Israel Attacks Gaza Aid Boats : 19 Civilians Dead, Many Injured...

The Free Gaza Movement Twitter page: We will not stop, we will go again...

Free Gaza Movement.

The Swedish website for ships to Gaza.

Some might say that Israel acted stupidly but no, on board the convoy were about 10,000 tons of aid goods, among them hundreds of ready-made houses, 500 wheelchairs and medical equipment, and Israel has been able to prevent these goods from arriving to Gaza at any cost, and it succeeded.  This is what Israel was after, hoping to minimize the price paid (19 deaths) by being excused, as always, by an international community too lenient and too slow to condemn...

Israeli Occupation soldiers aboard the Turkish ship...

Live stream footage from the Turkish boat in which you can see Israeli soldiers descending on the ship from their helicopters.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is comprised of: Free Gaza Movement (FG), European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG), Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), Ship to Gaza Greece, Ship to Gaza Sweden, The Perdana Global Peace Organization, and the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza, with hundreds of groups and organizations around the world supporting the effort.

The Ships of the Flotilla:

1. Mavi Marmara passenger                        Flagged in Turkey

2. Sofia cargo ship                                        Flagged in Greece

3. Gazza 1 cargo ship                                   Flagged in Turkey

4. Gazza 2 cargo ship                                    Flagged in Turkey

5. Spendoni passenger                                  Flagged in Greece

6. Challenger 1                                               Flagged in U.S.

UPDATE, Tuesday, June 1st: some names of those who were passengers of the aid flotilla.

UPDATE, Monday May 31st, 8 p.m.: Below, some chaotic footage taken from the Turkish ship is posted on youtube, in all languages. 26 seconds in, you can see and hear a British activist reporting in English.


UPDATE, Monday May 31st, 6:30 p.m. From The Turkish daily Zaman: Aid Volunteers, International Law Massacred Off Gaza.

Also, pictures of the protests in Istanbul today.

UPDATE, Monday May 31st, 6:30 p.m. (Gaza time): The French journal Le Monde is reporting on an emergency meeting at the UN. Also Netanyahu, who was visiting Canada, announced he was interrupting his visit to return to Israel, probably because Obama will not be seeing him tomorrow at the white house.

UPDATE, Monday May 31st, 4.p.m.: The casualties are mounting, Al-Jazeera who had staff with the flotilla is reporting 19 deaths.

At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, Israeli radio reported.

The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast.

Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, confirmed that the attack took place in international waters, saying: "This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves."

Whatever the actions Israel always claims it has the right to defend itself, now they are claiming that attacking humanitarian aid ships in international waters is equivalent to 'defending Israel'....From what? From whom? From humanitarian aid workers sailing in international waters...Pity this nation!  They are either chickens or hypocrites...

Read here Netanyahu's declaration before leaving Canada Monday morning: self victimisation, denial, lies, lies, lies....

UPDATE, Monday May 31st, early afternoon (Gaza time): Ten aid activists died as a result of the Israeli criminal assault on their ships.

The report from the early hours of monday was about only two deaths: Associated Press Writer= HAIFA, Israel (AP) — Israeli warships attacked at least one of the six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for blockaded Gaza, killing at least two and wounding an unknown number of people on board, an Arabic satellite service and a Turkish TV network reported early Monday.
The al-Jazeera satellite channel reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain. The Turkish NTV network also reported an Israeli takeover with gunfire, and at least two people were killed.
The al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"
The reports came just after daybreak, with the flotilla still well away from the Gaza shore. Israel had declared it would not allow the ships to reach Gaza.
...The flotilla, which includes three cargo ships and three passenger ships, is trying to draw attention to Israel's three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. The boats are carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials. The activists said they also were carrying hundreds of electric-powered wheelchairs, prefabricated homes and water purifiers.
...Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists are on the boats, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor.

MORE...

Now is the time for action against this pariah state that is Israel. The international community must understand that now is not the time for 'regret' and 'concern' because this is what their reactions over and over as 'regret' and 'concern' have led us to...

From The Toronto Star: Attack adds to Israel's growing diplomatic troubles...

Dig baby dig

When archeology becomes another excuse to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem and transform the city's multi religious heritage into a Jewish only city. Who says archeology isn't about politics and power?

Excavations in Silwan in the middle of Palestinian housing. Photograph: Omar Robert Hamilton

Aid flotilla set to sail for Gaza

A flotilla of eight boats carrying thousands of tonnes of construction materials, medical equipment and other aid is preparing to sail to Gaza in the next few days, setting the scene for a confrontation with Israel which has vowed to prevent the ships breaking the blockade on the Palestinian territory.

Three cargo ships and five passenger vessels plan to meet up in international waters between Cyprus and Gaza Strip before heading towards Gaza City. The Israeli military is expected to stop the flotilla and divert it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

One of the organisers of the flotilla, which includes three vessels from Turkey, is IHH, a humanitarian aid group supported by Ankara. Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since the Israelis launched a three-week war on Gaza in 2008-09. An attempt to block the flotilla is likely to increase tensions between the two countries. The Turkish prime minister, Racep Tayyip Erdogan, has called on Israel to avoid this be allowing the boats through.

Documents show how Israel offered to sell Apartheid South Africa nuclear weapons

This is ugly explosive stuff revealed by a US academic, even more worrying than Iran. Iran never invaded another country while Israel is an occupying power. We should never forget this...

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence.

The Israeli authorities tried to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at Polakow-Suransky's request and the revelations will be an embarrassment, particularly as this week's nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York focus on the Middle East.

They will also undermine Israel's attempts to suggest that, if it has nuclear weapons, it is a "responsible" power that would not misuse them, whereas countries such as Iran cannot be trusted.

The memos and minutes that confirm Israel's nuclear stockpiles

Israel's nuclear weapons: The end of nods

Mordechai Vanunu: trapped and kidnapped by the Mossad and jailed by Israeli authorities for speaking about Israel's nuclear capability

Israel's nuclear ambiguity

Israel's apartheid roads

This also means that Israel intends to use its nuclear weapons to maintain its apartheid and violations of Palestinian rights.

The Russell tribunal on Palestine (Bertrand Russell versus lord Balfour)

Elvis Costello cancels concerts in Israel

Costello, one of the most gifted British songwriters of his generation, was due to play on 30 June and 1 July but says his "conscience" dictated that he pull out of the performances.

He joins a list of performers who have decided not to play in Israel, including Gil Scott-Heron and Santana.

On his website, Costello wrote: "Then there are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.

"I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security.

"I am also keenly aware of the sensitivity of these themes in the wake of so many despicable acts of violence perpetrated in the name of liberation.

"It is a matter of instinct and conscience.

"I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret, but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this.

"With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello."

Source: The Guardian

International diplomacy out of US hands

And with it the official dawn of a new era in world diplomacy.

With its feet dragged in Afghanistan and Iraq, its hands tied by the Israel lobby, its many crises at home, and its loss of credibility at the world stage when it comes to broker a peace deal, the US is no longer a real player when it comes to diplomacy.
Brazil and Turkey had just reached an agreement with Iran on their nuclear production.

Either way, skilful negotiating by two world leaders undermined the view, widely accepted in Washington, that Iran could only be made to compromise if it was threatened with sanctions and repeated warnings that the US would consider "all options" to block further progress in its nuclear program.

The New York Times is not happy about this: ''The agreement could well UNDERMINE the Obama administration’s chances of securing international approval for punitive measures against Iran.'' This journal which has advocated the war on Iraq and stands, most of the time, as a mouthpiece to Israel's interests in the region (i.e. no peace and war on every country and movement that emerges as strong) seems to consider that sanctions are the normal standard approach. So according to the New York Times, Peace may hinder sanctions and what sanctions can achieve ??? Famine instability and War. This is the logical contrary to their statement but they won't say it...

What this means also is that when countries genuinly want peace they can achieve it. Let Turkey broker the much needed peace between Palestinians and Israelis...I am sure the New York Times won't like it...because it may UNDERMINE current atrocities committed by Israelis toward Palestinians...

UPDATE: But the New York Times doesn't have to worry; In American wrestling parlance, it would be called the "P5 Smackdown". The permanent five members of the Security Council flattened Brazil and Turkey's effort at mediating the crisis, sending a clear message that only the big boys (and they are all boys) make or break the big deals.

East Jerusalem's occupation is the tipping point in the contradictions of Zionism

In a cruel historical twist, nearly all of the Palestinians evicted from their homes in Sheik Jarrah in the last year-and-a-half were originally expelled in 1948 from their homes in the West Jerusalem neighborhood of Talbieh. In the wake of the Six-Day War, Israeli courts ruled that some of the houses these Palestinian refugees have lived in since 1948 are actually legally owned by Jewish Israelis, who have claims dating from before Israel’s founding.

The Palestinians have stubbornly refused to pay any rent to these “absentee” Israeli landlords for nearly 43 years; until recently, their presence was nevertheless tolerated. But under Mr. Netanyahu, a concerted effort has been made to evict these Palestinians and replace them with Israelis.

This poses an interesting question. If Jewish Israelis can claim property in East Jerusalem based on land deeds that predate 1948, why can’t Palestinians with similar deeds reclaim their homes in West Jerusalem?