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by Nordic » Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:48 pm
by Simulist » Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:50 pm
Pele'sDaughter wrote:http://imeu.net/news/article0019260.shtml
Flotilla Fact Check
Flouting international demands for an independent investigation of its deadly attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formed an internal commission composed of three Israelis and two, non-voting international observers. The commission chair, retired Israeli Supreme Court justice Yaakov Tirkel, expressed his hope that the panel would finish its work as "quickly" as possible. And Netanyahu has promised that the "Gaza flotilla probe will show the world Israel acted lawfully." Both comments leave many observers wondering how seriously the findings of a quick, internal investigation with a seemingly pre-determined outcome can be taken. Skepticism is heightened by the way in which Israel handled evidence of the incident and by what many see as its misinformation campaign designed to discredit the flotilla's humanitarian aid workers.
How did Israel handle evidence of its deadly raid in international waters?
According to Australian journalist and flotilla passenger Paul McGeough, "The systematic attempt and very deliberate first priority for the Israeli soldiers as they came on the ships was to shut down the story, to confiscate all cameras, to shut down satellites, to smash the CCTV cameras that were on the Mavi Marmara, to make sure that nothing was going out. They were hellbent on controlling the story."
After seizing all recordings of the event, Israeli authorities then began releasing highly-edited footage, including footage stolen from journalists and others on board the ships. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced Israel's use of stolen footage. And the Foreign Press Association in Israel, representing hundreds of foreign correspondents, called the use a "clear violation of journalistic ethics and unacceptable" and warned news outlets to "treat the material with appropriate caution."
Israel claims its heavily-armed Navy commandos were "lynched" by the flotilla passengers and acted in self-defense. Do the facts support this claim?
CLAIM #1: The violence onboard the Mavi Marmara resulted from the surprising resistance the Israeli commandos encountered when they boarded the ship. According to an Israeli military spokesman, "We had in mind a sit-down, a linking of arms."
IN FACT:
Testimony from passengers confirms that Israeli commandoes began firing before boarding the ship. According to Al-Jazeera correspondent and Mavi Marmara passenger Jamal El Shayyal, "Commandos on board the choppers joined the firing, using live ammunition, before any of the soldiers had descended onto the ship. Two unarmed civilians were killed just meters away from me. Dozens of unarmed civilians were injured right before my eyes"
An Israeli soldier's testimony shows that "the commandos threw a number of stun grenades and fired warning shots before rappelling down onto the deck."
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren acknowledged that Israel considered the Mavi Marmara to be "simply too large to stop by nonviolent means."
And Israel's Maariv newspaper documented the significant planning that went into the raid, including the approval of the use of force by senior government officials well ahead of the incident.
CLAIM #2: "when IDF forces tried to quietly carry out their mission to stop the flotilla, they unfortunately met violence, including from firearms on deck of the ship that were used against IDF soldiers." Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon
IN FACT: The IDF could provide no evidence of this claim. The boats and passengers were thoroughly searched before setting sail and were only cleared to sail because they were found to be free of weapons. IDF sources then changed their story claiming that firearms may have been thrown overboard. Mavi Marmara passengers confirm that firearms were in fact thrown overboard - firearms which passengers confiscated from the Israeli commandos in self defense. According to Swedish Mavi Marmara passenger and professor of religion Mattias Gardell, "An Uzi and a pistol were seized, emptied of ammunition and were thrown into the sea. We would by all means show that there was a peaceful campaign and that we did not have weapons….Then came the paratroopers in four helicopters and they shot sharply already from the time they were in the air."
CLAIM #3: When Israeli soldiers boarded the ship "they were going to be killed and they had to act in self-defense" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
IN FACT:
As a result of the IDF's violence, which began prior to boarding the ship, nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara were killed, having been shot a total of 30 times. Five of the nine were shot in the head, some at close range, some from the back, and one, a 19 year old American citizen named Furkan Dogan, was shot in what can only be seen as execution-style: once in the chest and four times in the head from a range of less than 45 centimeters.
Photographs from the incident show that, once they were disarmed, IDF soldiers had their wounds treated and were given water by passengers, further disproving the claim that they were intent on killing Israelis.
The testimony of filmmaker Iara Lee who was onboard the Mavi Marmara shows that passengers called for medical help for the injured, "but [they] were ignored, and a lot of people who were injured actually ended up bleeding to death and died." Her testimony is supported by other eyewitness accounts.
What other claims did Israel make that were then retracted or proven false?
"GO BACK TO AUSCHWITZ"
The Israeli military released what it claimed were audio transmissions of flotilla passengers responding to radio calls from the IDF by telling the soldiers to "go back to Auschwitz" and to quot;remember 9/11."
IN FACT:
Investigative journalists uncovered the fact that IDF had previously released what appeared to be identical video of the exchange between this Israeli sailor and the Mavi Marmara in which the only reply from the ship was "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza. Our destination is Gaza."
One of the individuals whose voice appears on the IDF's tape, Huwaida Arraf, confirmed that she was not even on the Mavi Marmara, but on another ship altogether.
The IDF then admitted that the audio transmission was edited and released what it claims was the full, unedited transmission. Though as New York Times reporter Robert Mackey points out, "since they are snippets of audio over a black screen, it is impossible to verify their authenticity."
IHH LINKS TO TERROR
Israel claims that groups participating in the flotilla, particularly the Turkish aid group , Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) "are non-governmental organizations that support terror and are affiliated with terror" and that the flotilla's organizers "have close, longstanding ties with agents of international terror, international Islam, Hamas, Al-Qaeda and others."
IN FACT:
The Israeli government failed to provide evidence of individual claims of terrorist affiliations or intentions.
The Israeli government edited its own websites to remove Al-Qaeda assertions after it could not substantiate claims that flotilla passengers had connections to Al-Qaeda.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a think tank with ties to Israel's Defense Ministry, concluded that there is "no known evidence of current links between IHH and 'global jihad elements."
Not only does the IHH not appear on the US State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the group played an active role in delivering humanitarian aid to Haiti after the devastating January earthquake while the US military directed relief efforts there.
What about Israel's claims regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza?
Israel claims that it told the flotilla that if they docked in Ashdod, the Israeli government would "transfer their aid through the existing land crossings, in accordance with established procedures."
Did the flotilla passengers have reason to doubt that Israel would in fact let the humanitarian aid enter Gaza?
Yes. According to a guide produced by the BBC, for much of the last three years, Gaza's "1.5 million people have relied on less than a quarter of the volume of imported supplies they received in December 2005." This falls far short of the minimum required to avoid malnutrition, poverty, and prevent or treat a variety of illnesses. According to Amnesty International's recently-released annual report, the siege has resulted in "mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages."
Israel claims that "there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza"
Consider the following statistics:
61 percent of households face food insecurity, defined as inadequate physical, social or economic access to food, and rely on assistance from aid agencies. An additional 16.2 percent are considered vulnerable to food insecurity.
65 percent of the food insecure are children under the age of 18.
Unemployment is at 40 percent.
10 percent of children under five are stunted (low height for age, usually attributed to a chronic lack of protein and micronutrients, including iron and essential vitamins), a steadily increasing trend over recent years, according to UNICEF.
More than 10 percent of children are chronically malnourished, according to the World Health Organization, a significant increase since siege began.
The number of children under five suffering from acute malnutrition nearly doubled between 2006 and 2008 from 1.4 to 2.4 percent, according to UNICEF.
65 percent of children aged 9-12 months, and 35 percent of pregnant women are anemic.
According to a recent poverty survey conducted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the number of Palestinian refugees completely unable to secure access to food and lacking the means to purchase even the most basic items, such as soap, school stationery and safe drinking water ('abject poverty') has tripled since the imposition of the blockade in June 2007.
Israel claims that its blockade of Gaza is in response to rockets fired into Israel.
As documented by the Israeli human rights organization Gisha, "Beginning in September 2007, Israel openly stated that it would restrict the movement of goods into and out of Gaza not in order to protect against security threats stemming from the transfer, but rather as part of a policy to apply "pressure" or "sanctions" on the Hamas regime." This amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's civilians, and as such is a violation of international humanitarian law (Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949). Further, as an occupying power, Israel is required under Articles 55, 59 and 60 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure free, unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief and is prohibited from impeding the full realization of the occupied people's human rights. Israel's blockade impedes Gazans' rights to food, to an adequate standard of living, to work, and to the highest attainable standard of health.
Further, according to Amnesty International, Hamas upheld its end of the 2008 cease-fire and halted rockets, yet Israel did not respond by lowering the blockade on Gaza. The cease-fire had been "the single most important factor in reducing civilian casualties and attacks on civilians to the lowest level since the outbreak of the uprising (intifada) more than eight years ago. The ceasefire [had] brought enormous improvements in the quality of life in Sderot… However, nearby in the Gaza Strip the Israeli blockade remains in place and the population has so far seen few dividends from the ceasefire."
The cease-fire was unilaterally broken by Israel on November 4th, 2008 and led to an escalation of hostility and the eventual Operation Cast Lead.
Those "22 days of death and destruction" resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,400 Palestinians, destroyed Gaza's infrastructure, schools, and hospitals, and left its citizens in even greater humanitarian crisis than before.
The items blockaded by the Israeli government at various times include "light bulbs, candles, matches, books, musical instruments, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner." These items have no connection to Hamas rocket capacity and serve only to punish Gaza's civilian population , half of which is comprised of children.
by Nordic » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:12 pm
by Nordic » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:49 pm
A little-noticed comment in a New York Times interview with Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni has critics arguing that it shows the media has a "double standard" when it comes to terrorism.
In an interview published Tuesday, Livni, the leader of Israel's centrist Kadima party, boasted that her parents, both members of the Zionist militant group Irgun in the 1940s, were the first couple to be married in the newly-formed state of Israel.
"Both of them were in the Irgun," Livni said. "They were freedom fighters, and they met while boarding a British train. When the British Mandate was here, they robbed a train to get the money in order to buy weapons."
To which New York Times reporter Deborah Solomon responded: "It was a more romantic era."
"I've met interviewer Deborah Solomon -- smart lady," writes Philip Weiss, who brought attention to the comment on his blog. "I wonder whether she was inoculated, as I was, by Zionism, and to what degree. This is typically one-sided."
Weiss points out that Irgun, which was fighting for the creation of a Jewish state, was responsible for the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946. That attack killed 91 people, including US and British nationals, and is believed to remain to this day as the most deadly militant attack in the history of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors.
Irgun's membership was absorbed into the Israeli Defence Force after the creation of Israel. Its political arm is a predecessor to today's Likud party, whose leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is prime minister of Israel.
Matt Duss at ThinkProgress goes even further than Weiss in his criticism of the Times' portrayal of Irgun.
"What’s amazing here is not only does Solomon neglect to challenge Livni’s characterization of her parents’ membership in a terrorist group as 'freedom fight[ing],' Solomon herself volunteers further assistance in the whitewash," he opines.
Duss points out that, at the time of Irgun's attacks, the Times itself referred to the group's activities as "terrorism."
"Can you imagine any mainstream American journalist performing this service in regard to Hamas terrorism? I doubt it," Duss writes.
by Gouda » Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:07 am
by hava1 » Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:56 pm
by Sweejak » Mon Jul 12, 2010 2:12 am
by Laodicean » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:42 pm
Israel Is Going to the Dogs
By Greta Berlin
There's an iconic photo from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq of a man at Abu Ghraib cowering in fear as a dog with bared fangs menaces him. US servicemen had decided that getting confessions -- whether real or imagined -- would be easier if they used dogs to coerce the prisoners.
Israel Using Attack Dogs Against Palestinian Workers
Whether this kind of brutality works or not, Israel has followed in the footsteps of the United States, using dogs to terrify Palestinian workers trying to get into Israel to find jobs. According to one Palestinian laborer, dogs are let loose to hunt down anyone trying to enter Israel looking for work, a new phenomenon which has been occurring for about two months.
Although the army's justification is that using dogs is a way of protecting the sprawling separation barrier from Palestinian vandals looking to create openings, the Israeli Human Rights organization, B'tselem, is appealing to the army senior command. Victims of the dog attacks are not security suspects, but rather day laborers seeking to enter Israel to find work and who do not have the proper permits to do so.
Are occupation soldiers using Palestinian workers as guinea pigs, trying out the dogs in preparation for use on the upcoming flotilla to Gaza? There is evidence this is exactly what they are doing. In the past few months, the Israeli military has boasted it will use trained attack dogs on our passengers.
According to one military source, "As soon as you put an attack dog in an area where soldiers are supposed to get to, it keeps the place sterile and prevents anyone from approaching. Dogs can be placed by crane or other means. They'll be the first, and after them, the soldiers."
These attack dogs, from the Oketz Unit, are trained to immobilize enemies by biting. "The dogs are weapons in every sense -- like snipers or tank shells -- but they are biological weapons," Yehida, an online military magazine, said in an article about the unit.
Is Israel really going to follow in the footsteps of the Nazis in Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps and use dogs against the Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others on board flotilla ships?
During the trial of an alleged concentration camp guard in Georgia in 2007 Director Eli M. Rosenbaum of the Office of the Special Investigations (OSI), "The brutal concentration camp system could not have functioned without the determined efforts of SS men, who, with a vicious attack dog, stood between the victims and the possibility of freedom."
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.
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Israel Threatens to use Attack Dogs on Unarmed Civilians of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
We go to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza, a blockade that international bodies have determined is collective punishment. We are standing up for the rights of people living in an open-air prison, just as the protestors in Birmingham and South Africa stood up for the rights of the oppressed.
If Israel is considering bringing attack dogs onto our ships while we sail to Gaza, Israeli officials should be brought up on war crimes charges for taking such action against civilians who are expressing support for an imprisoned people.
We need to ask: Does Israel have the right to attack us with vicious dogs while we sail? Does Israel understand that we are civilians, or do Israeli officials believe, as did their racist predecessors, that we are fair game?
The international community should insist that Israel let us through to Gaza without dogs, snipers and armed commandos attacking us.
by StarmanSkye » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:33 pm
by Laodicean » Mon Jun 27, 2011 6:17 pm
Obama Admin Warns of “Fines and Incarceration” if U.S. Citizens Set Sail with Gaza Aid Flotilla
A group of U.S. citizens is rejecting the Obama administration’s attempt to thwart their aid mission to the Gaza Strip, which threatens to leave them stranded in Greece. They are set to sail from a Greek port on a U.S.-flagged ship called “The Audacity of Hope,” part of an international humanitarian flotilla carrying aid for Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents. Flotilla members are taking part despite Israeli threats to intercept their ships. Nine people were killed in an Israeli attack on the first aid flotilla just over a year ago. The Audacity of Hope passengers have called for the U.S. government’s help in ensuring their safe passage. But instead, the Obama administration has told them not to set sail and even warned them they could face punishment back home. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested Israel would have the right to use force to prevent the ships’ passage. The State Department called the flotilla "irresponsible and provocative" and warned that U.S. delegates could face "fines and incarceration.” We play an excerpt from a press conference when State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland is repeatedly questioned about the Obama administration’s threat, but refuses to answer whether the U.S. considers the Israeli blockade of Gaza to be legal.
Victorian among Canadians to ignore warnings as they get set to board flotilla bound for Gaza Strip
MONTREAL — A year after the first Freedom Flotilla to the Gaza Strip ended in tragedy, with nine Turkish citizens dead after a confrontation with Israeli Defense Forces, a new flotilla is preparing to set sail, this time with a Canadian ship in tow.
The Tahrir, named after the square in Cairo where the Egyptian freedom movement took shape, is currently docked at an undisclosed location in the eastern Mediterranean, while the 32 Canadians who will board it undergo 48 hours of non-violence and non-confrontation training.
“We’ve been clear from the beginning that this is a non-violent mission to deliver humanitarian aid and highlight the injustice of the blockade on Gaza,” said Dylan Penner, a member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, reached somewhere in Europe. “So we’re being very methodical in ensuring everyone on the boat has a sense of what could happen. There is a possibility of violence by the Israeli military directed at delegates on board so we want to explore how to maintain composure and dignity and remain non-violent.”
Kevin Neish of Victoria intends to be one of the Canadians aboard the Tahrir.
In May last year, Neish was aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of six ships in the flotilla, when Israeli soldiers boarded the vessel. He spent three days in Israeli custody and lost 15 pounds.
A lot of people have asked Neish why he’s returning to take part in a flotilla, he said in an email to the Times Colonist last Wednesday.
“I’m going again because nothing has changed,” Neish said from an undisclosed location.
The details of the trip, in which 10 ships from various countries will attempt to take about 1,000 people as well as medical supplies, building materials and school supplies to the Gaza Strip, will be released Monday at a news conference in Athens. Also on board the Tahrir will be delegates from Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Australia.
Already, however, confrontation looms on the horizon.
The Israeli military, which argues the strict blockade imposed in 2007 is necessary for security reasons, specifically to stop the Hamas government in Gaza from acquiring weapons, has been holding drills for special commandos and snipers to prepare to intercept what some commanders have called the “hate flotilla,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
What’s going to happen “is entirely up to the Israelis,” said Neish.
“They have announced that they will use military force to stop us. We have a legal right to sail into Gaza with humanitarian aid.
“The passengers in the flotilla and the aid we’re carrying is of no threat to Israel, far from it.”
Neish plans to document events with his camera, as he did last year, but he’s concerned that the Israelis will target him because he was able to sneak photos out before.
Here in Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued a news release May 28 in an attempt to dissuade Canadians from participating.
“I strongly urge those wishing to deliver humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip to do so through established channels,” Baird said, adding that Canadians should instead donate to the Red Cross/Red Crescent in Gaza. “Unauthorized efforts to deliver aid are provocative and, ultimately, unhelpful to the people of Gaza.”
The department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has since added this warning: “The border around the Gaza Strip is under the control of Israeli and Egyptian authorities. Canadians who break the laws of another country are subject to the judicial system of that country. DFAIT can neither offer protection from the consequences of such actions nor override the decisions of local authorities.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made similar statements Thursday calling it “unnecessary” and “unhelpful” to be “entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.” U.S. officials have also claimed the situation in Gaza has improved over the last year, and there are better ways to help the people of Gaza.
Ehab Lotayef, one of the organizers in Montreal, disagrees.
United Nations reports consistently show the situation in the Gaza Strip has continued to deteriorate since Israel imposed the land, sea and air blockade in 2007, with unemployment now reaching 45 per cent, Lotayef said. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, has himself repeatedly called for an end to the blockade.
And though the list of goods prohibited by Israel is changed every few days, it has included everything from jam to fresh meat to newspapers to toys, crayons and shoes, Lotayef added.
The idea is not just to deliver humanitarian aid, however — the Tahrir will be carrying medical supplies exclusively — but also to try to give a normal life back to the 1.6 million people trapped in Gaza, Lotayef said.
“Whenever anyone from the outside world talks to the people of Gaza they say they don’t want to live dependent on humanitarian aid. They have the right to exchange and trade with the world. Humanitarian aid is a Band-Aid, not a solution.”
Among the Canadians who will be on board the Tahrir are Marie-Eve Rancourt, of the human-rights organization Ligue des droits et libertes, Manon Masse, a candidate for the Quebec left-wing political party Quebec Solidaire, Toronto filmmaker John Greyson and former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and professor of Indigenous Studies at Queen’s University Robert Lovelace.
World renowned American writer Alice Walker will be on board the U.S. ship in the flotilla and four female Nobel laureates, Mairead Maguire, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, and Rigoberta Menchu Tum, have written to Ban Ki-moon to ask him to ensure the flotilla’s safe passage.
On May 31, 2010, an Israeli raid on a Turkish-flagged ship that was part of the first Freedom Flotilla ended in the deaths of nine people aboard the MV Mavi Marmara.
The Canadians are hoping to reach Gaza by the end of the week without incident.
“Our aim is to sail together,” Penner said. “We don’t know exactly what will happen but our aim is to reach Gaza and end the blockade.”
by vanlose kid » Mon Jun 27, 2011 6:31 pm
Alice Walker: Why I'm joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
Pulitzer prize-winning American writer Alice Walker is on board an international flotilla of boats sailing to Gaza to challenge the Israeli blockade. Here she tells why
Alice Walker
The Guardian, Saturday 25 June 2011
Why am I going on the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza? I ask myself this, even though the answer is: what else would I do? I am in my 67th year, having lived already a long and fruitful life, one with which I am content. It seems to me that during this period of eldering it is good to reap the harvest of one's understanding of what is important, and to share this, especially with the young. How are they to learn, otherwise?
Our boat, The Audacity of Hope, will be carrying letters to the people of Gaza. Letters expressing solidarity and love. That is all its cargo will consist of. If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman. This should go down hilariously in the annals of history. But if they insist on attacking us, wounding us, even murdering us, as they did some of the activists in the last flotilla, Freedom Flotilla I, what is to be done?
There is a scene in the movie Gandhi that is very moving to me: it is when the unarmed Indian protesters line up to confront the armed forces of the British Empire. The soldiers beat them unmercifully, but the Indians, their broken and dead lifted tenderly out of the fray, keep coming.
Alongside this image of brave followers of Gandhi there is, for me, an awareness of paying off a debt to the Jewish civil rights activists who faced death to come to the side of black people in the American south in our time of need. I am especially indebted to Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman who heard our calls for help – our government then as now glacially slow in providing protection to non-violent protesters – and came to stand with us.
They got as far as the truncheons and bullets of a few "good ol' boys'" of Neshoba County, Mississippi and were beaten and shot to death along with James Chaney, a young black man of formidable courage who died with them. So, even though our boat will be called The Audacity of Hope, it will fly the Goodman, Chaney, Schwerner flag in my own heart.
And what of the children of Palestine, who were ignored in our president's latest speech on Israel and Palestine, and whose impoverished, terrorised, segregated existence was mocked by the standing ovations recently given in the US Congress to the prime minister of Israel?
I see children, all children, as humanity's most precious resource, because it will be to them that the care of the planet will always be left. One child must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in speeches that circle the globe.
As adults, we must affirm, constantly, that the Arab child, the Muslim child, the Palestinian child, the African child, the Jewish child, the Christian child, the American child, the Chinese child, the Israeli child, the Native American child, etc, is equal to all others on the planet. We must do everything in our power to cease the behaviour that makes children everywhere feel afraid.
I once asked my best friend and husband during the era of segregation, who was as staunch a defender of black people's human rights as anyone I'd ever met: how did you find your way to us, to black people, who so needed you? What force shaped your response to the great injustice facing people of colour of that time?
I thought he might say it was the speeches, the marches, the example of Martin Luther King Jr, or of others in the movement who exhibited impactful courage and grace. But no. Thinking back, he recounted an episode from his childhood that had led him, inevitably, to our struggle.
He was a little boy on his way home from yeshiva, the Jewish school he attended after regular school let out. His mother, a bookkeeper, was still at work; he was alone. He was frequently harassed by older boys from regular school, and one day two of these boys snatched his yarmulke (skull cap), and, taunting him, ran off with it, eventually throwing it over a fence.
Two black boys appeared, saw his tears, assessed the situation, and took off after the boys who had taken his yarmulke. Chasing the boys down and catching them, they made them climb the fence, retrieve and dust off the yarmulke, and place it respectfully back on his head.
It is justice and respect that I want the world to dust off and put – without delay, and with tenderness – back on the head of the Palestinian child. It will be imperfect justice and respect because the injustice and disrespect have been so severe. But I believe we are right to try.
That is why I sail.
The Chicken Chronicles: A Memoir by Alice Walker is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. A longer version of this article appears on Alice Walker's blog: alicewalkersgarden.com/blog
After the excitement of the Arab Spring, has the Palestine issue slipped out of view, asks Emine Saner
Just over a year ago, in the middle of the night, Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish ship in international waters just off the coast of Israel, opened fire and killed nine activists. The Mavi Marmara was one of six ships in the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and the actions of Israel's military brought widespread international condemnation.
This time, as Freedom Flotilla II sets sail over the next week, with 10 ships carrying many of the same activists who travelled last year, including Swedish writer Henning Mankell, American human rights campaigner Hedy Epstein, and writer and academic Alice Walker, the Israeli government's response will be closely watched.
This week Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the UN, wrote a letter saying: "Israel calls on the international community to do everything in their ability in order to prevent the flotilla and warn citizens … of the risks of participating in this type of provocation." The purpose of the flotilla, he said, is "to provoke and aid a radical political agenda". He later added: "We are very determined to defend ourselves and to assert our right to a naval blockade on Gaza."
"The threats of violence won't deter us," says Huwaida Arraf, one of the flotilla organisers. "Nobody is going in to this lightly, but we feel it has to be done. Israel has to realise its violence against us is not going to stop our growing civilian effort to challenge its illegal policies. The size of this flotilla, the number of people involved in organising it, even after Israel killed nine of our colleagues last year, is testament to that."
She says half a million people applied for the few hundred places: depending on how many of the 10 boats are seaworthy in time, there should be around 400 people on the flotilla.
The campaign began in August 2008, when 44 activists on two small fishing boats set off from Cyprus and managed to reach Gaza. Later that year, the Free Gaza Movement, as it became known, organised several other voyages, usually sending single boats containing small but symbolic supplies such as medicine and toys, and volunteers, including doctors, lawyers and politicians. Amid allegations of violence and hostility from Israel's naval forces at sea, the activists decided they would need to send a flotilla, and after months of fundraising and negotiating with NGOs from other countries, particularly Turkey, several ships met in the Mediterranean sea in May last year with the intention of reaching Gaza.
"We didn't make it to Gaza and we lost a lot of colleagues," says Arraf, "but one of the things that was achieved was that people realised what Israel's policies meant, and the violence Israel was using to maintain them. We think our action will put pressure on Israel to end its blockade on Gaza, and we hope the respective governments of all the people participating will take action and do what they should be doing, instead of having their nationals putting their lives at risk like this."
There is a danger, says Chris Doyle, director of the council for Arab-British understanding, of the Palestinian issue being overlooked – in the west at least – as focus shifts to countries going through the extraordinary changes in the Arab spring. "There is a danger that people forget how important this issue is, and that it is boiling. It is still an unresolved issue. At a time when international politicians – Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy and others – are concentrating so much on other areas of the region, the issue of Palestine has not gone away."
"Everyone has been so amazed and shocked at the beauty of the Arab revolutions, seeing these incredibly brave and wonderful citizens, that it quite naturally seizes the attention, but at the heart of the Arab revolutions is Palestine," says Karma Nabulsi, an academic and expert on the Middle East. "I would say it hasn't been properly covered in the west, but Palestine is central to what people – the Arab media, the people who are participating in the Arab revolutions – talk about all the time."
So where does Palestine fit into the Arab spring? Doyle says: "A Palestinian spring is more than possible. Many senior people within Fatah and the Palestinian authorities have been saying this is the way to go because the negotiations are not seen as credible, and they will have to adopt different tactics. I think that, on the one hand, those tactics could be against the Israeli occupation, but also it represents a threat to the Palestinian authority itself, both to Fatah and Hamas."
The flotilla "gives people heart and encouragement, that the struggle for freedom has friends and supporters", says Nabulsi. "What the flotilla did last year, these plucky little boats, was bring the entire world to look at what [the Israeli government] were doing. Not just because of the brutality of the response of the military, but it shows how simple gestures get to the heart of the issue – breaking through the silence and the siege, and all the things that seem so big and impossible to do. They did it and they're going to do it again, and that's what is so remarkably brave."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ju ... NTCMP=SRCH
by Laodicean » Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:03 pm
Murdered aid worker, one of 9 murdered aid workers and one of 5 shot in the head at close range, execution-style, on the Mavi Marmara.
Executed journalist onboard the Mavi Marmara
Getting serious
As we get closer to departure day, the delegates are getting more serious.
I’m hearing less laughter and joking and more hardball questions as we prepare to board the flotilla. Questions like:
“What does a beanbag from a shotgun do to you?”
If it hits your chest, it knocks you down hard. In the head, it’ll maim or kill you.
“Did the Israelis shoot at your faces and chests?”
Yes.
“Will we be able to negotiate with them before they board?”
Not bloody likely.
“I know Hebrew, maybe I’ll be able to talk to them.”
Last time they didn’t talk much, they just screamed orders.
“What does tasering feel like?”
Hell.
“Will our medical team be permitted to treat our injured?”
They’ll probably be handcuffed with everyone else.
“What did it feel like to have your hands cuffed behind your back for hours?”
Painful at first, but eventually your arms and shoulders go numb.
“What if they don’t let us use the bathroom?”
Be prepared to piss and shit in your pants and still keep your dignity. Don’t let them humiliate you, don’t give them that power.
“We must keep each others’ spirits up after the arrest.”
But they won’t let you talk, and you may have a bag on your head.
“Will non-whites be treated worse then whites?”
Yes.
“Where should I hide my camera chip?”
You can’t, they will look everywhere for it, inside and out.
“We should erase everything from our computers and cell phones immediately, before we’re arrested.”
There will be no time, so the best option is to quickly throw them all overboard.
“My computer is protected by a crypto password.”
No it’s not, not from them.
“They wouldn’t steal my money and belongings, would they?”
They did, and they will.
“If I sign their ‘voluntary deportation letter,’ will I avoid jail?”
Maybe.
“If I don’t sign it, will I be deported immediately?”
Maybe.
“When will we be allowed to see our embassy officials and lawyers?”
You won’t.
“But international the law says they must allow that!"
So?
“We must write our contact phone numbers on our arms.”
But they probably won’t let you use a phone.
“When will we see a judge?”
You won’t.
“But you have to see a judge to be deported!”
I didn’t.
“What part of Canada will I be deported to”
What makes you think you’ll go to Canada? I was sent to Turkey.
“But my bags will be here [in a different country] waiting for my return.”
You’d better ship them home instead.
“What will my government do for me?”
Nothing.
“How long will they hold us?”
As long as they want.
“Someone might get killed!”
Yes.
Gaza Flotilla Journalist Ban Dropped By Israel
JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli government on Monday dropped a threat to issue lengthy deportation orders against journalists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla, in an attempt to scale back a crisis with the international media.
On Sunday, Israel's Government Press Office sent a letter warning that any journalist caught on board the flotilla would be violating Israeli entry laws and could face deportation and a 10-year ban from the country.
The warning sparked an outcry from foreign journalists and was fiercely debated in Israeli media.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that after the issue was brought to his attention he ordered authorities not to apply the regular measures taken against infiltrators and to find a formula for the reporters intending to take part in a flotilla that violates Israel's entry laws.
He did not provide any details — only that an exception will be made for the journalists on board.
"In parallel, it was agreed that Israeli and international journalists join the navy ships in order to create transparency and reliable coverage of the events," his office said in a statement.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of journalists working for international news organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, had sharply condemned Israel's original threat, saying they should be allowed to cover a legitimate news story.
"The government's threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press," it said in a statement.
The Israeli warning highlighted an already strained relationship with the international media and reflected Israeli jitters over the flotilla, which comes just more than a year after a similar mission ended in the deaths of nine Turkish activists in clashes with Israeli naval commandos.
Israel is eager to avoid a repeat of last year's raid, which drew heavy international condemnation and ultimately forced Israel to ease its blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel says the embargo is needed to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into the territory.
Israel said media on board the flotilla would be complicit in an illegal breach of its naval blockade of Gaza.
Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said an exception would be made for journalists.
"The first decision was taken at a lower working bureaucratic level but when the issue went to the top, the prime minister made a decision that he thought would serve the country's interests," he said.
by Stephen Morgan » Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:17 am
by AlicetheKurious » Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:34 am
Stephen Morgan wrote:I also have been cautioned by a source with access to very senior staffers at the National Security Council that not only does the White House plan to do absolutely nothing to protect our boat from Israeli attack or illegal boarding, but that White House officials”would be happy if something happened to us.” They are, I am reliably told, “perfectly willing to have the cold corpses of activists shown on American TV.”
...I was told that Obama will welcome an Israeli attack on the US ship, as giving him a chance to confirm his pro-Israeli credentials and improve his standing with AIPAC ahead of the Presidential election race. Fatalities would be “not a problem”.
by Laodicean » Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:13 am
Gaza flotilla ship 'sabotaged by divers'
Activists say Swedish ship due to join attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza has been damaged in Greek port.
A Swedish ship due to join an upcoming Gaza-bound aid flotilla has been sabotaged in the Greek port of Piraeus, organisers say.
In a statement, they said "hostile divers had destroyed the propeller house and cut the propeller shaft" of the vessel Juliano on Monday.
The ship is part of the 10-vessel Freedom Flotilla II that is expected to set sail from Greece and elsewhere for the Gaza Strip in the coming days in a bid to break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.
About 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries are likely to participate.
Israel insists the latest flotilla is a "dangerous provocation" and has vowed to intercept it.
Determined organisers
Organisers of the flotilla, however, remain defiant and said the Juliano would be ready to sail within one or two days after being repaired. They said they had documented the sabotage with their own camera-equipped divers.
"We are sad that people are doing such things but we are determined to continue to Gaza," Dror Feiler, one of the organisers, told Al Jazeera from aboard the Juliano.
"We will not be frightened by Israel, and we are going to continue. Our friends from all around the world are with us, and we are all going to Gaza."
Mattias Gardell, a spokesperson for Ship to Gaza Sweden, also condemned the act of sabotage.
"It's one thing for a foreign power to press the Greek government to delay our voyage with red tape. It is quite another thing for enemy agents to operate on Greek territory.
"It is high time for the international community to put their foot down and say: Enough!"
Israeli allegation
Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted senior Israeli officials as saying that "radical elements" among the flotilla activists had stated an intention to "spill the blood of Israeli soldiers".
According to Tel Aviv daily Yedioth Aharonoth, military sources said participants of the flotilla were planning to pour chemicals, such as sulfur, on Israeli soldiers.
But according to activist Feiler, the goal of the flotilla is to "come in peace" to Gaza.
"We are shocked by the Israeli actions, and their propaganda that we have weapons and acid and are going to attack Israeli soldiers, when we are all dedicated to peace," Feiler said. "We will not throw objects or attack them in any way."
The flotilla comes a year after another aid shipment was intercepted by Israeli commandos. At least nine activists were killed when commandos stormed Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-owned lead aid ship.
Besides the Juliano - named after Juliano Mer-Khamis, the Arab-Israeli actor, director and political activist who was shot dead in the West Bank town of Jenin in April - boats from Greece, France, Italy and Spain are also among those joining Freedom Flotilla II. Two cargo vessels will carry medicines, a fully equipped ambulance car, and cement.
A number of journalists are among those taking part in the bid to break Israel's five-year naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, and several international leaders have urged the flotilla not to set sail, and the US has warned its nationals not to join the attempt to break the embargo.
The border has remained largely shut since June 2006, when Israel imposed a tight blockade on the coastal territory after Palestinian fighters snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.
The UN has called the blockade illegal and repeatedly demanded it be lifted. A ban on civilian goods and foodstuffs was eased last year but many restrictions remain in place.
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