hamas;[iii] and denied that Israel used Palestinians as human shields.[iv]
It also falsely alleged that the Goldstone Report made “almost no mention of the brutal means of repression used by Hamas against its opponents”;[v] that the Report devoted “just three paragraphs” to Hamas’s “rocket and mortar fire during Operation Cast Lead” and downplayed Israeli civilian deaths;[vi] that the Report “absolved” Hamas “of all responsibility for war crimes”;[vii] that the Report gave “superficial” treatment to “the terrorists organizations’ use of civilians as human shields”;[viii] and that the Report relied on “the unreliable casualty statistics provided by Hamas.”[ix]
On more than one occasion the Israeli document tests the limits of chutzpah and credulity: it rebukes not Israel but Hamas for “unwillingness to cooperate with the [Goldstone] Mission,” and purports that “Hamas operatives would position innocent civilians near IDF tanks to prevent IDF soldiers from shooting at them.”[x] So, Hamas dragged Palestinian civilians to Israeli tank positions, ordered them to stay put, and then beat a retreat. Regrettably, the document never says if the civilians did stay put.
[i] Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Hamas and the Terrorist Threat from the Gaza Strip: The main findings of the Goldstone Report versus the factual findings (March 2010).
[ii] Ibid., p. 69.
[iii] Ibid., pp. IV, 8, 73, 80. Whereas a prior publication of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center had reported that Hamas was “careful to maintain the ceasefire,” and sought to “enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations”, in this document it is alleged that the ceasefire was “systematically and repeatedly violated by Hamas,” and Hamas “made no effective effort to impose the lull” on the other “terrorist organizations.” Still, its own graphs showed that just one rocket and one mortar were fired at Israel in October 2008 and it did concede that “the first five months of the lull were relatively quiet” (ibid., pp. 74, 79).
[iv] Ibid., p. IV.
[v] Ibid., pp. 3, 35 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1345-72).
[vi] Ibid., pp. 95, 97 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1604-6, 1610-36, 1647-74, 1682-91; the Report explicitly stated that “the impact on [Israeli] communities is greater than the numbers of fatalities and injuries actually sustained” (para. 1647)).
[vii] Ibid., pp. VIII, 57 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 1687-91). The document chastised the Goldstone Report for referring to “Palestinian armed groups” instead of explicitly implicating Hamas, but the Report reciprocally referred to “Israeli armed forces.”
[viii] Ibid., p. 120 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 475-98).
[ix] Ibid., pp. 315, 321-22 (cf. Goldstone Report, paras. 352-63). The document indulged the baseless speculation that Palestinian families seeking “financial compensation” might have reported deaths from “natural causes” as invasion-related (ibid., p. 322).
[x] Ibid., pp. 318, 196.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/they-asked-for-it.html[/b][/b] 6 jul 2011, 23:31 , Respect
Maria 14 juli 2010
Israel and the Flotilla Intifada
Yesterday, an Israeli military inquiry committee published a report about Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. While criticising "mistakes" made by the Israeli navy, such as its failure to coordinate with the Mossad before the raid and to properly plan the raid, the report is essentially a whitewash. Aside from these criticisms, it commends the raid. It does not hold the Israeli commandos involved culpable in any way for the deaths of nine people on board the Mavi Marmara, instead praising them for showing courage in their confrontation with unarmed activists, which it portrays as terrorists. This report suggests that Israel has learned no lessons from its murderous raid. Its image across the world has taken a battering and if it thought that it could deter any further aid convoys it was sorely mistaken.
Following the raid on the flotilla, new aid convoys are being planned. The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza is now organising a "Freedom Flotilla 2", which will set sail for Gaza in August. It will consist of more ships than the first one and carry 4,000 activists. An aid ship from Lebanon is on its way to Gaza via Cyprus. A Libyan aid ship, the Amalthea, organised by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation and carrying one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons is due to reach Gaza today but is been surrounded and forcibly diverted by the Israeli navy toward Egypt. In addition to the ships, there have been overland convoys. An Algerian aid convoy and a convoy organised by Egyptian opposition MPs entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing last month, but they were forced by the Egyptian authorities to leave their aid behind. A Jordanian overland convoy also began its journey to Gaza yesterday 14 July.
These aid missions have a very low chance of success. Those attempting to reach Gaza by sea are exposing themselves to great danger, as the Israeli government has shown that it is not averse to killing unarmed activists. Overland convoys trying to reach Gaza through the Rafah crossing almost invariably have their aid confiscated by the Egyptian authorities. The convoys to Gaza appear to be on a perilous and futile mission. Why then, do the activists of the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, the Free Gaza Movement, and the Turkish humanitarian group IHH, which has been so much maligned in the media, persist in their efforts to send aid to Gaza? The reason is that this is the only way to end the siege of Gaza. The European Union, the United States and the Arab countries, are all collaborating with the Israelis in the siege of Gaza, and while they are prepared to make occasional statements criticising it, they are not prepared to exert even the smallest amount of pressure on Israel to end the siege. When global public opinion turned against Israel after its raid on the flotilla, the U.N. Security Council refused to condemn the raid under U.S. pressure and the U.S. vice president, Joe Biden, defended Israel's actions. In order to placate world opinion, Israel announced that it would "ease" the blockade on Gaza. However this "easing" will have little effect on the lives of ordinary people in Gaza. Exports remain prohibited, crippling Gaza's economy. The import of building materials is still banned, ensuring that the damage done by Israel's war against Gaza – which destroyed 39% of Gaza's houses - goes unrepaired and that thousands of people remain homeless.
Israel's three year siege of Gaza has devastated that territory. 52% of children suffer from malnutrition. The water supply system has collapsed. 80% of the population live in poverty. However, the international community has shown that it is willing to tolerate this and with Israel's announcement of the "easing" of the blockade, international pressure on Israel has also eased. The United States and the European Union are willing to allow Israel to get away with meaningless gestures which will do nothing to alleviate the plight of the people of Gaza. However, the aid convoys will continue to keep the siege of Gaza in the global spotlight and keep up the pressure on Israel and the international community to lift the siege. Israel's image across the world is now in tatters thanks to the raid on the flotilla. The Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign is gaining momentum, particularly on the cultural level with actors and musicians cancelling concerts and appearances in Israel. With their perseverance and determination, the convoys will be able to make Israel's siege of Gaza unsustainable.
http://fwd4.me/06Rb
'Gaza blockade is legitimate'
Israel defended its right to stop aid ships headed for the Gaza Strip during a hearing of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva on Wednesday, AFP reported.
The two-day committee hearing began on Tuesday, discussing whether Israel was violating obligations under the UN treaty on civil and political rights.
"No ship can breach this blockade, be they civil or military ships. Whoever violates the blockade is heading for retaliation," Israeli envoy Sari Rubenstein reportedly told the Human Rights Committee. "The blockade is legitimate. Under international law... a blockade can be imposed on the sea," she added.
"These are not activists for peace, but messengers of death," Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar said, in reference to those aboard the Mavi Marmara, on the second day of the session.
"We cannot sweep aside with a stroke of the hand the application of the treaty [on civil and political rights] in the Palestinian territories," said a member of the committee, Christine Chanet, according to AFP's report.
The UN said Israel is responsible for Gaza's 1.5 million population as it controls access to its sea and air ports. Israel said it is not an occupier, because as it does not control territory within the Gaza Strip.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=181410
Flotilla journalists to sue Israel
More than 30 journalists were on board the flotilla when it was intercepted by Israel
A group of journalists has announced that it plans to sue Israel over its deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip in May.
Lawyers have already begun preparing lawsuits in several European countries, according to several of the journalists, who met in Istanbul on Wednesday. The group accused Israel of violating international law.
One of the nine people killed on board the Mavi Marmara, the main ship, was Cevdet Kulclar, a Turkish journalist.
Reporters who were on board the ships say the Israeli government never returned their equipment or passports, and that Israeli soldiers later used their credit cards.
An Italian journalist, Manolo Luppichini, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in June that his credit card was used to make NIS250 ($65) worth of purchases in Israel.
In a statement released after their meeting, the journalists said they are demanding compensation for their losses, the return of their equipment, and an international inquiry into Israel's treatment of the reporters on board the flotilla.
The group of more than 30 journalists includes reporters from Turkey, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Several of the journalist on board the ship were from Al Jazeera.
http://fwd4.me/06DJ
Israel's boat problem
Israel’s siege on Gaza essentially consists of one thing – surrounding the territory and controlling all exit and entry points. Logically, to break the siege you enter or exit the territory against Israel’s will. Exiting without permission is not an option, so on came the boats...
In theory it’s a simple, perhaps even genius idea. It started shortly after the siege began – back then Israel sporadically let in small boats carrying aid. Israel let them in because they had more to lose by stopping them than by allowing through a few lefty activists (and the odd politician) carrying a gratuitous amount of aid.
But the boats got bigger, and so too did the problem. Israel then decided the ships were a “security risk” and began intercepting them at sea to prevent them docking in Gaza. For many within the Israeli military, the mistake was made years ago when the boats were first allowed in – had they been stopped from the start, perhaps the blockade-busting boat idea would not have taken off and they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now.
Flotilla intifada
What happened onboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31 was nothing short of disastrous for Israel – it’s public image got a battering and its illogical policy of blocking food and supplies to people in Gaza was exposed. What was onboard that ship – wheelchairs and children’s books- revealed just how nonsensical and downright cruel the blockade was. Even Israel’s masters of spin struggled to explain why notepads were a security risk to the state.
The Foreign Ministry has been busy doing damage control from the botched flotilla raid. It’s almost there, but it's made very clear to the security establishment another boat blunder will throw away all its efforts. That puts the military in a bit of a predicament, because riding on the tail winds of the Mavi Marmara, is a summer boat (and convoy) intifada.
Following the raid on the flotilla, new aid convoys are already in the works. The European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza is organising a "Freedom Flotilla 2", due to set sail for Gaza next month. It’s said to consist of more ships than the first one and as many as 4,000 activists. An aid ship from Lebanon has been much delayed but organisers are still adament to get to Gaza. A Jordanian overland convoy also began its journey to the Strip this week.
What a difference a boat makes….
But apart from calling attention to the plight of Gazans, and making us all sudden maritime experts able to track down every ship in the Mediterranean with the click of a button – what difference will more ships make? In the weeks that followed the deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara, Israel announced it was “easing” the Gaza siege. What that actually meant was they were increasing the amount of food and supplies being let into the Strip via the land crossings they control and clarifying their policy on what is allowed in.
As the situation in Gaza is so desperate, even that was seen as quite an achievement.
But it’s worth considering it was a move in the works well before the Mavi Marmara set sail. Many months ago the Egyptians began building an underground wall that will effectively cut off the smuggling tunnels that run between Gaza and Egypt. If that wall was completed before the “ease” it would, quite simply, have starved Gaza. People there rely almost solely on the tunnels not just for food and cigaretters but for fuel, generators and other essentials. Israel was not going to allow 1.7 million people to starve on live TV. In short, something had to give before the wall was completed.
Consider too that one of the “gestures” the US was reportedly pressuring Israel to make to entice the Palestinian Authority to indirect peace talks (which the PA eventually agreed to in an apparent U-turn) was an easing of the Gaza siege. I’m not saying the flotilla had no impact on the decision to ease the siege, but it may have been more of a catalyst than an instigator.
Ship vs siege: Fair fight?
The real success of the flotilla should be seen within a wider context. It has become the beacon of a non-violent form of resisting Israel’s occupation that is making huge strides.
The current boycott movement in the West Bank is attracting attention – it’s an embarrassment for Israel casting a shadow over the democratic, moral state it purports to be with many comparing this boycott to the divestment policy against South Africa during apartheid in the 1980s.
Events onboard the Marmara ended in bloodshed and violence but the theory behind the flotilla was logical and peaceful. Israel is a highly militarized state. Dealing with violence is what it knows how to do best. An Israeli soldier confronted by a man holding a gun moving towards him knows exactly what to do. But swap that gun for a banner saying ‘Free Gaza’ and the soldier will panic. He was trained for combat not crowd control.
And that’s why whether it’s a ship, a boat, a truck or a plane, both the success and the danger of this movement lies in the way it plays so simply to Israel’s weakest point.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/07/14/israels-boat-problem
15 juli 2010
U.S. Government Considers Listing Turkish Charity As ‘Terrorists’
The US State Department is considering whether to designate a Turkish charity as a ‘terrorist group’ after the organization sent a ship of medical and school supplies to the Gaza Strip in May.
The aid ship was attacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, and nine aid workers, including one US citizen, were killed.
The Foundation for Human Rights and Humanitarian Relief is a Muslim charity based in Turkey that funds humanitarian aid missions to troubled and impoverished places around the world.
Formed in 1992 with the goal of assisting Muslims in Bosnia, the charity has branched out to many places, including Lebanon, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and the Palestinian territories.
Although the Israeli-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center says the Turkish charity is quote “a radical Islamic organization with an anti-Western orientation," the group has never been linked to any violent activities or groups.
When the aid ship was attacked by the Israeli navy in May, the U.S. Congress issued a statement declaring full support for the Israeli act of piracy, and the Obama administration did not criticize the attack.
Despite the fact that smuggled video footage shows passengers being killed execution-style by Israeli commandos, the U.S. government has continued its policy of unquestioning support of the Israeli attack.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59132
19 juli 2010
Syria and Turkey insist on int'l inquiry into flotilla
Syria and Turkey issued a joint statement Monday insisting on the need for an international inquiry of the May 31 Gaza-bound flotilla, which was boarded by Israeli commandos and resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens.
Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and declared the need for an investigation into the "crime committed by Israel against the Turkish flotilla."
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri also attended the meeting.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=181945
20 juli 2010
Israel rescinds travel warning on Turkey
Counter-Terrorism Bureau announces it is now safe to travel to Turkey, despite government's anti-Israel comments; however Israelis warned to stay away from mass rallies, avoid political arguments
The Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Tuesday cancelled a travel warning issued on Turkey after the calamitous IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in May.
The bureau issued a statement saying the warning had been withdrawn due to a "calm and lack of mass rallies against Israel".
No Fear
However the bureau recommended that Israelis residing in Turkey "stay away from any rally that may be, and refrain from getting into political arguments with locals".
Elkana Har-Nof, an official with the bureau, told Ynet that the cancelation of the warning means "Israelis can now travel to this country without fear".
He said the decision to post the warning came after the slew of anti-Israel rallies held in Turkey after the flotilla raid.
"The warning was not based on intelligence but rather a fear that the mass rallies there, which were rather outspoken, will deteriorate to violence against Israelis," he said.
"Since then, for the past month and a half, there have been no rallies, and from an intelligence point of view no terror threats are known of."
Har-Nof qualified his statement, however, by saying that "tomorrow morning something new could develop", and warned Israelis against getting caught up in unnecessary political demonstrations.
"The rules of behavior for the entire world apply there as well: Don't stand out, don't speak Hebrew in problematic areas and don't bear any sign of Israeli identity," he said.
The cancelation of the warning was unexpected, as the Turkish government continues to improve ties with Lebanon and Syria. On Monday Damascus hosted a summit attended by leaders from the three countries, in which they called for increased efforts at "ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip".
http://fwd4.me/08y7
'South Africa to reinstate Israel envoy, after recalled over Gaza flotilla'
Israeli Navy personnel board one of the ships of the Gaza aid flotilla on Monday May 31, 2010.
Government reiterates call for international probe and end to Gaza siege, but says ambassador needed to monitor developments in Middle East.
South Africa has decided to reinstate its ambassador to Israel nearly two months after recalling him to protest the deadly naval raid on a Turkish-flagged ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, AFP reported on Tuesday.
In its statement to that effect, the South African foreign ministry said that it would still support calls for international probe into the commando raid that killed nine Turkish citizens on May 31.
"South Africa reiterates its call that any investigation should be a 'prompt, impartial, credible and transparent', in line with UN recommendations," said the statement, adding that it urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip "which is causing untold suffering to thousands of innocent civilians."
South Africa had decided to send Ambassador Ismail Coovadia back to Tel Aviv so that he could monitor developments in the Middle East, the statement clarified.
http://fwd4.me/08y5
22 juli 2010
Gaza flotilla sponsor IHH responds to "slanderous, fabricated" allegations in NY Times article
The Turkish nongovermental organization IHH, which sponsored the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which was attacked and hijacked by Israel in international waters on 31 May 2010, killing 9 and injuring dozens, has responded to a recent article in the New York Times.
The IHH response, written by attorney Ugur Yildirim demands corrections to the "unsubstantiated, almost slanderous, and fabricated comments," it says are contained in the article.
One of the false allegations in the NY Times article is that "Germany banned the charity’s offices, citing its support for Hamas, which Germany considers a terrorist organization."
In fact, Germany banned an organization called "Internationale Humaniterien Hilfs Organizatione" which while it also goes by the same initials "IHH" is not the same organization.
On the link is a copy of the full IHH letter to the New York Times, which I received via email from IHH's information department.
http://fwd4.me/09fy
23 juli 2010
Palestinian passports for flotilla activists
ACTIVIST FIACHRA Ó Luain, who travelled on the Challenger 1 as part of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, said he had been offered and would accept a Palestinian passport.
A spokesman for the General Delegation of Palestine in Ireland confirmed passports and honorary citizenship had been offered to all those who participated in the flotilla last month.
“It’s an honour to be offered the passport and honorary citizenship. I don’t feel I’ve done enough to deserve it. It only redoubles my determination to help bring about a complete end to the siege of Gaza,” Mr Ó Luain said.
He said his Irish passport was detained by Israeli officials at Ben Gurion airport when he was deported from Tel Aviv in June. It was subsequently returned.
Mr Ó Luain said he would not now relinquish his Irish passport.
“However, I may in my next meeting with [Minister for Foreign Affairs] Micheál Martin ask him to keep my Irish passport until such time as I’m satisfied he’s taken all necessary action to guarantee the safety of Irish passports.”
Dr Fintan Lane of the Free Gaza Movement said he regarded as “genuine” the offer from the Palestinian Authority.
“Our official position is it’s up to individual participants on the flotilla to decide whether or not to accept the offer,” he said. “We see it as an act of appreciation from Palestine. We accept some people might have political differences with the Palestinian Authority and consequently might decide not to avail of the offer. Other people won’t. It’s meant to be a positive gesture. We are not suggesting people do one thing or the other.”
Dr Lane said the offer had been relayed to the Irish flotilla participants through a Turkish organisation also involved– the foundation for human rights and freedoms and humanitarian aid (IHH).
Hufeyan Oruc, who described himself as an IHH board member, said: “It’s true. The Palestinian Authority said, you have done very important things for Palestine. We want to accept you as a Palestinian citizen. We don’t know if it’s actual citizenship or honorary citizenship. In any case, we will accept.”
Earlier this month, Mr Ó Luain called for Irish economic and diplomatic sanctions against Israel. Mr Martin has said this would be futile and counter-productive.
http://fwd4.me/0CF0
Three Spaniards file charges over Israel flotilla raid
The activists say the move broke international law
Two Spanish activists and a journalist arrested in a raid by Israel on a Gaza-bound flotilla are filing charges against Israel's prime minister.
The three accuse Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, six cabinet ministers and the navy commander of illegal detention, torture and deportation.
They claim the move contravened international law.
Earlier, Israel said it would return the three Turkish vessels it had seized during the raid on 31 May.
Nine Turkish activists died when Israeli marines attacked the flotilla, sparking an international outcry.
The pro-Palestinian convoy was carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid for Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's blockade of the territory.
Laura Arau, Manuel Tapial and David Segarra, who were on the Mavi Marmara ship, say they were held illegally in international waters by Israeli forces, tortured and forcibly deported to Turkey.
Spanish courts are yet to accept the case.
'No conditions'
Meanwhile, Israel has announced it will return three ships that were part of the convoy to Turkey, Israeli public radio has reported.
Turkey had already been informed of the decision by the inner cabinet in Jerusalem, the report said.
Talks to return the cruise ship Mavi Marana and two other vessels were held up by Israel's demand that the ships' owners should sign guarantees that they would not mount new aid missions to Gaza.
However, the inner cabinet decided to return the vessels without further conditions, an Israeli official is reported to have said.
The incident soured relations between Israel and Turkey, which withdrew its ambassador and suspended joint military exercises after the raid.
Turkey has also demanded an apology, which Israel has refused to issue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10741416
UN names Gaza raid investigation team
The UN Human Rights Council appointed a team of international experts today to investigate a raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
The fact-finding team comprises three independent experts - Sir Desmond de Silva (Britain), Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia) - a UN statement said.
The 47-member forum voted to set up the inquiry last month to look into what it called violations of international law in Israel's attack in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0723/breaking39.html
Ex-UN prosecutor De Silva on panel to investigate Israeli flotilla raid
GENEVA-The UN Human Rights Council appointed former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva and two other people on Friday to investigate Israel's May 31 forcible boarding of a boat bringing aid to the Gaza Strip.
A statement said the British lawyer will be joined by Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam in examining whether Israel violated international law.
Israel has refused to co-operate with previous investigations ordered by the 47-nation council.
Eight Turks and one Turkish American were killed in the raid on a flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade on Gaza.
Israel says its naval commandos were acting in self-defence after being attacked by pro-Palestinian activists, and an Israeli military report concluded last week that flawed intelligence-gathering and planning led to the deadly encounter.
The report praised the commandos who took part in the operation and said they were justified in opening fire.
There is an investigation going on by Israel and it should be allowed to continue to do its job,Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David said.
He didn't say if Israel would co-operate with the UN council's investigation.
Two more blockade-busting ships are planning to sail to Gaza, this time from Lebanon, though precise dates have yet to be released.
In a statement Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called this an uncalled-for provocation, like previous flotillas. He said Israel would stop the ships if they refused to sail to a southern Israeli port. The cargo, he said, could be transferred from there to Gaza, except for weapons, ammunition or other items with military uses.
Barak said he held the Lebanese government responsible for making sure that the ships respect the blockade.
http://fwd4.me/0CEV
24 juli 2010
Israel to Release Flotilla Ships And Prepare For Lawsuit
Tall Aviv –PNN- Israel agreed to return the Turkish ships it captured during the deadly Gaza Flotilla Raid. Israel killed nine activists in international water on May 31 and will now face a lawsuit for its actions.
ImageIsrael faced international condemnation for its violent actions against the humanitarian-aid carrying flotilla earlier this summer. The ships attempted to break Israel's three year blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the inauguration of democratically-elected Hamas.
Israeli has held three captured Turkish ships at the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifi despite Turkey's numerous demands for the their return. However on Friday, Israel agreed to release the captured boats, presumably in an effort to appease the Turkish government, media sources report.
Previously, Israel said it would only return the boats if Turkey guaranteed that they would never again be used in a Gaza flotilla effort. Yet on Friday, no such condition was mandated, Haaretz reports.
The boat return comes four days after the Israeli army released its investigation on the Gaza flotilla raid. Maj Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland made no apologies for Israeli's violent actions:
"To my relief, the investigation found no negligence or failures on any significant matters, and that it was due to mistakes made at the relatively top levels that caused the results to be different from what was planned," Eiland said according to Haaretz.
Three discontented Spanish activists affiliated with the Gaza flotilla will pursue a lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his forum of top six cabinet ministers and the Israel Navy. Their 83-page document includes complaints of illegal arrest and unwanted force, the Republica newspaper reports.
It is suspected that nine other lawsuits will be filed by European countries outraged by the raid in addition to a United Nations Human Rights Council investigation headed by the former president of the International Criminal Court, Canadian Philippe Kirsch
http://fwd4.me/0CEW
Watch Video: UN To Investigate The Flotilla Attack
(2:13) UN To Investigate The Flotilla Attack
The President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Friday appointed three pre-eminent experts to an independent international fact-finding mission to "investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance" on 31 May.
ImageAmbassador Phuangketkeow made the announcement of the appointment of the three experts.
"Well we have three very qualified people in the international independent fact finding mission. The first person is Mr. Karl T. Hudson-Philips. He is a former Judge with the International Criminal Court and he was also the Minister of Legal Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. The second person is Sir. Desmond de Silva, he's a Queen's Counsel, he comes from the United Kingdom and he was the Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court on Sierra Leone. And the third person is a lady from Malaysia, and her name is Mary Shanthi Dairiam, and she is known for her background in Human Rights and she was also a member of the CEDAW, The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.” Phuangketkeow announced.
The establishment of the independent international fact-finding mission was decided on 2 June 2010 through a Human Rights Council resolution. The Council had previously held an urgent debate on the raid on the Flotilla by Israeli navy, which left nine aid workers killed and 54 injured. The attack took place while the aid ships was sailing in international waters.
"The members of the panel were selected on the basis of the qualification that they have especially in the areas of international law, human rights and humanitarian law, but the main consideration was that these three persons are known for their independence, their impartiality, their integrity which I think is very important in successfully carrying out their mission." Phuangketkeow, UNHRC President, added.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8570&Itemid=63
25 juli 2010
Israel: We won't assist 'obsessive' UN Gaza flotilla probe
Decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week.
Israel does not intend to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council's investigation into Israel's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of May. The raid resulted in nine deaths.
According to a senior Israeli official, the sense at the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office is that cooperating with the investigative committee would only confer legitimacy upon the UNHRC, which has consistently acted against Israel.
"This is an unnecessary committee," the official said, "which is the product of an obsession with Israel."
The decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week. It is believed it will be accompanied, however, by a decision to cooperate with a separate flotilla committee acting on behalf UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The secretary general's team is expected to examine the conclusions of Israel's Turkel Committee as well as the results of a Turkish investigation into the flotilla incident.
Although the decision by the Human Rights Council to look into the case was made two months ago, the makeup of its investigative panel was only announced Friday. The committee will consist of Desmond de Silva of Britain, the former chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal on events in the African country of Sierra Leone; International Criminal Court judge Karl Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, a women's rights activist.
The three-member panel is to submit its conclusions by mid-September, before which it is expected to try and visit Israel, Gaza and Turkey. In light of Jerusalem's expected decision not to cooperate with the panel, it is not thought the members will be allowed into Israel.
Over the weekend, Israel prepared for a possible attempt by another flotilla, this time from Lebanon, to run the Gaza naval blockade. Syria and Hezbollah are thought to be organizing the flotilla in an effort to divert international attention from the imminent release of conclusions from an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent a message to Lebanon over the weekend demanding the government there stop the flotilla. The Lebanese government, however, vehemently denied that any such flotilla is in the offing.
The country's transportation minister, Ghazi al-Aridi, told the daily Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar he was unaware of any such plans. He said that if he did ever receive such a request, it would be considered based on applicable laws and regulations. Al-Aridi added that Lebanon supports the Palestinians, but is committed above all to observing international law.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to release the Mavi Marmara and two other Turkish ships that were part of the flotilla at the end of May and had been towed to port in Israel. Despite earlier demands that the ships' owners promise the vessels would not be used in future Gaza-bound flotillas, the three Israeli leaders decided to release the ships unconditionally.
http://fwd4.me/0Aqa
Israel Rejects UN Plan to Probe Flotilla Raid
The Mavi Marmara ship, the lead boat of a flotilla headed to the Gaza Strip which was stormed by Israeli naval commandos in a predawn confrontation, sails into the port of Ashdod, Israel, 31 May 2010 (file photo)
A United Nations body is moving ahead with an investigation of the deadly flotilla incident off the coast of the Gaza Strip in late May, despite Israeli opposition.
Israel has rejected a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Israeli raid on a Gaza aid flotilla two months ago. Commandos stormed the ships as the vessels tried to run the Israeli blockade. Nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
Israel faced world outrage, and the U.N. demanded an international investigation. But Israel refused, on grounds that a U.N. report on the Gaza War last year was biased. The Goldstone Report accused Israel of war crimes and rejected Israeli claims that the army acted in legitimate self-defense after years of Palestinian rocket attacks.
"I definitely suggest that we don't give in on any demands that would demand creating something like a Goldstone II, or anything of the kind, because we already have bitter experience," said Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein.
Instead, Israel has launched two of its own inquiries: a closed one by the military, and the other a civilian probe with foreign observers.
"We have an Israeli committee investigating, checking what exactly happened, and international observers joining the committee, watching the work of the committee. So the truth will not only be obvious to us but later to the whole world," added Edelstein.
Israel has said that commandos acted in self-defense after they were attacked by activists wielding clubs and knives aboard the flotilla. But the U.N. Human Rights Council says an independent investigation is necessary to look into what it called Israeli "violations of international law."
http://fwd4.me/0AqZ
26 juli 2010
UN Promises Delivery of Freedom Flotilla Cargo to Gaza
London, July 26, 2010, Six weeks after the Freedom Flotilla ships were forcibly boarded in international waters, their passengers illegally jailed and the cargo impounded by the Israeli authorities, the office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO) has promised to deliver the full humanitarian aid cargo to UN. agencies in Gaza.
“The cargo finally being processed for delivery this week consists of supplies prevented by Israel from entering Gaza for the last three years. On the MV Rachel Corrie, the cargo ship of the Free Gaza Movement, we were carrying 20 tons of paper, plus pens & books for schools & universities, over 50 tons of medical supplies & 550 tons of cement for Al Shifa Hospital. Instead of docking in Gaza & distributing the supplies to the intended recipients, Israel impounded cargo, searched, then handed over to an overburdened UN, who can give no guarantees that it will get to the intended schools or NGO's." said Niamh Moloughney, coordinator of the Free Gaza Movement – Ireland.
The Rebuilding Alliance, one of the U.S. organizations to place humanitarian cargo on the Rachel Corrie is none-the-less hopeful that the backpacks, sports equipment, and building materials donated by hundreds of Americans will be delivered to the designated Gaza non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) .
“When we first learned of the Freedom Flotilla, we asked our partner NGO’s in Gaza what we could send that would matter most to them, given the 3 year-long blockade,” said Donna Baranski-Walker, Executive Director of the Rebuidling Alliance, a San Mateo CA-based nonprofit. “They asked Americans to send messages to children, along with backpacks, sports equipment, and cement to build a kindergarten.”
Added Ms. Moloughney, “Israel has insisted that cargo be brought into Ashdod for delivery, but this ignores the overall illegitimacy of Israel's closure policy. It also means that once more Israel profits from its illegal acts. The 'easing' of the blockade means nothing to families whose homes and businesses are still in ruins and allows them only to be consumers of Israeli goods."
The Free Gaza Movement repeats that only a complete end to Israel's punitive closure policy will suffice in starting to repair the economy of this decimated slice of the Mediterranean, the only territory in the world that does not have access to its own sea.
“We ask people throughout the world to press their governments to open Gaza, not just for aid but for movement and trade as well, to truly end the collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population,” said Huwaida Arraf, chair of the Free Gaza Movement. “That’s why we will continue to send ships to Gaza loaded with civilian supplies Israel refuses to allow into Gaza – and on return, fill our ships with goods from Gaza for export. We look forward to international cooperation in developing a sea route certification system to assure aid, fair trade and the safety of all.”
Israel continues to hold all of the vessels that it illegally commandeered, including the seven ships of the Freedom Flotilla, as well as the Spirit of Humanity, which Israel hijacked in June 2009.
http://fwd4.me/0CF9
Israel Slams UNHRC Flotilla Probe
Israel has criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for appointing what it calls a biased committee to probe Tel Aviv's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
An unnamed Israeli official in an interview with AFP on Sunday called the three-member fact-finding panel as "biased."
He further alleged that the council's team of experts intended to satisfy an anti-Israeli majority that controls the body.
The UNHRC on Friday appointed former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam to investigate the May 31 attack in which Israeli commandos killed nine peace activists and injured many others.
The panel of experts would investigate whether the commando operation breached international law.
The UN body described the panel as "completely unbiased," urging Israel to cooperate. Tel Aviv has refused to collaborate with previous investigations conducted by the UN body.
The Human Rights Council condemned the incident during an emergency session days after the operation and decided to set up a commission of inquiry.
The three-member panel is due to present its findings in mid-September.
http://fwd4.me/0CF8