Eyewitnesses: Israel's violent seizure of Irene aid ship

From Stuart Littlewood

To Henry Bellingham, MP

Dear Henry,

This horrifying personal account of how the unarmed mercy vessel Irene was seized will, I hope, open the eyes of the collaborators in our Foreign Office to Israel's cruelty and viciousness. Perhaps you would care to share it with those of your Parliamentary colleagues who so admire and defend the vile regime.

Note the Israeli navy's instruction that “You are entering an area which is under military blockade and is closed under international law.” I think it has been established that the blockade has no basis in international law and I am still waiting to hear HM Government's expert view of how maritime law views Israel's action stopping and seizing ships under British and other flags and abducting passengers and crew going about their lawful business outside Israel's territorial waters.

It is also interesting that the Israelis were concerned that the Irene was entering an area close to an oil rig. Would this be the Israeli rig that's suspected of slant-drilling into Gaza's marine gas field?

Kind regards,

Stuart Littlewood

Violent seizing of the Irene Gaza aid ship

Israel’s new humanitarianism

From Neve Gordon:

Last week, Israel permitted the transport of jam, halva and shaving razors into Gaza. Since September 2007, goods entering Gaza had been limited to a ‘humanitarian minimum’ of approximately 70 items of foodstuffs and medicines (4000 items were allowed in before the blockade). During a visit to Gaza in February 2009, John Kerry discovered that Israel had banned pasta but not rice, because the latter was considered a necessity while the former was a luxury.

After the flotilla fiasco and the widespread international condemnation that followed, it appears that Israel’s policy is changing and that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is actually willing to broaden its definition of humanitarianism to include jam and halva. It is even possible that pasta will soon be allowed into Gaza. Browsing through a partial list of banned items, provided by the Israeli human rights group Gisha, one can only speculate which items will be the next to be allowed to enter Gaza with the adoption of Israel’s new humanitarianism.

Banned items

Gaza aid convoy killings: “Those responsible must be held criminally accountable” - UN expert

NEWS RELEASE

GENEVA – The UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Richard Falk, urged Monday [ 31 May] the international community to bring to justice those responsible for the killing of some 16 unarmed peace activist, when Israeli armed commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to Gaza.

“Israel is guilty of shocking behavior by using deadly weapons against unarmed civilians on ships that were situated in the high seas where freedom of navigation exists, according to the law of the seas,” Mr. Falk said. “It is essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behavior, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts.”

There are confirmed reports of lethal interference by Israeli military units on the high seas with the Freedom Flotilla of six ships carrying some 10,000 tons of medicine, food, and building materials to the civilian population of Gaza. Preliminary reports suggest as many as 16 unarmed activists were killed, and dozens more wounded.

“This peaceful humanitarian initiative by citizens from 50 countries is an urgent response to the continuation of an unlawful blockade that has been maintained for almost three years causing great physical and mental harm to the whole of the 1.5 million people entrapped within Gaza,” the UN independent expert said. “Such a massive form of collective punishment is a crime against humanity, as well as a gross violation of the prohibition on collective punishment in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

“As Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, familiar with the suffering of the people of Gaza, I find this latest instance of Israeli military lawlessness to create a situation of regional and global emergency. Unless prompt and decisive action is taken to challenge the Israeli approach to Gaza all of us will be complicit in criminal policies that are challenging the survival of an entire beleaguered community.”

Mr. Falk urged the world community “to take urgent action in response to this flagrant flouting of international law. It is time to insist on the end of the blockade of Gaza. The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere.”

ENDS

Learn more about the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967:
 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/ps/mandate/index.htm

Viva Palestina convoy breaks Gaza siege

The Viva Palestina international aid convoy has reached the besieged Gaza Strip, despite the treachery of the senile Pharaoh, Husni Mubarak, the brutality of his treacherous police and the deafening silence of a listless and docile population.

We salute the brave internationalists whose determination, courage and steadfastness has shamed the senile Pharaoh Mubarak and his barbarous, treacherous goons in the army and the "security" apparatuses.

It has been a long, arduous and frustrating journey but one that will have a lasting imprint on the minds of everyone with a conscience.

Pirates of the Mediterranean

By Yvonne Ridley*

NOT content with committing war crimes and human rights atrocities in full view of the world, Israel has now confirmed itself as a rogue state by launching into international piracy.

Dawn had not yet broken over the Mediterranean waters in which the SS Dignity was sailing when an Israeli naval gunboat appeared from the inky black and rammed the aid-bearing ship. The act of aggression on a peace mission was launched in international waters 90 miles off Gaza, without any warning to the captain of the Dignity or the crew.

Israel claimed the incident was an accident and that its naval officers had made numerous attempts to communicate with the Dignity. It was an accident that was to repeat itself three times.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told one press agency that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza. "After the boat did not answer the radio, it sharply veered and the two vessels collided, causing only light damage," Palmor said.

I wonder how many traffic cops around the world have heard that line from a drunken or reckless driver in the wake of a crash.

The Israeli spokesman then went on to accuse the international activists of "seeking provocation more than ever." Isn't it amazing how Yigal and Co suddenly go belly up and adopt a victim mentality? I wonder how he will react to the news that onboard the ship, among the cargo of much-needed medical supplies and humanitarian aid were TV crew s from CNN and Al Jazeera as well as other media. For goodness sake, the Dignity was on a peace mission, armed with nothing more than humanitarian aid – hardly a match for the tooled up, hi-tech Israeli Navy and its deadly arsenal.

Sorry to be so direct, but Palmor is a purveyor of deceit, a liar – and a very unconvincing one at that. You see all sea-faring people know that there is a certain radio channel and frequency which remains open 24 hours a day. I know myself, because the Israeli Navy used that exact same frequency on one of the two Free Gaza boats as they set sail back in August 2008 to break the siege of Gaza by sea. That emergency frequency carried messages of threats and intimidation as clear as a bell.

Radio communications were used without any difficulty on the Israeli Navy several times by human rights activists from the Free Gaza Movement warning the gunboats to back off when they fired at Gazan fishermen. The westerners were on the tiny fishing ships to stop the naval bully boys terrorizing the unarmed fishermen.

And by the way, what the hell is Israel up to by banning or trying to prevent boats from entering waters not in its territory? This is the Mediterranean. Just when did Israel assume complete authority of the Med?

It is also worth pointing out that Dignity was clearly flying the flag of Gibraltar, and was piloted by an English captain with a passenger list including revered politician Cynthia McKinney from the US. The Israeli Government Press Office director was faxed the entire passenger list and press release shortly after Dignity set sail. Cynthia is a former Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party US presidential candidate. She was traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.

I know her and I can tell you she is one sassy lady. If the Israel Navy thinks this little incident is going to sink without trace then they truly are in for one rude awakening.

After reaching port safely in Lebanon, where thousands greeted the Dignity, Cynthia said: "Israeli patrol boats ... tracked us for about 30 minutes ... and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side ... the Israelis indicated that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities."

She was joined by another woman of substance, Dr Elena Theoharous MP, who is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She was going to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.

Also on board is another good friend of mine, Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement. She said: "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge floodlights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the lifeboats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."

Furthermore, the attack was filmed by the journalists, and crew and passengers and no doubt we will see the full extent of that footage and the damage caused by Israel.

Of course Israel is always using the "Oops sorry it was an accident" routine. That's the excuse the Zionist State used when it hit the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967 with a flurry of bombs, murdering 34 American servicemen in cold blood. In the 40 year s since, those with the blood of those shipmates on their hands have gotten away with murder.

But try as they might to rewrite what happened onboard the Dignity and the Liberty, there are some memories which will not die. And what Israel has done to Gaza in the last few days will become an epitaph for the Zionist State. Israel's deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states, "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes."

Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians is just such a "peaceful purpose." Deliberately ramming a mercy ship and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism and piracy.

As I write this a funeral is being planned for five Palestinian sisters who were slaughtered in their sleep when an airstrike hit the next-door mosque in .Gaza. One of the walls collapsed on to their small asbestos-roofed home and they were all killed in their beds in the densley populated Jabalya refugee camp. The eldest sister, Tahrir Balousha was 17 years old, the youngest, Jawaher, just four.

Some hours earlier Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told al Jazeera: "Hamas seeks to kill children; it fires at kindergartens, schools, civilians – because this corresponds with its extremist ideology. Our values are completely different," she said.

Her outrageous claim went unchallenged, like so many statements coming out of Tel Aviv do these days. In a way, Ms Livni is right – Israel's values are different. Hamas has killed no one's children but the Israeli cabinet members who have spent the last six months planning the Gaza massacre, have sent out their military on assaults which have killed children. The air and sea attacks, shells and missiles have killed lots of Palestinian children.

While today's continued military slaughter – and now piracy – underlines the fact that leaders in the international community seem unwilling or unable to halt the Zionist War Machine, there are international lawyers who think otherwise.

And that is why one by one, those responsible will one day be charged with war crimes ... the evidence is stacking up – Nuremberg would be quite a fitting arena to try the guilty but London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam or Madrid will do.

The Israelis might not acknowledge their guilt publicly, but Brigadier-General Aviv Kochavi has canceled a study sabbatical in London for fear of being indicted for "war crimes" and former IDF Southern Commander Doron Almog clung on to his passenger seat when someone from the israeli Embassy advised him not to put one foot on the ground at London's Heathrow Airport after a suit had been filed against him for "war crimes" during his stint as head of the IDF Gaza division from 1993-95 and head of the IDF Southern Command starting in 2000. IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon and former Shin Bent director Avi Dichter are two others who are advised not to leave outside Israel.

I understand fresh writs are being prepared for the next generation of Israeli war criminals and that includes all those involved in the Gaza massacres ... which could be anyone from a lowly reservist who has just been called up right through to the top ranks and beyond.

Like the Nazi and war crime hunters of the past, we must never forgive, never forget and never submit to the demands of morally bankrupt states and politicians.
--
* Yvonne Ridley and film-maker Aki Nawaz sailed to Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement on the first mission to break the siege. A documentary about the trip will be broadcast on Press TV in 2009. Yvonne is a co-founder of the newly-launched Stop Gaza Slaughter (SGS) coalition.

Urgent: “Free Gaza” expedition needs your help

Two years ago, about a dozen human rights activists devised a plan to sail a boat to Gaza in order to break the siege. We rejected a plan to rent a boat as impractical because a similar venture in 1988 failed when the Israelis disabled the boat before it sailed and the three organizers were killed. Thus no boat owner would willingly risk his craft. We ultimately decided to purchase two small boats that could carry 44 passengers,crew and media.

Each of us contributed what we could, and we also received thousands of dollars from individual supporters, most of whom used the Paypal link on our website. We also held fund-raising events, received a few thousand dollars from small grants, and several "angels" helped us along the way. Each passenger has paid his/her own way to get here, and many have raised additional money through their groups, worked extra jobs and asked family and friends to donate. The passengers also paid an additional 600 Euros each for lodging in Cyprus and to cover the cost of supplies and food on land and sea.

Through these efforts we have raised 300,000 US dollars, which we thought covered our costs. (Some of the photos of the boats are on the image gallery page on our website. More will come.)

But the eroding dollar/Euro exchange rate seriously drained our funds. All of our planning did not anticipate this contingency.

We are now in Cyprus awaiting our boats' arrival from Crete. When they come in, we will fuel up (with very high-cost diesel) and stock necessary food and supplies. We hope to cast off for Gaza this weekend. We are told that hundreds of thousands of Gazans will greet us on arrival.

Many people thought we'd never come this far. But here we are and we firmly intend to set sail regardless of some recent staggering debts. Frankly, we have spent much more than we raised; here are just a few of our recent expenses:

• Two Sailor 250 FleetBroadband systems to allow us to stay in electronic contact and to send streaming video in real time, 16,000 dollars each, or 32,000 dollars;
• Repairs required to make the boats seaworthy, 25,000-30,000 dollars;
• Electronics, wiring, connections, satellite uplinks, SPOT Trackers to make the system work, 5000-8000 dollars. (Most of the labour on the electronics and boats has been donated by the Greek crew and technicians.)
• Forty-four life jackets and two hand-held GPS units, 8000 dollars;
• Paint and banners for the boats, and balloons and toys for Gaza children, 2,000 dollars. Diesel fuel for both boats, both ways, 15,000 to 25,000 dollars.

Except for part of the diesel fuel, we have already paid these costs by running our personal credit cards to the limit, borrowing money and asking some of the Greek crew to help. Frankly, we're tapped out.

We need your help so that we sail on the Mediterranean Sea but not on a sea of debt.

Please donate through the Paypal account on our website, send a tax-deductible cheque to the US address on the website and/or send a cheque to the address in the UAE. Every donation, large or small, will help keep us afloat.

And, finally, thanks for your interest, support, and prayers!

The Passengers and Crew on FREE GAZA and LIBERTY

Egypt blocking Scottish medicines for Gaza

Scottish medicines for Gaza now in Egypt, heading to El Arish

(Sunday 20 July, 4.45 p.m.) The 1.5 tons of medicines from Scotland to Gaza are now a few metres outside the gate into Gaza at Rafah on the Egyptian side of the Israeli-built wall that has enclosed the people of this area, mainly refugees, for decades.

The Egyptian authorities in Rafah are refusing entry of the medicines to Gaza and are now demanding that Khalil and Linda drive the van away from their destination towards El Arish. They are threatening to load the van onto a truck and impound van and medicines.

Khalil and Linda, who have overcome may obstacles on the road from Scotland to Rafah to deliver these medicines, are refusing to drive the medicines away from the gate through the Wall into Rafah.

Please text and call with your support for Linda (+ 44 [0]795 867 3840) and Khalil (+ 44 [0]796 00 87 000)

Also write and/or call

Egyptian Prime Minister:
Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohammed Nazif
Phone: + (202) 7958 014/35/36
Fax: + (202) 735 6449 - 795 8016
Website: http://www.cabinet.gov.eg
Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg

Egyptian Interior Minister
General Habib Ibrahim Habib El Adly
Phone: + (202) 794 8308 - 7984300
Fax: + (202) 794 5529
Email: Moi1@idsc.gov.eg

At the Egyptian Embassy in London, please email Mr Amr Al Shams at amrshams@live.com+ 44 (0)785 233 7210

If he is unavailable, you can also try calling + 44 (0)795 091 2304

+ (020) 7235 9719 Consulate General
+ (020) 7409 2236 Press and Information Office

A projected five-day journey has turned into 10 days: earlier, they were turned back by the Croatian authorities, and had to drive through Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to reach the Turkish border. There, they were initially refused entry and told to turn back, before the medicines were allowed to transit Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt to get to the people of Gaza.

Obviously, this is a very modest gesture of our support for the people of Gaza, in the main a refugee people, who are suffering the grim results of a wholly man-made crisis. We must all redouble our efforts to end the shameful EU-wide support for Israel's brutal siege and wider policies of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
secretary@scottishpsc.org.uk
www.scottishpsc.org.uk
SPSC is affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK) www.palestinecampaign.org.

For more information, click here and view Khalil's and Linda's video below.