June 2, Page 3

EDITOR: And Now for the Hollywood movie of the IDF vs Al Qaida on the High Seas…

Israeli propaganda has now moved into overdrive. The scripts have been written, the narratives have been prapared for those in the west who need to believe in fiction, and deny reality. Israeli academics were sent a kit of Propaganda materials, and asked to do the job abroad and with the media. You can read parts of this bizarre kit below. The dailies, and especially Yediot Aharonot, the most-read evening paper, is blue for all the flag waving on its pages. Interviews with the soldiers who ‘saved Israel’ from an attack of of Al Qaida opertaives are covering every page, are carpeting radio and television in Israel.

Of course, this is the result of the ‘fiasco’ as some of its critics in the Israeli media called it. In order to cover up murder and lunacy and to counter the survivors’ stories, they have to crank up the lie machine to full volume. And who is going top believe them? The gullibles in the Jewish community, the BBC, and Obama, who, while being too intleligentfor this stuff, is still going to support them to the hilt, if his silence and the US vote against an inquiry are evidence of the ‘thinking’ in Washington. For those good people who still expected something from this smoke-and-mirrors man, this last twist should clarify the picture. Gone is the new politics, the Cairo speech, the New World of Change, and instead we have the black president with a ‘White Man’s burden’… Sad, indeed, but far from surprising. Put your pennies on any horse, but not on this one. It will go nowhere fast, and bring nothing by prevarication, denial of rights and justice in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the coninuation of imperialist wars. Watch this space.

3 flotilla fatalities ‘dreamt of martyrdom’: YNet

Before boarding the Marmara, Ali Khaider Benginin told his family he dreamt of becoming a shahid. Turkish press reports two other slain flotilla participants expressed similar wish. A Dutch activist arrested on flotilla suspected of ties with Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood
Aviel Magnezi
Published: 06.02.10, 16:27
The Gaza flotilla organizers insist that all activists killed on board the Marmara ship were innocent peace activists. However, new reports reveal a completely different picture.

Media reports in Ankara on Wednesday revealed that three out of the four Turkish citizens that were killed during the raid declared their wishes to become shahids (martyrs). Another Dutch report claimed a Dutch activist, who was arrested by the IDF is suspected of being a senior Hamas operative.
In an interview with Turkish newspaper Haber, the family members of Ali Khaider Benginin (39), resident of east Turkey’s Kurdistan region, revealed their relative’s true intentions.

“I am going to be a shahid; I dreamt I will become a shahid – I saw in a dream that I will be killed,” Benginin told his family before leaving for the sail.
According to the report, beniginin, who graduated from al-Azhar University in Cairo, served for the past two years as the chairman of a foundation for rights and freedom in education and culture. His family noted that he had spoken in the past about his dream to become a shahid in Gaza.
Another Turkish citizen killed during the raid, Ali Akhbar Iritilmis (55), a father of four from Ankara, was active in the IHH organization, which led the naval convoy to Gaza. “He was devoted to this activity, and always dreamt about becoming a shahid,” said his close friend Mehmet Faruq Cheber.
Anadolu News Agency reported that the third activist killed on boards the Marmara, Ibrahim Bilgen (61), an engineer and father of six, was active in the Islamic party in southern Turkey. “He was a role model to all of us; a true philanthropist. Therefore, it suited him to die a shahid’s death. Allah gave him the death he wanted,” said Ibrahim’s brother, Nuri Mergen.

The fourth slain activist, Muharram Kuchak, was also a volunteer with the IHH.

The three Turkish “shahids,” as it turns out, were not alone. Holland-based Teltarif newspaper reported Wednesday morning that Amin Abou Rashed, 43, and Anne de Jong, 29, are probably the only two Dutch citizens that were arrested among the flotilla participants.
The newspaper’s investigation revealed incriminating details from Abou Rashed’s past; intelligence sources claimed he is the local Hamas leader, while the Muslim Brotherhood’s website identified him as one of the organizers of the naval convoy.
According to Teltarif’s report, Dutch intelligence services have been following Abou Rashed’s activities for a long time. He worked, among other places, with al- Aqsa Foundation, suspected of acting under the guise of a charity, while funneling its donations to Hamas.

An Email from an Israeli university professor:

Various Israeli official bodies, including the ministry for Hasbara [i.e. propaganda] have sent messages to Israeli citizens urging them to take an active part in the “propaganda war”. They are told not to ask questions but rather to spread the official messages in every possible way in the virtual world: talkbacks, forums, Facebook etc.. I have the material which is mostly in Hebrew. Although every citizen was asked to use the languages he knows. The attached file is in English. It would be nice if some of you can publish it on the net in order to unveil this coordinated campaign.

To read propaganda file use link

EDITOR: The voice of truth

Former US Ambassador Edward Peck, serving as a diplomat under eight US presidents, who was on the boat where the murders happened, speaks for an hour about the brutality and and madness of the operation. His critique of the US position and of President Obama is clear, searing and very fair. view and distribute link widely.

Former US Ambassador Edward Peck: Democracy Now

Israel’s Explanation for Deadly Gaza Aid Attack “Full of Holes as a Window Screen”–Former US Ambassador Edward Peck
Former US Ambassador Edward Peck was on the Gaza aid flotilla that came under attack by Israeli forces. At least nine people were killed and dozens wounded. Peck says Israel’s explanation for the attack is “twisting the truth” and is “as full of holes as a window screen.” [includes rush transcript]

US and the Middle East: Holed below the water line: The Guardian Editorial

Work has to finally start on rebuilding a peace process worthy of the name
Day two of the aftermath of Operation Sea Breeze, and it was anything but. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, flew back from the US, postponing a kiss-and-make-up session with Barack Obama to discuss the Israeli premier’s pet subject, Iran. Egypt opened its border with Gaza, as much to give vent to domestic anger as to provide temporary relief to its hapless neighbours. The UN huffed and puffed, as the first eyewitness accounts of what happened on the high seas on Monday morning began to emerge. “There was a plan, and they went according to the plan,” concluded Annette Groth, a German politician on board the Mavi Marmara. “They created terror and were shooting without warning. They wanted to demonstrate their power and demonstrate if you want to go to Gaza, don’t even try it.” An Israeli cabinet meeting demanded a probe into a decision which seven of its most senior members took. Don’t hold your breath.

None of this matters. The real question is: will anything change? Or will the deaths of those on board the convoy pass loudly but swiftly into history, as the killings of Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and James Miller have before them? The few clues around yesterday were all depressing ones. Opening the Egyptian border temporarily to humanitarian aid is gesture politics. What Gaza wants is what was in those ships – concrete, steel, building materials with which to repair the damage inflicted by Israel’s punishment raid last year. But as an Egyptian security source told Reuters, those are the last things that will be let through the Rafah crossing. “Hard materials” will still have to go through Israel. No change there.

Nor was there any discernible movement in the UN security council debate. Turkey, whose citizens had been killed by Israeli naval commandos, proposed a statement condemning Israel for violating international law, demanding a UN investigation and the prosecution of those responsible. What did the administration of the man who promised a new approach to the Middle East do? It went back to the old approach. The US watered down Turkey’s just demands, so the shootings became “acts”, and blame was neatly apportioned to both sides. Alejandro Wolff, the deputy permanent representative of the US on the council, said the direct delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea was neither appropriate nor responsible. Forget the signals that words like these send to Gazans. They are used to them. The next time Barack Obama appeals to the Muslim world it will be to deaf ears, and for this his administration has only got itself to blame.

As Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East programme, said yesterday, the international community has been complicit in a policy of isolating Gaza and weakening Hamas – a policy that he called both morally appalling and politically self-defeating. Yesterday there was scant sign of Washington abandoning an approach which has repeatedly failed.

The reason is that so many other failing US policies depend on it: the support for a beleaguered Palestinian Authority as the sole representative of Palestinians; the attempt to talk up the work of one man without a party, the prime minister Salam Fayyad, as transformative; and proximity talks which will never be able to bridge the gap between the maximum Mr Netanyahu can give and the minimum even a weakened Palestinian leader like Mahmoud Abbas can accept. One error of judgment reinforces another, and another, and another. Meanwhile the settlements keep on growing.

As the edifice underpinning these misjudgments starts to fall apart, work has to finally start on rebuilding a peace process worthy of the name: one based on dealing with both wings of the Palestinian national movement without preconditions. That is the only realistic way out of this morass.

Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill: The Guardian CiF

The power of public opinion – and the internet – will be a major factor in how the flotilla disaster shapes Istanbul’s diplomacy
by Fadi Hakura
Turkey has traditionally enjoyed a close – albeit quiet – relationship with Israel since diplomatic ties were established in 1949. Mirroring the general climate in the Middle East, relations between the two countries experienced a trough after the 1967 war, peaked following the 1990s Middle East peace process and deteriorated since Israel’s 2008 military operations in Gaza. Coming soon after the diplomatic spat over the treatment of Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, the tragic loss of Turkish lives when Israeli commandos stormed the flotilla en route to Gaza, has sent a deepening chill over those once-strategic ties. While barriers between Turkey and Israel are proliferating, they are tumbling down with neighbouring Syria, Iran and the Gulf Arab region. In recent years, Turkey has lifted visa restrictions with Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, signed countless agreements with Arab countries, and launched a strategic dialogue with Arab governments.

The emergence of Turkey in the Middle East has been marked by a palpable shift to the Arab world and Iran for a variety of reasons. One is economic interests: Turkey’s annual trade with Israel stands at $2.5bn compared with over $30bn with Iran and the Arab countries. At the same time, Turkey imports almost a fifth of its natural gas consumption from Iran.

The power of graphic, real-time media images streaming from Israel’s 2006 and 2008 wars in Lebanon and Gaza respectively, or from the raid on the flotilla, has clearly inflamed Turkish popular reactions.

Yet the key reason for the shift is the continuing democratisation of Turkish society. It was previously the norm for the Turkish state establishment to ignore, or downgrade, the influence of public opinion on foreign policy. That is no longer the case. Today, as Turkey proceeds along the path of greater democracy and civilian rule, public opinion is becoming a crucially important ingredient in foreign policy choices.

As far as it is decipherable from surveys, Turkish public opinion is quite hostile to Israel and the United States. It seems that Turks have a deep distrust of both countries, feelings that will be bolstered by the loss of Turkish lives. Conversely, however, it would be premature to assume that Turks necessarily desire overtly warm ties with Iran and the Arab world. They normally cite Europe, and particularly Germany, as the region that they most trust in international affairs, despite repeated obstacles bedevilling Turkey’s EU accession process.

These survey results, therefore, point to an intriguing and realistic understanding by the Turkish public on the future of Turkey in the Middle East. They appear to want closer relations with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia without sacrificing integration efforts with Europe, nor getting overly entangled in the Middle East. In fact, that understanding matches two important lessons drawn from recent events. Prime among such lessons is that Turkey is not the only major player in the Middle East. There are multiple players – ranging from the US and Israel to Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia – with sometimes converging interests, and on other occasions competing goals. That’s why not only the US, but also some Gulf Arab states, did not exhibit any enthusiasm for the Turkish-Brazilian deal with Iran to swap 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium for higher-grade uranium.

Similarly, Turkey has thus far resorted to diplomatic protests against Israel – from withdrawing its ambassador and releasing robust and muscular statements to securing a vague condemnation from the UN security council. In other words, Turkey has not threatened any military retaliation. Nor has Turkey opted for a complete breakdown of relations with Israel, which is a real possibility, though not a forgone conclusion.

Another important lesson is that Turkey’s capacity does not always match its foreign policy ambitions. Turkey is still a maturing democracy with a developing economy, which places strict limitations on its abilities to project power in the Middle East. Consequently, the complications of the Middle East require a delicate balancing of capacity and ambitions as well as carefully defining priorities. Nuance is the one word most relevant to Turkey’s foreign policy.

Continue reading June 2, Page 3

June 2, 2010, Page 2

EDITOR: The Lunatic State of the Jewish State

In Israel, as well as abroad, the full lunacy and vileness of this latest Israeli war crime is becoming clear to all who can read. Israeli propaganda has worked overtime, based on the kidnapping of the activists, isolating them from the whole world, confiscating all their material evidence, on top of the brutalities of maiming and murdering many of them. This meant that for the last few days, only the the voice of Israeli propaganda was available to the international media. Fictional narratives, more complex than most Hollywood scripts, were woven and reinforced by what must be the largest propaganda machine anywhere.

Of course, this matter little now. The facts are now coming out, and many inquiries will be conducted and will establish the full horror of this murderous piracy. The world will not be fooled by this anymore. In Israel, however, the public, and the elites are fully behind this latest crime, as they always were behind the ones committed before. They no longer matter, of course. Anyone waiting for internal transformation must be seriously delusional; there shall be no such change ever – the change will come from outside, from the outraged millions, who watch disbelievingly as their own governments, yet again, do nothing to stop mayhem, murder and lawlessness by the Israeli regime. It is interesting to note that the public support of the Israelis for the war crimes committed in their names everywhere – in Beirut, in Gaza, in the rest of Palestine, in Dubai, and now on the high seas, not for the first time – is much higher than that enjoyed by the apartheid regime in its heyday! Israel is a Jewish military democracy, for Jews only, and as such, all its Jewish citizens are responsible for what is done in their name, unless they act against the crimes. Because of this continued unstinting support, there is no hope for change in Israel, and we should not expect it or try to bring it about. It is a waste of time and effort – Israelis are living in a parallel universe, where normal legalities do not exist, and morality is absent, where racism and apartheid are still ruling the day.

The change will come from us, from the enraged and caring millions, angry with the duplicity of their own governments and their collusion with Israeli crimes; the international community is now realising it is up to all of us to do what many did during the apartheid days – to isolate and ostracise and isolate this pariah military and piratical regime, this State of Lunacy and lawlessness. We will all need to stop any relationship with this entity of crime: no products to be purchased, no touring in Israel, no conferences there, no invites and collaboration with Israeli academics and institutions who do not declare their unequivocal opposition to the occupation and its iniquities. The resolution of this conflict will only be reached by the annulling Zionism and its racism, its military and ‘civil’ racist machineries, the total removal of all settler communities, and the return of Palestinian refugees, as well as the payment of full compensation to all those who were hurt by the Zionist enterprise over the last few decades.
The way to achieve this is by the careful and thoughtful but total BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, that will lead to a Just peace and a stable and long-lasting political order in Palestine. Anything else will just lead to more murder, and to a likely destabilizing of the region, and towards exporting militant radicalism and possibly terrorism to all parts of the globe, as a result of an obvious failure of the west to deal with this colonial and imperialist abscess.

Haim Bresheeth

Patrick Cockburn: PR dangerously distorts the Israeli sense of reality: The Independent

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

An old Israeli saying describing various less-than-esteemed military leaders says: “He was so stupid that even the other generals noticed.” The same derisive remark could be applied almost without exception to the present generation of Israeli politicians.

Such healthy scepticism among Israelis about the abilities of their military and political leaders has unfortunately ebbed in recent decades. As a result, Israelis are left perplexed as to why their wars, military interventions and armed actions have so often ended in failure since the 1973 war, despite the superiority of their armed forces.

The latest example of this is the assault on the Gaza aid convoy by naval commandos, a confrontation initiated by Israel which thereby ensured that the convoy’s organisers achieved their objectives to a degree beyond their wildest dreams. By using assault troops in a police action against civilians with predictably bloody results Israel managed to focus international attention on its blockade of Gaza, which the world had hitherto largely ignored. The Israeli action infuriated Turkey, once its strongest ally in the region, and strengthened the claim of Hamas to Palestinian leadership.

The capacity of Israel to shoot itself in the foot needs explanation. From the beginning the operation was idiotic, since Israel was always likely to look bad after any confrontation between élite troops and civilian protesters. Even more ludicrous is the Israeli explanation that their élite and heavily armed soldiers were at risk of their lives because they had to use thick gloves to protect their hands when sliding down cables from a helicopter and therefore could not use their weapons.

The nature of the fiasco should cause little surprise because such botched Israeli military actions have been the norm for years. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon was discredited by the massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian militias loosed on them by Israeli army commanders. Syria, not Israel, became the predominant power in Lebanon. In south Lebanon, the Israeli army fought a long and unsuccessful guerrilla war against Hizbollah. The bombardments of Lebanon in 1996 and 2006 left Hizbollah stronger, and a similar attack on Gaza in 2008 failed to weaken Hamas.

The problem is that nobody believes Israeli propaganda as much as Israelis. Pro-Palestinian activists often lament the fluency and mendacity of Israeli spokesmen on the airwaves and the pervasive influence of Israel’s supporters abroad. But, in reality, these PR campaigns are Israel’s greatest weakness, because they distort Israelis’ sense of reality. Defeats and failures are portrayed as victories and successes.

The slaughter of civilians is justified as a military necessity or somehow the fault of the other side. Opponents are demonised as bloodthirsty terrorists. Comforted by such benign accounts of their activities, Israeli leaders are consumed by arrogance because they come to believe they have never made a mistake. Denial that errors have occurred makes it extremely difficult to sack generals or ministers, however gross their incompetence or record of failure.

Many Israelis privately take their own propaganda with a pinch of salt, though the number is diminishing. But abroad, the most third-rate Israeli politicians strut before fawning audiences as heroic defenders of the state. Not surprisingly they return home with a dangerously inflated idea of their own abilities and in a perilously self-important mood.

The Israeli propaganda machine, official and private, has been running full throttle in the last few days justifying the assault on the aid convoy to Gaza. Probably spokesmen feel they are performing well given the weakness of their case. In fact, they do nothing but harm to Israel. The greater their success in denying gross and culpable mistakes, the more likely it is that the perpetrators will hold their jobs – and the more likely it is that the mistakes will be endlessly repeated.

Gaza flotilla activists deported to Jordan claim Israeli mistreatment: The Guardian

Israel deports 124 pro-Palestinian activists to Jordan and transfers 200 more to Tel Aviv airport amid increasing calls for independent inquiry into deadly assault
Wednesday 2 June 2010 09.15 BST
Israel today started deporting all the detained activists seized during its botched raid on an aid shipment to Gaza, as some of the first to be freed spoke of their mistreatment at the hands of the Israelis.
A group of 124 pro-Palestinian activists from 12 Muslim nations crossed the border in five Jordanian buses. Another 200 activists have been transferred from a holding centre to Israel’s airport near Tel Aviv, a prison service spokesman said. The remaining activists will be released throughout the day, the spokesman said.

Yesterday Israel had indicated it might prosecute some of the activists.
The decision to free the detainees came as more accounts from those on the ships began to emerge.
One Briton who was on one of the boats heading towards Gaza arrived back in Britain last night.
IT professional Hasan Nowarah, from Glasgow, described the moment the aid flotilla was stormed by Israeli troops.
He told Sky News that the Mavi Marmara ship was surrounded by helicopters and Zodiac assault craft.

“All you could see was screaming and bullets. Out of the blue as I looked around our ship, all I could see were hundreds of Zodiacs. Hundreds of Zodiacs full of soldiers, and big ships, lots of ships, and I believe as well submarines in the sea.”
The assault left nine dead and dozens wounded and has led to criticism of Israel and increasing calls for an independent, impartial inquiry.
One of the group deported to Jordan today, Walid al-Tabtabai, a Kuwaiti politician who was on board one of the ships with other activists from Muslim countries, said: “The Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us, women, men and children.

“They were brutal and arrogant, but our message reached every corner of the world that the blockade on Gaza is unfair and should be lifted immediately.”
Like many passengers on the flotilla he insisted there were no weapons on any of the ships.
Algerian Izzeddine Zahrour said Israeli authorities “deprived us of food, water and sleep and we weren’t allowed to use the toilet”.
“It was an ugly kidnapping and subsequently bad treatment in Israeli jail,” he said. “They handcuffed us, pushed us around and humiliated us.”

Mauritanian Mohammed Gholam said Israel “wanted us to sign documents saying that we entered Israel illegally”.
An Algerian activist, who only gave her first name as Sabrina, accused Israeli commandos of taking a one-year-old child hostage.
“They point a gun to his head in front of his Turkish parents to force the captain of our ship to stop sailing,” she said.

A Jordanian government spokesman said there were 30 Jordanians in the group. Jordan is one of two Arab nations with a signed peace treaty with Israel. Kuwaiti ambassador Sheik Faisal Al Sabah said the group included 16 Kuwaitis. He said the other activists came from Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen, Oman and Bahrain.

Turkey has led criticism of the raid, accusing Israel of committing a “massacre”, and the UN security council demanded an impartial investigation. There were reports in the Israeli media today that Israel had ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of Turkish anger at the raid.
Washington blocked an attempt at the UN security council for an international inquiry yesterday, issuing a mild statement regretting the loss of life. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, later called the situation in Gaza “unsustainable”.

“Israel’s legitimate security needs must be met, just as the Palestinians’ legitimate needs for sustained humanitarian assistance and regular access to reconstruction materials must also be assured,” she said.
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said this morning that Israel’s blockade of Gaza was “an absolute humanitarian catastrophe” that was “not in Israel’s own long-term self-interest”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that Israel had “every right” to protect its people from terrorist threat, but said: “What I ask my Israeli friends and Israeli politicians and officials I meet is: what’s the strategy, where do you go next, how are you going to secure in the long term, not just day to day, the security which you rightly crave?”
Last night, the foreign secretary, William Hague, said 31 British nationals and a further 11 with dual nationality were known to have been detained after the seizure of the vessels as they attempted to breach the Israeli blockade of the territory.

The Foreign Office confirmed that 29 of the Britons had received a visit – with no complaints about their treatment.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said that the detainees were being treated in line with international practice.

“We are not charging them with anything, we have detained them and we will help them leave our country,” he told the BBC.
There was concern among friends and relatives in the UK who complained that they were unable to establish contact with the detainees.

Rachel Bridgeland, whose partner, Peter Venner, 63, from Ryde, Isle of Wight, was on the Mavi Marmara, said that the government should be putting more pressure on Israel.
“It’s absolutely terrible not knowing what has happened to him and it’s terrible that the British government hasn’t done more, but they don’t want to fall out with Israel,” she said.

Flotilla attack: full UN statement: The Guardian

UN security council calls for impartial investigation into Israel’s assault on a flotilla carrying aid supplies to the Gaza Strip

UN 1 — Members of the UN security council meet in the wake of the Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla. Photograph: Louis Lanzano/AP

The full text of a formal presidential statement adopted today by the United Nations security council on Israel’s action against an aid flotilla heading for Gaza:
The security council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza. The council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families.

The security council requests the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel. The council urges Israel to permit full consular access, to allow the countries concerned to retrieve their deceased and wounded immediately, and to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the convoy to its destination.

The security council takes note of the statement of the UN secretary-general on the need to have a full investigation into the matter and it calls for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards.

The security council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable. The council re-emphasises the importance of the full implementation of Resolutions 1850 and 1860. In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.

The security council underscores that the only viable solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an agreement negotiated between the parties and re-emphasises that only a two-state solution, with an independent and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours, could bring peace to the region.

The security council expresses support for the proximity talks and voices concern that this incident took place while the proximity talks are under way and urges the parties to act with restraint, avoiding any unilateral and provocative actions, and all international partners to promote an atmosphere of cooperation between the parties and throughout the region.

Continue reading June 2, 2010, Page 2

June 1, 2010 Page 2

Breaking News! Israel murders more than 10 Peace

Activists on the Freedom Flotilla!

EDITOR: Pirates of the Mediterranean hit again!

Now, more than 36 hours after the massacre, we still do not know anything about:

How many have been murdered, injured and what are their names?

What is going on in the detention centre where over 620 people, kidnapped on the boats, are being held illegally?

When will people be released?

and most importantly, when will the illegal and immoral Blockade on Gaza be terminated?

Israel, a pariah terrorist state of pirates and murderers, has again killed and maimed innocent people, kidnapped and arrested them, denied their human rights, and all this with perfect immunity. Do not be confused by the noises of the leaders of the western nations, please! None of this means anything. Israel has NEVER paid for any of its crimes, because our leaders have supported it, and will continue to do so. The only route to change in the Middle East is total Boycott, Divestment and Sanction, like we have pushed for successfully in the case of South Africa! There is no more time for Mr. Nice Guy O’Bummer – good oratory is leading us nowhere, and we should say so. Trust not in the politicians – what we need is a mass civic campaign, and we can do this, and will.

Do not forget! Do not Forgive! Do not overlook War Crimes! Do not avoid the voices of Palestine and Gaza calling out, calling for an end of the decades oif nightmare called Zionism. Let the ‘friends of Israel’ defend this murder – we will fight against this vile entity until it is gone, like apartheid South Africa!

La Luta Continua!

Gideon Levy: Operation Mini Cast Lead: Haaretz

By Gideon Levy, Haaretz – 1 June 2010
Like in “Mini-Israel,” the park where there is everything, but smaller, Israel embarked yesterday on a mini Operation Cast Lead. Like its larger, losing predecessor, this operation had it all: the usual false claim that is was they who had started it – and not the landing of commandos from helicopters on a ship in open sea, away from Israeli territorial waters. There was the claim that the first act of violence came not from the soldiers, but the rioting activists on Mavi Marmara; that the blockade on Gaza is legal and that the flotilla to its shores is against the law – God knows which law.
Again came the claim of self defense, that “they lynched us” and that all the dead are on their side. Once more the use of violence and excessive and lethal force was in play and once more civilians wound up dead.
This action also featured the pathetic focus on “public relations,” as if there is something to explain, and again the sick question was asked: Why didn’t the soldiers use more force.
Again Israel will pay a heavy diplomatic price, once which had not been considered ahead of time. Again, the Israeli propaganda machine has managed to convince only brainwashed Israelis, and once more no one asked the question: What was it for? Why were our soldiers thrown into this trap of pipes and ball bearings? What did we get out of it?
If Cast Lead was a turning point in the attitude of the world toward us, this operation is the second horror film of the apparently ongoing series. Israel proved yesterday that it learned nothing from the first movie.
Yesterday’s fiasco could and should have been prevented. This flotilla should have been allowed to pass and the blockade should be brought to an end.
This should have happened a long time ago. In four years Hamas has not weakened and Gilad Shalit was not released. There was not even a sign of a gain.
And what have we instead? A country that is quickly becoming completely isolated. This is a place that turns away intellectuals, shoots peace activists, cuts off Gaza and now finds itself in an international blockade. Once more yesterday it seemed, and not for the first time, that Israel is increasingly breaking away from the mother ship, and losing touch with the world – which does not accept its actions and does not understand its motives.
Yesterday there was no one on the planet, not a newsman or analyst, except for its conscripted chorus, who could say a good word about the lethal takeover.
The Israel Defense Forces too came out looking bad again. The magic evaporated long ago, the most moral army in the world, that was once the best army in the world, failed again. More and more there is the impression that nearly everything it touches causes harm to Israel.

EDITOR: “Friends of Israel’?

Friends of Israel? Friends of murderers, pirates and fascists? Friends of those who incarcerate and starve almost two million people in Gaza, for over four years, just because they exercised their vote which displeased Israel? Friends of the apartheid wall, of the racist Jewish state? Friends of vile vice, of brutality and bloodthirsty regime? What are they friends of? Not of us, the rest of humanity!

Israel’s ‘friends’ also to blame: Al Jazeera

By Mark LeVine
Americans protest against the attack on the Gaza aid flotilla [AFP]
Perhaps now Americans will understand the true nature of the Israeli occupation.

It has never been about security. Not for one day. It has been about land and power. And this is where it has led. And we have made it possible.

Since at least the mid-1970s, only one country has had the power to force Israel to give up its dreams of permanent occupation of the West Bank: The US.

After the success against Soviet-backed Arab forces in 1967, Israel suddenly became a “strategic asset” – a useful proxy in the global great game against Communism.

For three decades the US and its political class have feigned concern, affection and even love for Israel; the reality is that Israel has always been a tool to advance US strategic goals and power, and nothing more.

All the while, thoughtful Israelis – not to mention Palestinians and the rest of the world – have begged the US to intervene, to stop the insanity before it created an abscess that threatened not just the Jewish state, but the whole region, and even global peace.

But the US goal was never to “protect” or “support” Israel.

Facilitators
The US’ goal was never to protect or support it’s ‘friend’ Israel [AFP]
We have pretended to be its friend, but we are the friend in the way your drug dealer is your friend, sitting with you late at night listening to your problems while hooking you up with your next fix – only in strange twist, the American people rather than the Israelis are paying for the habit their government and corporate elites grow richer sustaining.

We are the ultimate facilitators of this insane and immoral arrangement, which is part of our larger addiction to war that now reaches $1 trillion per year.

We cannot see Israel and the occupation for what they are, because to do so would be to look into the most uncomfortable mirror imaginable.

We are like the local arms dealer – Nicholas Cage’s character in the chilling film Lord of War, only real, and 300,000,000 strong.

We tell Israel everything is okay when it is disastrously wrong. We reinforce every bad habit while declaring its behaviour largely above reproach.

We “defend” Israel from every criticism – “No! It doesn’t have a problem!” “It’s the only democracy in the region!” “We stand with Israel!” – really, we stand beside Israel, give it some more “brown-brown” (cocaine mixed with gun powder) to snort, hand it some new weapons and send it out to kill and oppress some more, in our name.

Some friend.

Politicide
The occupation has been an act of sheer brutality for decades. What has happened in Gaza – what the US and the world community have allowed to happen, for we could always stop it with a simple phone call from the US president to the Israeli prime minister – is sheer madness.

It is politicide. It is slow starvation, of the soul and mind as much as the body. Not the kind that produces pictures of distended bellies, blank eyes and ragged clothes, but that slowly eats away at the personality, the will to fight, the ability to overcome, that produces medical problems that will haunt a million people for life.

And because the US and other so-called “great powers” would do nothing and Palestinians have little power left to effectively resist, people around the world, average people, from Palestinians to Holocaust survivors, have felt compelled to act.

They have sent ships now numerous times to break the siege of Gaza. Israel could not allow the siege to be broken because if the world saw what Gaza has become, not merely a prison but something far worse and hard to speak of, even its vaunted “hasbara” or propaganda machine, would not be able to spin it.

And the worse it gets, the more Israel’s backers, like the US, cannot afford the world to see it because we have made it happen.

Moral turpitude
Israel’s backers cannot allow the world see the result of the siege they have let happen [AFP]
And now at least 10 people are dead because of the shame, because of the inability of Israel’s best friends to look it in the eye and say: “Stop this insanity. Treat Palestinians like humans before you destroy not only them, but you.”

We cannot say that because we are guilty as well, and the US has proved singularly unable to come to grips with our own culpability in occupations from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza and, of course, our own original sin, which demanded millions of dead native Americans to ensure the creation of the very country that now supplies Israel with its weapons and tells it everything is going to be okay.

Some day you can let the Palestinians have casinos and they will thank you.

It is tragically fitting that this disaster should happen on Memorial Day in the US.

The martyrs of the ships are heroes, they are warriors every bit as deserving of our tears and support as the soldiers of American wars past and present.

They are, in fact, the soldiers of the future – the only ones who can help us get out of the disastrous slide to moral turpitude that we, as much as Israel, have descended as a country.

Let us hope that the deaths of the Gaza flotilla activists will not be as in vain as those of the 5,000 American soldiers who have died in our own illegal and useless wars in the last decade.

Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).

“Israel is Giving Piracy a Bad Name!”

Pirates of the Caribbean

Naomi Klein speaks at Gaza Freedom Flotilla protest in Toronto, Canada

rabbletv — May 31, 2010 — On May 31, 2010, Torontonians took to the streets to protest the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying aid supplies to Gaza overnight.

The rally and march ended in Dundas Square, where Naomi Klein delivered an impassioned speech about the attack which has left an estimated 20 people dead and many more injured, and about the need for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Filmed by Bob Chandler, edited by Michelle Langlois for rabbletv.

“Israel is the only Piratical Jewish Democracy in the Middle East”

President and Chief War Criminal, Shimon (Smiley) Peres

Continue reading June 1, 2010 Page 2

May 31, 2010 Page 2

Israel Navy Massacres Freedom #Flotilla Passengers in International Water

EDITOR: The Voice of Peace

Only yesterday it looked like this, below. But even then, the murderous intentions were clear!

Turkey recalls envoy to Israel over Gaza flotilla deaths: Haartez

Egypt summons Israeli ambassador; Arab League urges member states to ‘reconsider dealings with Israel’; European Union condemns incident; UN chief calls for full inquiry.
Turkey announced Monday that it was recalling its ambassador to Israelafter 10 international activists were killed when the Israel Navy stormed a ship bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, while Egypt summoned Israel’s envoy in Cairo in response to the incident.
Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Turkey and Israel hold diplomatic ties, though they have been strained over the last year.
The Arab League, meanwhile, urged member states to “reconsider” their dealings with Israel.
“Israel’s attack indicates Israel is not ready for peace. Israel attacked the liberty fleet because it feels it is above the law,” Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said in Doha.
“There is no benefit in dealing with Israel in this manner and we must re-assess our dealing with Israel,” he said.

Israeli commandos intercepted the aid flotilla on Monday. Officials said they were met with knives and staves when they boarded the ships, which included a ferry flying the Turkish flag.
Israel’s foreign ministry warned its citizens to avoid travel to Turkey and instructed those already there to keep a low profile and avoid crowded downtown areas.
Turkey denounced Israel’s killing of 10 left-wing activists as “unacceptable” and summoning Israel’s ambassador to discuss the incident – bringing already tense relations between the countries to new heights.

The ministry said that Israel had violated international law and must now carry the consequences.”[The interception on the convoy] is unacceptable … Israel will have to endure the consequences of this behavior,” it said in a statement.
Murat Mercan, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, said: “I was expecting an intervention. I was not expecting bloodshed, the use of arms and bullets.”

“Israel is engaged in activity that will extremely hurt its image,” he said. Erdogan, meanwhile, cut short a trip abroad to deal with the incident.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the clashes as a “massacre.
UN chief calls for full inquiry into Gaza flotilla deaths
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a full investigation and expressed shock at Israel’s storming of the convoy.
“It is vital that there is a full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place. I believe Israel must urgently provide a full explanation,” he said at a press conference in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

France became the first European nation to respond to the early morning’s events. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he was “profoundly shocked”.
Many of the activists aboard the protest ships were European nationals and analysts have predicted a harsh diplomatic response from the European Union and its member states.

Many of the activists aboard the protest ships were European nationals and analysts have predicted a harsh diplomatic response from the European Union and its member states.
The European Union demanded an inquiry and Germany said it was “shocked”. The United Nations condemned violence against civilians in international waters.

Germany, one of Israel’s most loyal allies, expressed shock at the deadly interception and questioned whether the action by Israeli commandos was proportionate.
Two members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament were among five Germans on board the ships, the foreign ministry said.

“The German government is shocked by events in the international waters by Gaza,” government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told a regular news conference, adding the government was seeking further clarification about the incident.
“Every German government supports unconditionally Israel’s right to self defence,” said Wilhelm. But he added that Israeli actions should to correspond to what he described as the “basic principle” of proportionality.

“A first look does not speak in favor of this basic principle being adhered to,” he said. Berlin would await further details before judging the incident, he added.
Italy also condemned the killing of civilians during Israel’s storming of the aid flotilla as “very grave” and asked for an EU investigation to ascertain the facts.

“I deplore in the strongest terms the killing of civilians. This is certainly a grave act,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Referring to the European Commission, he said it was “indispensable that there be an inquest to ascertain the facts, which are still not clear.”
He also said he had asked the Israeli ambassador for clarification and hoped that it would not hurt efforts on the part of Israel and Turkey to cooperate in the search for Middle East peace.

Death toll from Gaza aid attack hits 20: Press TV

Mon, 31 May 2010 05:27:14 GMT
The death toll from the Israeli navy’s takeover of a Gaza aid convoy has risen to 20 while Israel carefully censors reports on the casualties from the attack.

Gaza Freedom Flotilla came under fire early on Monday by Israeli navy forces in international waters more than 150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza.

The six-ship aid fleet was soon stormed by commandos descending from helicopters.
At least 20 people were killed in the takeover of the Gaza aid convoy, al-Aqsa TV channel reported, saying that more than 50 people, including leader of the Palestinian Islamic Movement Sheikh Raed Salah, were wounded in the attack.
The news trickled through the Israeli military censorship which has sought to block the reporting of any information about the casualties.

A report on the Israeli radio said the censorship was aimed at covering up the number of casualties brought to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

Meanwhile, Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer expressed regret for the deaths aboard the Gaza aid ships.

“The images are certainly not pleasant. I can only voice regret at all the fatalities,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

The comments come as the first official acknowledgement by Tel Aviv that the attack had turned fatal.

Israel had initially declined to comment on the reports of casualties from the takeover of the aid ships.

The way out of isolation: Haaretz Editorial

Israel suffered a searing diplomatic defeat at the five-year review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that ended last weekend.
Israel suffered a searing diplomatic defeat at the five-year review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that ended last weekend. The treaty’s 189 member states, including the United States, urged Israel to sign the NPT, which would mean ending its policy of ambiguity and dismantling its alleged nuclear capability. The conference also decided to promote the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East, and to convene a regional conference on this issue in 2012.

The U.S. administration tried to mitigate the damage to Israel, and President Barack Obama restated his commitment to its security. This issue will be discussed tomorrow at his White House meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel will not hasten to alter its nuclear policy, and one should not expect foreign inspectors to visit the Dimona nuclear reactor anytime in the foreseeable future.
But the lameness of the review conference’s decision in practice, and even the consoling messages from Washington, do nothing to obscure the main problem: Israel has once again found itself isolated against the entire international community. The prime minister’s response – to declare that Israel will not help implement the decision – only painted it as rejectionist in the face of a global consensus. Even if Israel has no formal obligation to honor the decisions of a group to which it does not belong, its diplomatic isolation is only worsened by saying no to international decisions.

We must not ignore Obama’s message: While expressing reservations about isolating Israel, the White House also made clear that it is adhering to long-standing American policy on the peace process. Or in less diplomatic language, Israel’s stubbornness on the Palestinian issue is liable to carry a price in other areas of strategic importance. Those who want to control the territories for all eternity and expand the settlements are liable to undermine Dimona. Indeed, Israel itself is the one that created the link between nuclear capability and peace when it declared years ago that nuclear disarmament in the Middle East would be possible only once a comprehensive peace had been achieved.

At his meeting with Obama tomorrow, Netanyahu will have an opportunity to repair Israel’s relationship with its most important, and indeed only, ally. He must not waste it in yet another attempt to buy time and stymie the justified demand for an end to the occupation. For Israel to break out of its growing international isolation, Netanyahu must say yes, without reservations, to the peace process that Obama seeks to advance.

Continue reading May 31, 2010 Page 2

May 30, 2010

Nuclear_Israel_by_Latuff2 — Nuclear Israel, by Carlos Latuff

Breaking news! Breaking news!

The israeli secret service has done all it can to stop the boats, and a number of them are now unable tyo travel, and have to be towed back to Famagusta. The Flotilla is now waiting for the passengers on those boats to join the main body and then will leave to Gaza. All the Flotilla boats are surrounded by Israeli navy boats, in an act of piracy on the high seas. No one seems to care about international law, all of a sudden… Israel has also manged to sabotage international satellite communication, so that the boats are unable to keep in touch with the waiting world.

Israsel can indeed stop the boats, kill people on them, arrest them, and detain them in OIsrael, so that they cannot arrive in Gaza. What Israel can no longer do, is to stop the growinf international campaugn, spreading like bush fire over the the globe. They have already lost the battle over public opinion.

Support Gaza – join the locally organised action wherever you live!

Live feed from Turkish boat Insani Yardim Vakfi

Flotilla homepage with a map

About the Freedom Flotilla, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Chair

Gaza “Freedom Fleet” Expected To Receive An Armed Welcome From Israeli Forces: Gaza Freedom

In Columnists, Dan Owens, Middle East, Politics on May 30, 2010 at 10:28 am
By Daniel Owens

A flotilla of nine boats, carrying over 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid and over 700 pro-Palestinian activists, is expected to arrive in Gaza on Sunday 30th May 2010, if it manages to break through the armed Israeli blockade.

Israeli authorities have vowed to prevent the convoy from reaching Gaza, claiming that there is no humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. However, organisers have protested against the Israeli ‘misinformation campaign’ and have claimed that “for over four years, Israel has subjected the civilian population of Gaza to an increasingly severe blockade, resulting in a manmade humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.” The organisers have stated that all the cargo on board is designed to make life better for those living within Gaza, including building materials, medical supplies, dental equipment and chocolate for the children.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza has been in place since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took control after a battle with rival Palestinian group Fatah – following the election of Hamas in 2006. Nearly all exports and imports are banned under the terms of the blockage and only a limited supply of humanitarian aid is allowed in (15,000 tonnes per week). The United Nations has stated that this is less than a quarter of what is needed to sustain those within the strip. The Israeli navy also enforces a 23 mile closure of the sea around Gaza which has devastated its fishing industry and has vowed to use limited force to prevent the flotilla from making ground in Gaza.

More concerning than Israel’s apparent ignorance of a humanitarian crisis, or its willingness to threaten force against an unarmed convoy, is the mainstream media’s apparent ignorance of the ‘freedom fleets’ mission. Having browsed several of the leading news websites in the UK this evening (including The Times, BBC News and The Guardian) it is hard to find reference to the mission unless you actually search “flotilla” or “Gaza”. Similarly, watching the 10 o clock news mentioned nothing of their plight and chose to focus on domestic issues such as David Laws’ resignation and the Eurovision song contest.

It appears that Israel is expecting yet more criticism from international groups with YNetnews.com (Israel’s largest paper) reporting that the Knesset are “preparing for the media blitz certain to follow the flotilla, which many believe will harm the state’s already floundering reputation”. The article proceeds to detail how IDF, Foreign Ministry and PR representatives are preparing to make TV appearances to defend Israel’s position – mainly claiming that “the flotilla serves the terror organisation ruling Gaza and not its residents.”

The Jerusalem post published an article claiming that the basic elements of the Israeli media campaign is to “stress that the supplies the ships are carrying are unnecessary and that Israel – together with various international organizations – already transfers these supplies to Gaza via land crossings.” Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor stated that “the existing land crossings were more than capable of meeting Gaza’s needs;” that “15,000 tons of supplies enter Gaza each week.” However, contradicting Palmors statement is a UN report that has found that the “Livelihoods and lives of people living in the Gaza Strip have been devastated by over 1000 days of near complete blockade” and that “Most of the property and infrastructure damaged in Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip [in 2008] was still unrepaired”

The flotilla, which is currently being delayed in International waters by Cypriot authorities, is expected to arrive in Gaza at some point on Sunday. It is undoubtedly beyond time that action is taken over the blockage and as Richard Falk, Princeton University, has stated “it has been demonstrated that neither governments nor the UN will challenge this blockade, only people of conscience and courage will.” Let’s hope this flotilla makes it.

As American as Apple Pie: Free Gaza blog

WRITTEN BY GRETA BERLIN, 30 MAY 2010

(Cyprus, May 30, 2010) The Free Gaza Movement now has two boats included in the Freedom Flotilla that is on its way to deliver 10,000 tons of supplies to the imprisoned people of Gaza. The third boat is being repaired.

Our two passengers boats, Challenger 1 and Challenger 1I, had mechanical problems on Friday, May 28, and were pulled into ports in Cyprus. After Cypriot port authoriies on the Greek side denied our request to pull in for repairs, our boat, Challenger 1 limped into the port of Famagusta, on the Turkish side of Cyprus.

Both boats are flagged and registered in the United States, which means they are U.S. territory.

Therefore we expect the U.S. government to intervene if U.S. property is wrongly confiscated by Israeli authorities as they have threatened. Israel has yet to return the Spriit of Humanity, registered under a Greek flag.

Please contact the American State Department and ask them what their plans are in case this happens. They can be contacted at Telephone No. (202) 647-4000 (24-hour number) or publicaffairs@panet.us.state.gov .

Contact: Audrey Bomse, 00 357 96 48 98 05

Greta Berlin, 00 357 99 18 72 75

Gaza flotilla drives Israel into a sea of stupidity: Haaretz

Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won’t even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing
By Gideon Levy
The Israeli propaganda machine has reached new highs its hopeless frenzy. It has distributed menus from Gaza restaurants, along with false information. It embarrassed itself by entering a futile public relations battle, which it might have been better off never starting. They want to maintain the ineffective, illegal and unethical siege on Gaza and not let the “peace flotilla” dock off the Gaza coast? There is nothing to explain, certainly not to a world that will never buy the web of explanations, lies and tactics.

Only in Israel do people still accept these tainted goods. Reminiscent of a pre-battle ritual from ancient times, the chorus cheered without asking questions. White uniformed soldiers got ready in our name. Spokesmen delivered their deceptive explanations in our name. The grotesque scene is at our expense. And virtually none of us have disturbed the performance.
The chorus has been singing songs of falsehood and lies. We are all in the chorus saying there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We are all part of the chorus claiming the occupation of Gaza has ended, and that the flotilla is a violent attack on Israeli sovereignty – the cement is for building bunkers and the convoy is being funded by the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood. The Israeli siege of Gaza will topple Hamas and free Gilad Shalit. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy, one of the most ridiculous of the propagandists, outdid himself when he unblinkingly proclaimed that the aid convoy headed toward Gaza was a violation of international law. Right. Exactly.

It’s not the siege that is illegal, but rather the flotilla. It wasn’t enough to distribute menus from Gaza restaurants through the Prime Minister’s Office, (including the highly recommended beef Stroganoff and cream of spinach soup ) and flaunt the quantities of fuel that the Israeli army spokesman says Israel is shipping in. The propaganda operation has tried to sell us and the world the idea that the occupation of Gaza is over, but in any case, Israel has legal authority to bar humanitarian aid. All one pack of lies.

Only one voice spoiled the illusory celebration a little: an Amnesty International report on the situation in Gaza. Four out of five Gaza residents need humanitarian assistance. Hundreds are waiting to the point of embarrassment to be allowed out for medical treatment, and 28 already have died. This is despite all the Israeli army spokesman’s briefings on the absence of a siege and the presence of assistance, but who cares?

And the preparations for the operation are also reminiscent of a particularly amusing farce: the feverish debate among the septet of ministers; the deployment of the Masada unit, the prison service’s commando unit that specializes in penetrating prison cells; naval commando fighters with backup from the special police anti-terror unit and the army’s Oketz canine unit; a special detention facility set up at the Ashdod port; and the electronic shield that was supposed to block broadcast of the ship’s capture and the detention of those on board.

And all of this in the face of what? A few hundred international activists, mostly people of conscience whose reputation Israeli propaganda has sought to besmirch. They are really mostly people who care, which is their right and obligation, even if the siege doesn’t concern us at all. Yes, this flotilla is indeed a political provocation, and what is protest action if not political provocation?

And facing them on the seas has been the Israeli ship of fools, floating but not knowing where or why. Why detain people? That’s how it is. Why a siege? That’s how it is. It’s like the Noam Chomsky affair all over again, but big time this time. Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won’t even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing. Again we will be portrayed not only as the ones that have blocked assistance, but also as fools who do everything to even further undermine our own standing. If that was one of the goals of the peace flotilla’s organizers, they won big yesterday.

Five years ago, the noted Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who is a Jerusalem Prize laureate, after concluding his visit to Israel, said the Israeli occupation was approaching its grotesque phase. Over the weekend Vargas Llosa, who considers himself a friend of Israel, was present to see that that phase has since reached new heights of absurdity.

Israel to World: Screw You, We will Continue to Block Gaza
May 29th, 2010 | by Assaf Oron | Add a Comment
It all happened before.
A ship sailing to Palestine. Its organizers care not so much about the ship’s arrival. They want to bring world attention to the injustices in Palestine. Live broadcasts from aboard the ship excite and inspire supporters on the shores.
The power controlling Palestine in a non-democratic manner, responds in form. It sends soldiers to storm the ship at sea some 20 miles out of Gaza. Passengers fight back using non-lethal means. Troops open fire killing 3, then force the ship to another port, arrest the passengers and deport them. The battle is won, but the campaign is lost. World opinion, and other world powers, turn against the controlling power. Within a few months it decides to cede control of Palestine.
The ship’s name was “Europe Exodus 1947″, or in short, “Exodus”.
Now, 63 years later, the tables have fully turned, and Israel’s leaders seem determined to act every bit as brutally and stupidly as their British predecessors.
First, links to the Witness Gaza flotilla.

Homepage with a map

Live feed from Turkish boat Insani Yardim Vakfi

(intermittent, but authentic and quite entertaining when on. Maybe less entertaining if you know Turkish)
Homepage of Free Gaza, the group organizing siege-breaking sailings since 2008, and one of the organizers of the present flotilla.
Now, let us set the record straight regarding the Gaza siege, in particular the siege of Gaza’s port. English-language media keep insisting that the port has been blockaded since the Gaza mini-civil-war in 2007, or perhaps since the Hamas election victory in 2006.
Bullcrap.
The 2008 Free Gaza boat was the first foreign vessel to land in Gaza since…
1957.
In other words: Egypt had blockaded Gaza for 10 years. Then Israel for 38 years of direct control. Then, since Israel’s 2005 “disengagement” – a Potemkin display if there ever was one – both Israel and Egypt have colluded to continue the siege. So the next time anyone says “Hamas”, “terror”, etc. to justify the siege, set them right. Gaza has been a de-facto prison for decades. Only the rationales for this atrocity keep shifting.
The new trend: they’re not even hiding it!
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has no problem saying “We have to remember: These people are entering Israel illegally” (h/t TomJ). In other words, when convenient Israel claims it “does not control” Gaza, but when push comes to shove it regards Gaza’s waters as its own, in plain view of the world.
Whence the Chutzpah? Here’s whence. In 1947, the newly-dominant powers of the US and the USSR were all too happy shafting the UK via the Palestine question. Both had sided with the Jewish immigrants and insurgents, a support which quickly led to a UN resolution favorable to he Jews, and – more importantly – to the Brits obeying the resolution, in fact eager to get out of Palestine.
In 2010, there is no major government in the world really willing to put any political dime next to its cheap “remove the siege” talk. Why, even Obama formally asked Israel to remove the Gaza siege. Talk is indeed cheap. In actions, Obama, like Bush before him and like all others leaders of the West, have colluded with Gaza’s imprisonment and made sure that Western puppets like Mubarak collaborate with it.
During this decade, increasingly, Israel has become allied with the world’s political and economic elites, and oblivious, even hostile, to global public opinion. This includes many countries considered friends of Israel. The US where public sentiment tends to reflexively support the Israeli stand, has been a somewhat different story – but even here, the ground has been shifting since the 2008-9 Gaza war. In most other countries, that same war has pretty much sealed the case and solidified a seemingly irreversible anti-Occupation public consensus. And yet, the Occupation and the imprisonment of Gaza continue.
Coincidentally, last year a new government coalition came into power in Israel, its most right-wing coalition ever. Previous governments knew they must give the world some lip-service about peace, to help ally governments divert attention from the Occupation so as not to get into trouble with their constituencies. By comparison, the present Bibi-Lieberman-Barak government seems like a physical incarnation of Deh Stoopid.
Israeli pundits call the new diplomatic approach Pissing into the Pool from the High Jump: if we’ve got the power and all powers-that-matter keep doing our bidding, then we couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks, and we might as well do it out in the open. In Bibi’s books, the strategy is working well. Why, only a few weeks ago Israel was admitted to the OECD, reportedly thanks to some behind-the-scenes arm-twisting from the Obama administration.
Beyond that, the sad fact is that Israel’s government and its military leadership do genuinely think and act like dictators, and at this point seem unable to even start thinking differently. Rather than sit back, let the modest flotilla sail in, make a few speeches and sail back – they are willing to risk a major PR catastrophe, and employ violence so as to deny Gazans anything except what they prescribe for them.
The Gaza flotilla story unfolding right now is the perfect occasion to remind the Israeli regime, that yes, the vast majority of the world’s population who think the Gaza siege should have never started and should stop yesterday DOES COUNT, and that he who keeps pissing from the top of the high jump right into the pool of global community, might eventually get his private parts damaged.

Continue reading May 30, 2010

May 29, 2010 Page 2

As the Gaza Freedom flotilla nears its goal, three boats have been lost already. The organisers suspect sabotage by Israeli agents is to blame, no further details are currently available. The main news channels are collaborating with Israel, and denying viewers any news on Israel’s illegal actions to stop the flotilla. Large detention camps have been prepared to detain the activists on the ships.

Follow the latest news on:

http://www.freegaza.org/en/

Tensions rise over Gaza aid fleet: Al Jazeera online

The Israeli army has prepared a detention centre in Ashdod for activists taking aid to Gaza [AFP]
The UN chief has called for restraint as some 700 activists from around world vow to deliver 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to break the blockade of Gaza.

”]Israel has cautioned that the Freedom Flotilla would be stopped, if necessary by force.

The nine-ship flotilla is by far the largest fleet of aid to try to reach the coastal Palestinian territory since Israel imposed its siege on it in 2007.

“We strongly urge that all involved act with a sense of care and responsibility and work for a satisfactory resolution,” a spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.

He restated UN opposition to the siege of Gaza and the lack of material to meet “basic needs, begin reconstruction, and revive economic life”.

After the Israeli army announced a detention centre at Ashdod port for holding the activists, Greta Berlin, one of the flotilla organisers, said: “We have the right to sail from international waters into the waters of Gaza.

“The only illegal presence in the area is Israel.”

Berlin said the Freedom Flotilla was on schedule to arrive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday with more than 10,000 tonnes of supplies, including water-filtration units and pre-fabricated homes.

EU call

Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off to all but very limited humanitarian aid since Hamas, the Palestinian political faction, took control of the territory in June 2007.
Israel says the Gaza blockade aims to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes.

For the majority of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million people, the result has been impoverished living conditions.

Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, issued a statement on Friday, calling for an immediate end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

“We would like to reiterate the EU’s call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza,” she said.

“The continued policy of closure is unacceptable and politically counterproductive.

“The EU remains gravely concerned by the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

‘Absolute provocation’

Israel’s foreign ministry said it had given warnings to the ambassadors of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Sweden and Turkey – from where the ships set sail – that it had “issued warrants that prohibit the entrance of the vessels to Gaza”.

The flotilla “is about to break international law”, Yossi Gal, the ministry’s director general, said.

Gal said that the flotilla was “an absolute provocation” and a “cheap political stunt”, as there was no shortage of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros attended an Israeli army news conference on Wednesday, where journalists were told that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

She said that the information to back up this claim was both incomplete and out of context: “This tells me what Gaza is getting in terms of supplies but does not compare this to how much Gaza needs to survive.”

Israel has vowed to divert the ships to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.

It has said that Israelis on board would be arrested, Palestinians would be questioned by the Israeli secret service, and foreign nationals deported.

Part of the port has been cordoned off and prepared to deal with the activists, and large tents set up for immigration booths and areas for people to be searched.

Gal suggested the organisers should voluntarily head to Ashdod to unload the supplies so Israel or humanitarian agencies can deliver them to Gaza overland, but the flotilla organisers rejected the offer.

Hanin Zuabi, a member of the Israeli parliament who is on board the flotilla, told Al Jazeera that the activists intend to reach Gaza regardless of plans to stop them.

“If the Israelis try to stop us, this will be a huge diplomatic and political crises for them,” Zuabi said.

“We have 50 states participating in this and are sending a very clear message to Israel – the international community is not accepting the siege on Gaza.”

Peace laureates aboard

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, on board the flotilla, said the activists travelling in the convoy included European parliamentarians, former US diplomats and Nobel peace laureates.

Berlin, the flotilla organiser, said: “This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s about breaking Israel’s siege on 1.5 million Palestinians.”

Fintan Lane, an Irish activist, said that they were determined to break Israel’s blockade and will not be intimidated.

“The people of Gaza have a right to access to the outside world and the right to determine their own future,” Lane said.

Huwaida Arraf, one of the organisers from the Free Gaza Movement, said: “Israel should not be under any illusion whatsoever that their threats or intimidation will stop us or even that their violence against us will stop us.”

PR disaster

Some Israeli officials see the situation as potentially disastrous in terms of public relations.

“We can’t win on this one in terms of PR,” Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.

“If we let them throw egg at us, we appear stupid with egg on our face. If we try to prevent them by force, we appear as brutes.”

Hamas officials say that Israel’s threats to intercept the flotilla amount to “Zionist piracy”.

“The occupation’s threat to prevent the Freedom Flotilla from arriving in the besieged Gaza Strip is Zionist piracy and a violation of international law,” Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas leader, said.

“The occupation is concerned about these ships… because they grant legitimacy to engagement with the Palestinian government and confirm that the attempts to isolate Hamas have failed.”

Gaza Freedom Flotilla: by email

Saturday, May 29, 2010

After tremendous pressure from the Greek Cypriots, reneging on their agreement with us http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/cyprus-stops-mps-joining-gaza-flotilla/20100529, we were forced to take our MPs and activists to Famagusta yesterday, on the Turkish/Cypriot side of Cyprus. We spent all day going from one port to the next, surrounded by helicopters and police. Clearly our deal with Cyprus officials had fallen through, and we ended up being pawns in a political soap opera. The Cypriot members of Parliament, the ones who had worked so hard to get us permission to leave, were outraged. The Greek Parliament members finally told us to go to the North. If they could, they would. The Cypriot government said they made their decision because, “The Republic of Cyprus is fighting for its survival” but it didn’t bow to pressure from Israel. As they said this, they bowed their heads.

We made a deal with the Cypriot government that we would board our high-profile passengers and members of Parliament from Cyprus. We would board with no media coverage. We would not bring our boats into Cyprus. We would take small boats out to our own ships and board past the 12-mile territorial limit.

Authorities mandated that we couldn’t even do that, essentially telling us that, even if we board small boats anywhere in Greek Cyprus from any port, we could not travel outside their territorial limits to go to Gaza. Twenty-seven people were supposed to board, including 9 Cypriots and two Greeks. None of them could come with us as we went North.

Then our two passenger boats mysteriously had mechanical problems at the same time, 3:30 pm. Challenger 2 was able to get 14 delivered to the IHH ship, then limped into the harbor in Limassol after being harassed by Cypriot helicopters

essentially forbidding us to bring our wounded boat into port.

Our other boat, Challenger 1 headed toward Famagusta with 16 passengers. It, too, was wounded, something wrong with the steering.

By the time we were jerked around yesterday. We had started at 7:00 am. By 10:00 pm, we had nowhere to board, and our boats were out of commission.

But we all have Gaza fever, and no one was giving up.

It has taken us all day to find someone on the Turkish side to ferry some of our passengers out to the flotilla who have been patiently waiting five hours away from Cyprus. At 6:00 pm, 20 of our passengers left for the flotilla, and the Swedish MP and the three German MPs are on board. Hedy is not, and we are heartsick that, once again, she will not be able to go to Gaza.

The flotilla leaves for Gaza early in the morning and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. We have persevered… Al Samoud.
—
Greta Berlin, Co-Founder
+357 99 18 72 75
witnessgaza.com <http://witnessgaza.com/>
www.freegaza.org <http://www.freegaza.org/>

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