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How Israel Planned the Flotilla Attack

*As Rachel Corrie ship is scheduled to reach Gaza on Saturday, TRNN
investigates Israel's plan for attack*
*Video*: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5229
*Video Description*: As the MV Rachel Corrie, the last boat in the Free Gaza
Movement's Flotilla, is scheduled to reach the Gaza shores on Saturday,
Israel continues to react to its attack on Monday morning. Protests have
been taking place throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian
Territories. In the meantime, The Real News' Lia Tarachansky investigates

Flotilla Attacked Again... in Bil'in

Watch video of demonstration by Haitham Khatib.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=279&Itemid=1

The Israeli military forces attack freedom Flotilla ship for the second
timein the village of Bil'in

4-6-2010
Abig number of Israeli occupatin army (IOF)attack again the freedom Flotilla
in the village of Bil'in, seven people, including three jounalists injured ,
three activests arrested and dozens of cases of suffocation as a result of
inhalation of tear gas, during the weekly mach .

PCHR Weekly Report 27 May - 2 June 2010

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

 

·               5 Palestinian militants were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.

 

קבוצת עבודה ופעולה יהודית ערבית של אנשים עם מגבלות

מתארגנת קבוצת עבודה ופעולה יהודית ערבית של אנשים עם מגבלות, המבקשת לפעול במשותף למען 

עצומת תמיכה בח"כ חנין זועבי

 בעקבות השתתפותה של ח"כ חנין זועבי במשט לעזה גוברים הקולות בישראל להסיר את חסינותה. מעבר לניסיונות לפגוע באופן פיזי בח"כ זועבי וקריאתה של ח"כ מירי רגב: "לכי לעזה, בוגדת" בישיבת הכנסת ב 2.6.2010, הקריאות להסרת חסינותה מבטאות ניסיון מתמשך של הימין הישראלי לפגוע בזכויותיהם הבסיסיות של האזרחים הערבים בישראל. גם מי שמתנגד למשט ספינות הסיוע לעזה לאור ההתנגדות האלימה שנקטו חלק מן הפעילים שעל סיפונן, לא יטען כי ח"כ זועבי פעלה באלימות.

ארגונים יהודים באירופה מתכוננים לשגר בקרוב ספינת סיוע משלהם לעזה

 

ארגונים יהודיים באירופה מתכוננים לשגר בקרוב ספינת סיוע משלהם לעזה

 

בנמל בים התיכון מחכה כלי שיט קטן מחכה למשימה מיוחדת - הפלגה לחופי עזה.

כדי למנוע חבלה בספינה, יפורסמו  תאריך ההפלגה המדויק ונמל המוצא רק זמן

US Media's Pro-Israeli Bias: Response to the Freedom Flotilla Slaughter

 US Media's Pro-Israeli Bias: Response to the Freedom Flotilla Slaughter - by Stephen Lendman

 

In promoting his 2008 book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," Jimmy Carter said one reason for writing it was "to provoke (unbiased) discussion, which is very rarely heard in this country" on the question of Israel. In America, "any sort of debate back and forth, any sort of incisive editorial comment in the major newspapers, is almost completely absent....There are no significant countervailing voices" to deter Israel from getting away with murder, an illegal blockade, aggressive wars, and the most extreme crimes against humanity; its latest, of course, the massacre of peace activists taking aid to besieged Gazans.

 

Besides coming from officials and their spokespersons, Israel's propaganda arm, Israel Politik, said "Israel had no choice but to stop the flotilla from breaking the blockade....While Israel was forced to take action in international waters, its actions are supported by international maritime law." 

 

False. Under international law, interdictions in international waters constitute piracy in the broadest sense of the term, and blockades are acts of war, variously defined as:

 

-- surrounding a nation or objective with hostile forces;

 

-- measures to isolate an enemy;

 

-- encirclement and besieging;

 

-- preventing the passage in or out of supplies, military forces or aid in time of or as an act of war; and

 

-- an act of naval warfare to block access to an enemy's coastline and deny entry to all vessels and aircraft.

 

According to international law expert, Professor Francis Boyle, blockades under international law are:

 

"....belligerent measures taken by a nation (to) prevent passage of vessels or aircraft to and from another country. Customary international law recognizes blockades as an act of war because of the belligerent use of force even against third party nations in enforcing the blockade. Blockades as acts of war have been recognized as such in the Declaration of Paris of 1856 and the Declaration of London of 1909 that delineate the international rules of warfare."

 

As an occupying power, Israel is obligated under the Hague Regulations of 1907, Fourth Geneva, and numerous UN resolutions to protect Palestinian rights, including for adequate food, health, education, and housing. The blockade and occupation deny them. According to Amnesty International (AI), "The blockade constitutes collective punishment under international law and must be lifted immediately." So does the occupation. Israel maintains them both repressively.

 

Yet Gaza poses no threat to Israel. Blockades are only permissible during war for self-defense or by Security Council authorization under the UN Charter's Article 42, stating:

 

Measures "to maintain or restore international peace and security....may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations."

 

Israel's siege is belligerent and illegal. Slaughtering unarmed aid activists at sea is cold-blooded murder. Israel Politik falsely claims its "personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks." 

 

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is a Boston-based non-governmental Israel Politik equivalent, producing pro-Israel propaganda while claiming to be impartial.

 

On May 31, it justified Israel's Flotilla attack saying:

 

It was "to prevent pro-Palestinian radicals from violating the naval blockade....during which passengers on the Mavi Marmara violently attacked Israeli soldiers boarding the ship and drew fatal Israeli fire" in return. Passengers on board were "inaccurate(ly called) 'human rights activists,' (and) 'peace activists.' " 

 

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) calls Istanbul-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation "a group of charitable people....extend(ing) humanitarian aid (in) every region hit by wars, disasters, poverty and human rights abuses, and believes that civilian initiatives play a complementary role" to activities of governments and international organizations like UNHCR.

 

CAMERA claims IHH is linked to "global jihad and Islamic terrorist elements in the Middle East (and) served in the past as a cover for Al-Qaeda, acquiring forged documents, enlisting operatives and transferring weapons."

 

It also accused the Mavi Marmara activists of conducting "rampaging....attack(s on) Israeli troops." So much for impartiality and truth.

 

US Media Pro-Israeli Propaganda

 

On June 1, the Washington Post's editorial page headlined, "The flotilla fiasco," saying:

 

"THE ISRAELI commandos who landed on the deck of the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara off the coast of the Gaza Strip early Monday were totally unprepared for what they encountered: dozens of militants who swarmed around them with knives and iron bars....We have no sympathy for the motives of the participants in the flotilla - a motley collection that included European sympathizers with the Palestinian cause, Israeli Arab leaders and Turkish Islamic activists....some (with) ties to Hamas and al-Qaeda. What's plain is that the group's nominal purpose, delivering 'humanitarian' supplies to Gaza, was secondary to the aim of provoking a confrontation."

 

It doesn't get much nastier than that, an account with more holes than swiss cheese, by a pro-Israei editorial staff turning facts on their head.

 

Also by The New York Times in its June 1 editorial headlined, "Israel and the Blockade," saying:

 

"The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions (in mind). The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday's deadly confrontation: 'A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade.' "

 

In typical New York Times fashion, the editorial suggested that activists provoked violence, and welcomed it when it came, instead of explaining they knew Israel planned a confrontation, but were determined to reach Gaza anyway - a heroic act considering what happened, unmentioned by The Times.

 

The editorial also referred to Israel's video suggesting its forces were attacked, and that Hamas "seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007" - not its legitimacy or that Fatah's West Bank takeover was illegal.

 

On June 1, here's what London Guardian writers Dorian Jones and Helena Smith reported in their article headlined, "Israelis opened fire before boarding Gaza flotilla, say released activists," stating:

 

Survivors returning to Greece and Turkey today gave "the first eyewitness accounts of the raid....Turkish activist Milufer Cetin say(ing) Israeli troops opened fire before boarding."

 

"It was extremely bad and very tough clashes took place. The Mavi Marmara is filled with blood," explaining that she and her child hid in their cabin's bathroom during the attack. 

 

"The operation started immediately with firing. First it was warning shots, but when the (ship) wouldn't stop these warnings turned into an attack. There were sound and smoke bombs and later they used gas bombs. Following the bombings they started to come on board from helicopters."

 

Kutlu Tiryaki, captain of another Flotilla vessel, said:

 

"The attack on the Mavi Marmara came in an instant: they attacked it with 12 or 13 attack boats and also with commandos from (three or four) helicopters." Before communications were cut off, "We were told....their crew and civilians were being shot at and windows and doors were being broken by Israelis."

 

Greek activist Dimitris Gielalis, aboard the Sfendoni, said:

 

"Suddenly from everywhere we saw inflatables coming at us, and within seconds fully equipped commandos came up on the boat. They came up and used plastic bullets, we had beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used."

 

Michalis Grigoropoulos, on the Free Mediterranean said:

 

"We were in international waters. The Israelis acted like pirates, completely out of the normal way that they conduct nautical exercises, and seized our ship. They took us hostage, pointing guns at our heads; they descended from helicopters and fired tear gas and bullets. There was absolutely nothing we could do. Those who tried to resist forming a human ring on the bridge were given electric shocks." They took everything we had.

 

On June 1, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) issued a Media Advisory headlined, "Reporting Israeli Assault Through Israel's Eyes," saying:

 

"The Attack on humanitarian flotilla prompts little media skepticism," providing examples of pro-Israeli bias and "little regard to international law."

 

For example, New York Times writer Isabel Kershner reported on June 1 that "Despite sporadic rocket fire from the Palestinian territory against southern Israel, Israel says it allows enough basic supplies through border crossings to avoid an acute humanitarian crisis."

 

In fact, for many months, numerous human rights and aid organizations have reported a grave, growing crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs saying on May 18 that:

 

"As a consequence of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, 98 percent of industrial operations have been shut down since 2007 and there are acute shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies....Water-related health problems are widespread (after Cast Lead) destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, including reservoirs, wells, and thousands of kilometres of piping...."

 

Extreme shortages of everything exist. Vital to life essentials are lacking. Malnutrition is chronic. Illnesses and diseases go untreated for lack of medicines and supplies. Construction materials are prohibited, preventing rebuilding, and poverty and unemployment levels are extremely high among a population desperate for help - facts never reported by the US media.

 

Many op-eds and editorials "focused on the fallout for Israel and the United States, rather than the civilians killed or the humanitarian crisis they were trying to address." The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, for example, on June 1, lamented how the assault "Complicates Relations with the US," saying:

 

"The timing of the incident is remarkably bad for Israel and the United States," while the Los Angeles Times called it "a public relations nightmare for Israel."

 

Again, from The New York Times Kershner, saying that Israeli criticism "offered a propaganda coup to (its) foes, particularly the Hamas group that holds sway in Gaza." No mention of its democratic election, its false label as a terrorist organization sworn to Israel's destruction,  Mahmoud Abbas' US-financed and supported Fatah West Bank takeover and control, or that his term of office expired in January 2009, but he refused to call a new election or step down.

 

Nothing either about daily Israeli violence and belligerency, the suffocating siege, 43 years of repressive occupation, or true facts about the Flotilla attack - Mavi Marmara passengers saying Israeli vessels surrounded the ship, firing on it before storming aboard by helicopter. 

 

According to Knesset Member Haneen Zoubi's first hand account:

 

This well-planned operation "wanted many deaths to terrorize us and to send a message that no future aid convoys should try to break the siege of Gaza." She also explained that commandos took control of the ship, searched it and found no weapons or munitions.

 

Quoting Israel, US media accounts falsely claim otherwise, then lament about the subsequent PR nightmare, not cold-blooded murder at sea. For example on June 1, the Washington Post reported the assault as follows:

 

"Upon touching down, the Israeli commandos, who were equipped with paint guns and pistols, were assaulted with steel poles, knives and pepper spray. Video showed at least one commando being lifted up and dumped from the ship's upper deck to the lower deck. Some commandos later said they jumped into the water to escape being beaten. The Israeli military said some of the demonstrators fired live ammunition. The Israeli officials said the activists had fired two guns stolen from the troops."

 

Sadly, this is what passes for journalism in America, especially on television and talk radio - disinformation, distortion and suppression of the truth that can't pass the smell test - why Project Censored alerts about a "truth emergency," glaringly in reporting about Israel.

 

What Passes for TV News in America - All Propaganda All the Time

 

Especially in reports about Israel, a nation that can do no wrong on cable or broadcast news and talk shows, leaving viewers hopelessly misinformed.

 

Never are guests like Noam Chomsky invited on or are comments like his aired in response to the Flotilla massacre, saying:

 

"It is worth bearing in mind that the crime is nothing new. For decades, Israel has been hijacking boats in international waters between Cyprus and Lebanon, killing or kidnapping passengers, sometimes bringing them to prisons in Israel including secret prison/torture chambers, sometimes holding them as hostages for many years." 

 

Israel has been out-of-control for decades, now more than ever under the extremist Netanyahu government, threatening anyone that dares challenge it, including its own citizens. Try hearing that on corporate TV, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting or the BBC, all one-sidedly pro-Israeli.

 

On June 1, CNN highlighted Israel's side of the Flotilla attack, airing, among its other officials, its UN deputy ambassador saying the passengers "are not peace activists. They were not messengers of goodwill." It then reported the IDF saying their troops "were met with premeditated violence, evident by the activists' use of clubs, metal rods, and knives, as well as the firing of two weapons stolen from the the soldiers." Israeli forces then responded with "defensive action (fearing) their lives were endangered," and seven were wounded.

 

CNN aired Israeli video, not what activists shot that showed a true version of what happened, then reported the following:

 

"A senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in an account cleared by military censors, displayed a box containing switchblade knives, slingshots with metal balls and bats he said had been confiscated from one of the boats. 'This was not spontaneous,' he said. 'This was planned.' "

 

On May 31, CNN's national security commentator and former Bush administration advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism said the following:

 

"....imagine for a moment if you had videotape of a US Navy Seal being thrown by civilians off the side of a ship. We would be surprised if not everybody on that ship was killed as a result of that."

 

In other words, murdering civilians is standard US policy, being implemented, of course in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, either directly or by proxies. Israel follows the same practice, longstanding by both countries.

 

Other CNN reports were similar, leaving viewers to believe the activists were terrorists, Israel merely responding in self-defense - outrageous disinformation typical of CNN and the other networks.

 

As always, Fox News viewers get a daily diet of irresponsible truth-free reporting, so extreme at times it's unmatched.

 

On May 31, its online Flotilla attack account headlined, "Israeli Officials Claim Aid Flotilla Had Ties to Al Qaeda, PM Gives Military 'Full Support,' " saying Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed Israeli soldiers were attacked and responded in self-defense.

 

Israel's deputy UN ambassador, Daniel Carmon was quoted saying: "What kind of peace activists use knives, clubs and fire from weapons stolen from soldiers to attack (them) board(ing) a ship in accordance with international law?" The Flotilla was organized by a "group with a radical anti-western orientation that supports terrorist organizations like Hamas and Al Qaeda."

 

Bill O'Reilly aired Israeli video showing "its troops were attacked." Sean Hannity complained about the Obama administration's "lack of support" for Israel. Glenn Beck asked if "anyone questioned the hatred that socialists have for Israel or the Jews?" 

 

Reporter Dana Lewis said the Flotilla was organized by a group with "links to Al Qaeda," and that the IDF "says it's identified 50 passengers on the ship with terrorist links." He also repeated the lie that Israeli commandos were "armed mainly with paintball guns," and were "met (by) a violent mob armed with bats, steel bars, knives....and even guns ripped from Israeli troops who were beaten to the point they feared for their lives."

 

On his June 1 radio show, Rush Limbaugh raged against Obama for having "strong personal and political ties to anti-Israeli leftists....The Israelis (were) out there playing by the rules....This was not some innocent bunch of people going in. This (was) an arms mission."

 

"Not one shred of truth is being reported about this flotilla, who the people on (it) were or what their purpose was. Their purpose was to get this provocation, (and) their PR campaign (was) ready to go before the flotilla even set sail." That's how "Islamists" operate. "What we're looking at here is another all-out assault on an Israel-free Middle East."

 

Most worrisome is that people believe this, leaving them hopelessly misinformed in support of the wrong side.

 

Some Final Comments

 

On June 2, Netanyahu, a common street thug serving as prime minister, told an interviewer that the activists attacked "are extremist supporters of terror and violence....I have to make clear that the Israeli soldiers protected their lives bravely and also I'm very proud of what they did." Proud of cold-blooded murder he means, Israel's longstanding policy.

 

On June 1, Israel rejected international calls for an independent investigation and end to the Gaza siege, Netanyahu blaming the victims, then adding: 

 

"It's important to understand that the (blockade) is essential to protect Israel's security and its right to defend itself. (Gaza is an) Iranian-sponsored terrorist state," so it's vital to prevent weapons from entering.

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supports an Israeli probe, stressing it must be "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent" - knowing full well it'll be a whitewash like Israel's Cast Lead investigation, absolving its forces of any responsibility.

 

Members of Congress praised the Israeli raid, including Senators Joe Lieberman (I. CT) and Charles Schumer (D. NY) - the senators from AIPAC. Also Senator John McCain (R. AZ), who like many in Congress equate Muslims with terrorists. House members were just as supportive, including Anthony Weiner (who advocated universal coverage, then surrendered to Obamacare - D. NY), Gary Ackerman (D. NY), and numerous others.

 

On June 1, a top IDF navy commander told the Jerusalem Post that Israel will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent ships from breaking the blockade. "We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war. That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was war."

 

On June 4, 2009 in Cairo, Barack Obama called violence "a dead end," in "seek(ing) a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect" without one religion competing with the other. They "share common principles....of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."

 

Afterward he:

 

-- intensified the Iraq occupation;

 

-- expanded war in Afghanistan;

 

-- wages it in Pakistan's Northwest Waziristan;

 

-- targets Yemen and the Horn of Africa;

 

-- backed the Honduran coup;

 

-- occupied and militarized Haiti for profit;

 

-- threatens Venezuela and other nations;

 

-- most recently heightened tensions with North Korea over a suspicious false flag incident; and 

 

-- backs Israel's most egregious crimes of war and against humanity, saying only, through a White House spokesman, that he deeply "regrets the loss of lives and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy," when it's perfectly clear what happened and who's at fault. Something neither he or America's media can admit, despite worldwide condemnation. 

 

A conclusion so clear it got one commentator to denounce the pro-Israeli chorus, saying their version is like a carjacker telling police that the driver bashed him on the head with a tire iron under his seat.

 

On June 3, Haaretz's Gideon Levy called Netanyahu "a blind captain in the cockpit, flying his blindfolded passengers with exemplary precision" enough to get "the whole world against us."

 

In a June 2, Asia Times op-ed, Pepe Escobar spoke for many when he said: "We are all Gazans now."

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.



appalling US media coverage, especially to more balanced from Israeli publications like Haaretz

Police Confiscate ID Cards from Muhammad Abu Tir and Three other Hamas Legislative Council members

 

Western News Agencies Distort Live Satellite Feed from Gaza Aid Flotilla

Western News Agencies Distort Live Satellite Feed from Gaza Aid Flotilla


By Lloyd Hart
06/03/10


While watching the live satellite feed video from Al Jazeera television in the early morning of the violent attacks on the Gaza aid flotilla the chronology of events is clear. The Israeli's fired on the vessel Mavi Marmara before boarding. After that, the live satellite feed camera focuses on the initial wounded and then after that the camera moves to the top deck and at that point the Israeli commandos land on the upper deck and are attacked by clearly enraged individuals who have just witnessed their friends being shot, some to death and are suffering psychological shock as a result of Israeli terrorism. This, however, is not what western news agencies are showing.


What he western news agencies are doing is distorting the video from Al Jazeera showing the attacks on the Israeli commando's first out of context with the original satellite feed. This act of subversion of the truth is clearly a deliberate attempt to prevent the truth from getting out to the western public. One of the most popular newspapers in Briton committed this act of subversion, the Guardian, on it's online web site. 


Most news outlets in the west are following the Israeli propaganda line of showing the top deck Mavi Marmara confrontation between activists and Israeli commandos using Al Jazeera video out of context or are showing Israeli video that strictly focuses attention on their deliberate propaganda line, which of course is a well designed lie.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jun/01/israeli-troops-confront-flotilla-activists


Even Al Jazeera English has edited their own video to show the upper deck confrontation first and has removed the on board reporters comments that clearly state that the Israel's fired on the Mavi Marmara before boarding. This is interesting and reveals America's hand behind the scenes threatening Al Jazeera as the U.S. would be the only power they would be threatened by.


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/201053113252437484.html


In the videos shown at the below link shows the original satellite video feed as well as the Israeli video which shows the conflict of chronology between the two videos.


http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/06/raw-footage-israeli-soldiers-killing-innocent-people-on-the-flotilla/


Here is another source of the Al Jazeera satellite feed from the Mavi Marmara


http://www.forumeter.com/video/229855/IDF-Boarding-Gaza-Aid-Flotilla


The Huffington Post attempts to show as much of the available video as possible.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/31/mavi-marmara-video-israel-news-gaza-flotilla_n_595250.html


With reporters on the Mavi Marmara stating that the Israeli's opened fire with live ammunition killing and wounding some of the passengers prior to boarding the vessel and the speed by which the Israeli's released it's video and propaganda onslaught, one could easily come to the conclusion that it was the Israeli plan all along to open fire prior to boarding the Mavi Marmara. That the Israeli's did this in order to provoke a violent reaction from some of the activists on board the ship that Israeli's could then catch on video and thus justify to the world the violence, murder and piracy Israel has clearly committed. Whether the resulting propaganda spewing out of Israel and their zionist colleagues hear in america is just damage control or the conspiracy outlined above is irrelevant at this point. 


Former Bush National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was just on MSNBC claiming a broad conspiracy by the flotilla activists to run the blockade of Gaza, provoke Israeli violence, gain international sympathy to lift the blockade so later when the blockade is lifted the same activists could smuggle in weapons. This is patently absurd as the smuggling of weapons through the tunnels is going along just fine. If it were just weapons the people in Gaza needed, there wouldn't be an issue. Gaza is not short on weapons. Gaza is short on food, medical and infrastructure supplies and this speaks to the collective punishment used by the British and Americans throughout their history that murdered millions of civilians and is used widely by the Israeli's throughout to do the same since British and American backed European and American zionists stole Palestine from the people living there at the time and renamed it Israel.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37487898#37487898


I think it is important to get a grip on what the British and American backed European and American zionists did and why the Palestinian People keep fighting. British and American backed European and American zionists stole Palestine from the Palestinian People.


Under international law the Palestinians have a right to use violence to get Palestine back. This is what the fighting is all about. An immense amount of treasure has been spent by the U.S. to ensure the stolen land stays in zionist hands. Part of the reason for this seemingly absurd U.S. national security policy that creates more enemies then it pacifies is simply that the the zionists have agreed not to expose America's role in financing the Nazis in Germany into power and then financing the Nazi's secret arms build up which is surfacing now anyway.


American zionists have been using this tact from the very beginning of the land theft according to former Israeli intelligence officials whom also revealed to me that the Mosad continues to collect intelligence on American politicians in order to twist arms.


This sickening codependent relationship and all the violence that has been caused by it, could end tomorrow if the Israeli's would just agree to the Arab League's proposal of a two state solution along the 1967 boarders between Gaza and the West Bank.


Sadly however this will not be allowed to happen because Israeli is ruled by far worse religious fanatics than anyone the Palestinians can offer up. What makes the zionists worse you ask? It's that they are in the wrong and Israel as the so-called Jewish state sits on stolen land that the Israeli's claim is based on religious fiction made up by religious fanatics. The Zionists are the victims of their own propaganda.


Now I don't fault Jews wanting to get out of Europe and America after all that has happened them but to attempt to establish a Jewish state in a land where most of the Jews converted to Islam anyway is pure psychosis brought on yes by the oppression the Jews by the Europeans and Americans but still psychotic.


By following the zionist path the Israelis have become psychopathic murderers just like the Europeans and Americans and must be stop by all means necessary and if this means Palestinians resorting to violence to defend themselves from the zionist invader, so be it. I support their right to get their land back from the zionist thieves that stole it in the first place. And I am sure the majority of the planet would agree with me.






      

 

Life in Occupied East Jerusalem

 Life in Occupied East Jerusalem - by Stephen Lendman

 

Founded in 1972, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) is the country's leading human and civil rights organization through litigation, legal advocacy, education, and public outreach. In May 2009, it published "The State of Human Rights in East Jerusalem: Fact and Figures," then a follow-up June report titled, "Life in the Garbage: A Status Report of Sanitation Services in East Jerusalem." Both reports are reviewed below. 

 

East Jerusalem by the Numbers

 

-- based on 2007 data, the Palestinian population numbered 260.5 thousand;

 

-- 66.8% of families are impoverished, including 74% of children; over 94,000 "live in a perpetual state of poverty;"

 

-- since occupying the city, Israel expropriated over one-third of its Arab-owned land;

 

-- by yearend 2007, over 50,000 exclusively Jewish housing units were built on expropriated land, none for Palestinians;

 

-- during the first half of 2009, the Jerusalem Municipality demolished 21 Palestinian homes, a process that continues relentlessly;

 

-- in Arab areas, the city lacks 70 km of sewage lines;

 

-- about 160,000 Palestinians lack water system connections;

 

-- Palestinian areas lack 1,500 classrooms; the shortage shows up in the 50% dropout rate; and

 

-- about 9,000 Palestinians are deprived of school.

 

Illegally annexed in June 1967, Jerusalem is Israel's largest city. Today, the Separation Wall completely severs the Arab East from the surrounding area, severely impacting its residents' economy, culture  political viability, and future. 

 

As an occupier, Israel is responsible for the population's welfare and basic rights under international humanitarian law - an obligation it's defiled for 43 years by failing to budget minimal resources needed to fulfill it.

 

Instead, it's practiced willful neglect by discriminating in planning, construction, land expropriation, and investment in physical infrastructure, government, and municipal services. As a result, East Jerusalem residents suffer worsening conditions of distress under Israel's plan to dispossess Palestinian residents to make the entire city exclusively Jewish.

 

"Life in East Jerusalem can be described as a continuing cycle of neglect, discrimination, poverty, and shortages," compounded by military occupation, the encircling Separation Wall, and worsening daily hardships. As a result, most Palestinians don't receive, and can't afford basic necessities most people take for granted.

 

Most harmed are the elderly, disabled, and children, chronic poverty also taking its toll on stable family relationships, leading to an increase in violence and crime, an unconducive environment for child development, plus causing serious health and nutritional problems. It reflects a deliberate Israeli effort to dispossess Arabs to create more space for Jews - ethnic cleansing, Israeli-style.

 

Civil Status Obstructions and Denials

 

After the 1967 Six Day War, East Jerusalem residents became permanent Israeli residents, affording them the right to live and work in Israel without special permits. Under the National Insurance Law, they're also entitled to health insurance and the right to vote in municipal, not national elections. 

 

In addition, permanent residency, unlike citizenship, passes on conditionally to children. For example, marrying someone without permanent residency or  citizenship status requires applying for family unification to live together. In fact, however, Israel treats East Jerusalem Arabs as foreigners whose rights can be summarily revoked, denied, or severely restricted.

 

As a result, residents endure repeated investigations and inquiries to keep proving their legitimacy - so Israel may deny it, an arbitrary, common practice. In addition, time and expense are involved, including for services applications that can take months or years to be considered.

 

Many Palestinians live outside Jerusalem's municipal boundaries with no Israeli residency status. Severed from the West Bank by the Separation Wall, they're trapped in East Jerusalem with no recognized status. In October 2007, Israel denied them permanent residency, issuing only temporary permits under military authority. Even getting them involves cost and bureaucratic red tape, and those with them may live in their homes, but not work or drive in Jerusalem. Nor can they get education, health, or other services. As a result, they've been ghettoized under severe, unrelenting duress as foreigners in their own homes on their own land.

 

Obstructing New Palestinian Construction

 

For decades in East Jerusalem, it's been virtually impossible for Palestinians to get new construction permits, because Israel authorizes all development for Jews, much of it on increasing amounts of expropriated land. Palestinians even trying to get permits face exhausting bureaucratic procedures and costly fees, beyond what most of them can afford.

 

Israel's 2006 Outline Plan, "Jerusalem 2000," perpetuates extreme discrimination, favoring Jews alone. As a result, Palestinian construction without permits risks eventual demotions and fines, much of it indiscriminate to harass. Yet "unauthorized building is a testament not to an unwillingness to comply with the law....but (to) prov(ing) that the current planning system fails to address....the real needs of" East Jerusalem's Palestinians.

 

In 2008, the Jerusalem Municipality demolished 85 East Jerusalem structures, a third more than in 2007. Then since January 2009, 1,052 additional demolition orders were issued in the first six months, part of Israel's relentless drive to Judaize the entire city, aided by Attorney General Menahem Mazus' permission to confiscate heavy machinery used for "illegal construction."

 

Blatant Neglect of Services and Vital Infrastructure 

 

Chronic sanitation facility shortages threaten health and life, partly the result of garbage left on streets and in illegal dumps throughout East Jerusalem. More on this below.

 

In addition, vital infrastructure is neglected and inadequate. As a result, roads are studded with potholes. The few existing sidewalks are in serious disrepair, causing damage to people and property. Public parks and recreational facilities are a rarity. Few municipal forms are in Arabic. The postal service barely functions. A mere seven facilities serve over 260,000 residents compared to 50 in West Jerusalem.

 

Sewage and drainage infrastructure is dilapidated, the result of years of neglect. Some neighborhoods have no connection to the system, relying instead on cesspits. In other areas, facilities are antiquated and poorly maintained.

 

Lacking over 70 km of sewage lines, liquid waste at times flows close to homes and children's play areas, severe weather exacerbating the problem. Despite repeated complaints, this and other problems aren't addressed, nor is there any intent to institute improvements. Even when residents are willing to subsidize the cost, bureaucratic delays obstruct commencement of needed work.

 

The Separation Wall exacerbated the problem, destroying several kilometers of sewer lines during construction. Only those affecting the Shuafat-Ras Hamis refugee camp were repaired after repeated requests.

 

Lack of Fresh Water

 

About 160,000 East Jerusalem residents aren't connected to the municipal water system, well over half the population. As a result, their choices are to rig makeshift connections to water mains, to legally connected homes, rely on stored containers, or buy privately-supplied water at unaffordable prices.

 

The situation creates risks. Water pressure is weak and unreliable. Stored amounts can be contaminated, and lacking a clean, fresh supply makes residents vulnerable to infectious diseases and prevents them from maintaining proper hygiene levels.

 

A Critical Classroom Shortage

 

East Jerusalem's education system hasn't kept pace with its population growth, four times its 1967 size. As a result, around 1,500 new classrooms are needed, and 400 more by yearend 2010. Because of a lack of facilities, only half of all school-age children are enrolled in municipal schools, mostly in overcrowded, unsafe facilities, some of them makeshift.

 

The alternative is to rely on private Jerusalem or West Bank schools, what most families can't afford or reach. Pre-schools are also affected. As a result, 90% of 15,000 three and four year olds have no facility whatever. East Jerusalem has only two municipal pre-schools, with a combined 55-children enrollment. Another 1,900 attend a few dozen private facilities, charging high tuitions, unaffordable for most parents.

 

Deficient Welfare Services

 

Despite East Jerusalem's high poverty level, affecting over two-thirds of its residents, only 22% receive social services, because of under-funding and discriminatory neglect, threatening the system with collapse.

 

Police Brutality and Human Rights Violations

 

Human rights organizations, like ACRI, get regular complaints about police and Border Patrol brutality and harassment. Investigations are seldom conducted, nearly always ending in whitewash, absolving the offenders.

 

ACRI represented one resident attacked by police, despite displaying no hostility or violence. They dragged, tear-gassed, and handcuffed him, broke his arm, then kicked and beat him. During Cast Lead, over 200 protesters were beaten and arrested, many of them children, and some detainees were assaulted in their homes in the middle of the night, then forcibly taken away.

 

In addition, various Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations were targeted and shut down, allegedly for unsubstantiated security reasons, in fact, to prevent them from operating.

 

Free Movement Restrictions and Checkpoint Harassment

 

Over 100,000 East Jerusalem residents on the Separation Wall's east side have been disconnected from the city. In February 2009, A-Ram checkpoint was closed, leaving Atarot (Kalandia) only, linking northern neighborhoods to the city's center. Atarot also provides residents on the Wall's other side with municipal and urban postal, national insurance, and employment services.

 

Yet congestion makes crossing "unbearable," and despite promises to alleviate it, residents face long waits, from one - two hours, to get through in either direction. Worse still, the public transportation lane was cancelled, forcing passengers off buses to proceed on foot. As a result, students heading for school are affected. So are car owners allowed passage only through private lanes, but not their passengers (including the sick, elderly and pregnant), forced to get out and walk.

 

Checkpoint harassment exacerbates the problem, including verbal and physical abuse by soldiers and private security employees. "In East Jerusalem, far from the eye of the public and the media, the authorities (behave) toward residents in a manner that would be inconceivable anywhere in Israel" toward Jews.

 

Appalling East Jerusalem Sanitation Conditions

 

East Jerusalem neighborhoods are bleak, the result of "garbage strewn all over the streets and trash bins (filled) to overflowing, broken down, and leaking." Sanitation, in fact, is so poor, it got special mention in the State Comptroller Report stating:

 

"Cleanliness in East Jerusalem is much worse than in other parts of the city. Municipal attention to (basic) cleanliness and care of East Jerusalem is deficient and reflective of ongoing neglect....There is a need to clarify the jurisdiction of the State of Israel and the City of Jerusalem with regard to meeting the needs of this population, and enhancing coordination between the government ministries and the municipality."

 

Progress toward solving this problem is nil, ACRI saying:

 

Appalling sanitation services reflect "a continuing violation of the rights of East Jerusalem residents to health, life, and a clean environment free of sanitation risks."

 

ACRI's study showed:

 

-- entire streets without trash collection or cleaning services;

 

-- despite the urgent need, neighborhoods lacking sanitation workers;

 

-- sweeping vehicles don't operate in most neighborhoods, and where they do only serve limited areas;

 

-- trash bins throughout the city are dilapidated, burnt out, or otherwise in disrepair;

 

-- public waste receptacles are woefully inadequate in streets, commercial, cultural and other areas;

 

-- vermin and stray dogs pose an environment hazard, especially to children, the elderly and sick;

 

-- residents must cope on their own, at their own expense; and

 

-- neighborhoods most affected are on the Separation Wall's other side where sanitation services are privatized, and absent municipal oversight, don't function properly.

 

Sanitation Conditions in Selected Neighborhoods

 

About 15,000 residents live in Tsur Baher and Umm Tuba, most of them getting no trash collections whatever. Only main street bins are serviced, and they're dilapidated, in disrepair, and lack lids or wheels. In addition, most streets lack sweeping services, so trash accumulates in gutters, causing an environmental, sanitation, and health blight for affected neighborhoods, as well as an esthetic eyesore.

 

"Residents report that in the late afternoon and evening, (stray) dogs regularly prowl the neighborhood, scattering the garbage and terrorizing the residents."

 

Bir Ayyub Silwan gets partial sanitation services since most streets have no trash bins or waste collections. On the main Wadi Road, only four lidless bins serve the entire area - a central artery linking sub-neighborhoods to others in East Jerusalem, including Jabel Mukaber and Tsur Bahar.

 

Other streets have some bins, but most have none. Street sweeping is also absent. Residents' only choice is to burn trash at roadsides. On Marajeh Street, people complain about stray cats scattering garbage by day and mice infesting the area at night - a problem especially bad in summer.

 

Located on the Separation Wall's other side, Ras Khamis services were privatized, resulting in appalling sanitation. Only ten trash bins serve 10,000 residents, all of them rusty, burnt, or damaged. None have lids, and street sweeping isn't done. Residents are thus left with their own ingenuity and resources to cope.

 

In addition, contract services perform poorly, and nothing is done about vermin or prowling dogs despite regular appeals for help.

 

Legal Status

 

Section B of the Municipalities Ordinance's Amended Version addresses sanitation needs, paragraph 242 covering the responsibility to install trash bins and assure waste collections in an orderly manner, stating:

 

"....the municipality shall undertake the following actions:

 

(1) take measures to eliminate or prevent any public hazard and undertake inspections to identify existing hazards;

 

(2) order the collection of rubbish and garbage from every house and set the fees for said collection;

 

(3) order the inspection, regulation, maintenance, cleaning, and emptying of sewers, drains, lavatories, toilets, septic tanks, passageways, gutters, watercourses, cesspits, and sanitary fixtures;" as well as

 

(4) keep trash bins in good working order and provide maintenance to prevent health hazards;

 

(5) keep other sanitation facilities safe and working properly;

 

(6) ensure street sweeping and cleaning;

 

(7) prevent waste from accumulating in public;

 

(8) prevent streams, ditches, watercourses or wells from becoming contaminated;

 

(9) prevent pipes intended for rainwater runoff from being used for sewage removal or bathroom waste; and 

 

(10) assure inspections to maintain cleanliness.

 

The Jerusalem Bylaws grant city trash collections solely to municipal workers by mayoral issued permits.

 

"The Jerusalem municipality is therefore obliged by law to provide sanitation services that include" proper bins and receptacles, collections, street sweeping and cleaning, and extermination of vermin, rats, mice, and other health hazards. City authorities are clearly derelict in their duties, according to law.

 

East Jerusalem Palestinians are thus gravely impacted under truly appalling conditions - the result of "ongoing neglect and discrimination" by municipal authorities. All city services are affected, the most visible being sanitation ones.

 

Since its 1972 establishment, ACRI's mission has been to "protect and promote human rights and civil liberties, wherever they are violated by Israel or on its behalf," an enormous challenge against authorities committed to violence, discrimination, harassment, abuse, and the denial of basic freedoms to everyone not Jewish - a testimony to a rogue state's viciousness.

 

Its longstanding neglect and abuse are especially evident in East Jerusalem and Gaza under siege. But the entire Palestinian population is affected, including Israeli citizens, enduring relentless persecution, discrimination and systemic violence to crack their spirit and dispossess them - something Israel's failed at for over six decades, showing its mindlessness to the Palestinian spirit to endure, survive, and eventually overcome what can't be sustained nor will be, no matter how many more decades of struggle it takes.                                  

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.



Israel's repressive occupation

Sign Israeli Petition Supporting Rachel Corrie

Israeli citizens and organizations

call on the world's governments and civil society organizations:

Don't Say We Didn't Know 214

The IDF continues to attack and expell fishermen from the Gaza Strip, and farmers tilling their land near the Gaza-Israel border.
On 21,22,26 May 2010 Israeli Navy ships opened fire at Palestinian

אוואז בעצומה עולמית נגד המתקפה הישראלית על משט הסיוע לעזה

העולם זועזע מהמתקפה הישראלית על משט הסיוע לעזה. זה הזמן להתחיל בחקירה מקיפה - ולהסיר את המצור מעל עזה. חיתמו על העצומה העולמית, והעבירו את המסר הלאה:

חיתמו על העצומה

Israel's New Initiative: Barbarism and Piracy at Sea

 Israel's New Initiative: Barbarism and Piracy at Sea - by Stephen Lendman

 

This article follows from this writer's Monday one, accessed through the following link:

 

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/05/brave-israeli-commandos-slaughter-aid.html.

 

On May 31, under cover of darkness, Israeli commandos conducted a premeditated act of state terrorism against civilian aid activists trying to deliver thousands of tons of essential to life aid to besieged Gazans. Israeli radio reported that 19 were slaughtered, dozens more injured, and according to Earth Times.org: 

 

"About 480 foreign activists who were stopped by Israel on the high seas while sailing to Gaza were transfered overnight to a prison in the southern city of Beersheba, Israeli Radio reported (June 1)." About 48 others were deported. Other reports had over 600 arrested and an Israeli-imposed news blackout.

 

Those held now face grueling interrogations, followed either by deportation or detainment ahead of prosecution, Israel's customary practice - blaming  victims, absolving state terrorism, repeatedly committed, claiming it's to safeguard national security. 

 

Or by Israeli logic, its attack was self-defense. Linked to "global Jihad, Al Qaeda and Hamas," humanitarian activists were an "armada of hate and violence (engaging in a) premeditated and outrageous provocation," according to Israel's deputy defense minister, Danny Ayalon. 

 

Not according to Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Canceling scheduled military exercises with Israel and recalling his ambassador, Oguz Celikkol, he said:

 

"It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel's lawlessness....This action, totally contrary to the principles of international law, is inhumane state terrorism. Nobody should think we will keep quiet in the face of this."

 

Nor should anyone let Israel get away with a crime this grave, its latest example of lawlessness, this time in international waters in violation of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas and 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

 

Relevant International Law 

 

Under UNCLOS' Article 101, maritime piracy includes   "any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation....against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State (and) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating (such) an act."

 

Usually it refers to robbery or criminal violence committed by private parties. Broadly interpreted, it can apply to states committing lawless acts. UNCLOS lets them interdict at sea to prevent illegal arms and drug smuggling, the slave trade or terrorist activities - not applicable to Flotilla activists despite Israel's accusations.

 

Its mission was humanitarian. Inspected before departure, its cargo included food, medicines, educational, construction, and other materials, not weapons, munitions or anything threatening Israel. Under UNCLOS, its commandos had no right to interdict  or attack activists on board, especially in international waters.

 

Under customary maritime law, ships have "innocent passage" rights through all international and coastal area waters, subject to certain restrictions. 

 

UNCLOS defines "innocent passage" as expeditious, continuous passage through waters in ways not "prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security" of a coastal state.

 

America's Defense Department defines it as:

 

"The right of all ships to engage in continuous and expeditious surface passage through the territorial sea and archipelagic water of foreign coastal states in a manner not prejudicial to its peace, good order, or security. Passage includes stopping and anchoring, but only if incidental to ordinary navigation or necessary for force majeure (a natural or unavoidable catastrophe) or distress, or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships, or aircraft in danger of distress."

 

Israel's brazen slaughter constituted a crime of war and against humanity, punishable under international law. Claiming it an act self-defense is bogus, reprehensible and laughable on its face.

 

The Legitimate Right of Self-Defense

 

As reported on Ma'anNews.net, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza, explained that:

 

"In international waters, the crew of a ship has the right to prevent others from boarding their ship without their permission, including by resorting to violence," if, in fact, it was used by whatever means activists managed to employ.

 

Further, states may only act within its 12 nautical mile limit, not in international waters for any reasons other than what UNCLOS permits, with verifiable evidence to prove it.

 

Abu Rahma also raised other considerations, including "whether Gaza is occupied or not. If not, then Israel has absolutely no right to act inside or outside its nautical jurisdiction," but in either case, the right of self-defense applies.

 

As for Israel claiming it, the UN Charter's Article 51 is clear. It's allowed against an attack or an impending one "until the Security Council has taken measures to maintain international peace and security." In other words, justifiable self-defense is permissible. Charter Articles 2(3), 2(4), and 33 absolutely prohibit any unilateral threat or use of force not specifically allowed under Article 51 or authorized by the Security Council.

 

Three General Assembly resolutions concur, absolutely prohibiting "non-consensual military intervention," precisely what Israel used.

 

Abu Rahma also said that "Military or police forces may not use force except to the extent necessary to deal with a certain situation, (but) given the very high number of casualties and injuries," clearly extreme lethal measures was used.

 

A final issue pertains to the rights and sovereignty of states "under whose flags the ships were sailing when they were attacked," particularly since the incident was in international waters.

 

Global Condemnation Following Israel's Premeditated, Unconscionable Slaughter

 

Haaretz writer Gideon Levy called the attack a "Mini Cast Lead. Like its larger, losing predecessor, this operation had it all: the usual false claim that is was they who had started it...." They committed "the first act of violence," not heavily armed commandos facing unarmed civilians. We acted in "self defense....they lynched us," but all the dead are theirs. "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."

 

As usual in America, the "chorus" had its regular participants, the major media's paid liars.

 

Haaretz writers offer both sides, Bradley Burston, for example, headlining, "A Special Place in Hell/The Second Gaza War: Israel lost at sea," saying:

 

"We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the (indefensible) siege, which is itself becoming Israel's Vietnam," another protracted illegal war.

 

Displaying a brave face, US media reports covered the attack, the subsequent international outrage, and disturbing unanswered questions while largely supporting Israel. On May 31, New York Times writer Isabel Kershner headlined, "Deadly Israeli Raid Draws Condemnation," citing global protests, then stating:

 

"Israel said the violence was instigated by pro-Palestinian activists who presented themselves as humanitarians but had come ready for a fight," mindless of an accusation so bogus it begs the question why a legitimate journalist would even suggest it. Nor quote vice admiral Eliezer Marom saying his forces "had to open fire in order to defend themselves. Their lives were at risk." Or deputy defense minister Danny Ayalon claiming the siege is "aimed at preventing the infiltration of terror and terrorists into Gaza," when clearly it's an illegal act of collective punishment against 1.5 million civilians, guilty only of being Palestinians - a high crime for Israeli authorities and in much of the US media.

 

In her article titled, "Israel Murders Human Rights Workers Delivering Humanitarian Aid," Law Professor and former National Lawyers Guild President, Marjorie Cohn, denounced the attack as "a clear breach of international law," called for an investigation, and said "Israel must end its illegal blockade of Gaza which constitutes unlawful aggression under General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974)," including blockades in its definition.

 

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) "strongly condemn(ed)" Israel's crime by using "excessive and lethal force" against nonviolent, unarmed activists delivering humanitarian aid. Calling the attack "characteristic of a long series of war crimes and grave violations....against civilians," PCHR said international community silence and failure to comply with international law provides "an open invitation for (Israeli forces to) continue to commit crimes against civilians" and inflict collective punishment against 1.5 million besieged Gazans.

 

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) "strongly condemn(ed) Israel's barbarous early-morning raid, carried out in international waters, on a maritime humanitarian convoy," calling it an "act of piracy" and murder.

 

Professor Francis Boyle is a distinguished international law expert. In his December 31, 2008 article, titled "An Israeli War Crimes Tribunal (ICTI) May be the Only Deterrent to a Global War," he said:

 

"The United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an (ICTI) under UN Charter Article 22 (to) investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine (to) provide (them) some small degree of justice...."

 

Earlier, Boyle called for "immediately" suspending Israel "throughout the entirely of the United Nations System, including the General Assembly and all UN subsidiary organs and bodies." It's justified legally as follows:

 

"As a condition for its admission to the United Nations Organization, Israel formally agreed to accept General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) (1947) (partition/Jerusalem trusteeship) and General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) (1948) (Palestinian right of return), inter alia."

 

Thereafter, Israel repudiated its obligation under dozens of General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, condemning and censuring its actions, demanding they end, but stopping short of taking action. 

 

Key is America's abstention as an "honest broker." It "invariably side(s) with Israel against the Palestinians," so what's needed is "some type of international framework to sponsor (honest) negotiation(s) where (those representing) Palestinians will not be subjected to the continual bullying, threats, harassment, intimidation and outright lies perpetrated by the United States government" under Obama like his predecessors.

 

On June 1, Boyle reported that Israel's Flotilla attack "violated the SUA (Suppression of Unlawful Acts) Convention, to which Israel, Turkey and the USA are all parties." SUA followed "in reaction to the (1985) Achille Lauro Hijacking and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer." It's "one of the Conventions adopted by the UN and its affiliated organizations to deal with the phenomenon of international terrorism," precisely what Israel committed this week and does all the time.

 

The US-Israeli Relationship 

 

On June 1, Haaretz writer Natasha Mozgovaya asked "Will the Gaza flotilla attack affect US-Israel ties," noting hundreds of angry Americans in front of the White House "demanding (Washington) cut ties with Israel." Earlier, Israel's embassy was "besieged" by protesters, demanding its ambassador's expulsion, cutting US aid, and stopping Israeli piracy funding. 

 

Suggesting a "deep rift" between them, however, overlooks realpolitik. Public displeasure masks rock-solid relations, the power of the Israeli Lobby cementing them, besides each side needing the other as allies, a longstanding relationship for decades.

 

UN Security Council Holds Emergency Meeting

 

On June 1, the Security Council called for an impartial investigation into the attack, stopping short of demanding an end to the siege, as well as accountability and criminal prosecutions for those responsible for cold-blooded murder. 

 

Expressing deep regret for "the loss of life and injuries," the Council "condemn(ed)" the action, "request(ed) the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel....and to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the convoy to its destination."

 

France, Russia and China called for the siege to be lifted. America hinted about an easing, but stopped short of requesting it, US deputy permanent representative, Alejandro Wolff, saying only that Washington was "deeply disturbed by recent violence and regrets tragic loss of life and injuries," no matter its partnership and support in all Israeli initiatives.

 

On June 1, the Free Gaza Movement reported that Israel-licensed attorneys filed two habeas briefs. One  asked for the release of all passengers and ships, and their aid to be delivered to Gaza. The other requested information on all passengers and lifting of Israel's news blackout.

 

Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi on board the Flotilla said:

 

"It was clear from the size of (Israel's assault) force (that) the purpose was not only to (abort the mission) but to cause the largest possible number of fatalities (and other casualties) in order to stop such initiatives in the future."

 

Some Final Comments

 

Two remaining Flotilla ships are still heading to Gaza, including the MV Rachel Corrie with two internationally renown figures on board among others:

 

-- Mairead Maguire, 1976 Nobel Peace laureate and co-founder of Northern Ireland's Peace People; and

 

-- Denis Halliday, former Iraq Humanitarian Program head, who resigned in protest saying he was asked to commit the equivalent of genocide, killing 5,000 children a month.

 

Israel announced both ships will be interdicted and taken to the port city of Ashdod.

 

On June 1, in the wake of world condemnation for its attack, the Palestinian News Network (PNN) reported that:

 

"Three Palestinian fighters were killed by Israeli shelling targeting the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon," two others as well in a ground incursion. On the same day, Israeli tanks shelled residents' homes in Khan Younis, then invaded Al Qarrara village, bulldozing lands near the borders according to residents.

 

These type attacks happen repeatedly, but go largely unreported in the US media. For them, only Israeli deaths and injuries matter, and once outrage over the Flotilla attacks subsides, the fate of the activists, ships and supplies will be ignored.

 

So too will Lebanon and Syria's accusations of Israel's  warmongering, following weeks of threatening its northern neighbors and conducting provocative military exercises requiring its citizens to flee to bunkers and safe rooms in response to a simulated missile attack.

 

Earlier this year, Israel deployed troops to its northern border, suggesting a planned military operation would follow, and in May, the Obama administration requested an additional $205 million in military aid to support its "Iron Dome" rocket shield system. 

 

Reports now say Israel will deploy three nuclear-armed submarines in the Persian Gulf near Iran (one already there), and won't participate in a 2012 conference on establishing a nuclear-free Middle East, an idea first endorsed in the mid-1990s but never pursued.

 

All Israeli belligerent acts are joint IDF-Pentagon initiatives, including the Flotilla attack, unlikely to have been undertaken without approval, joint planning, funding, weapons and munitions from Washington, Israel's paymaster/partner in crime.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

 

 

more Israeli crimes against humanity

Joan Armatrading Don't Play Apartheid

Women of Colour in the Global Women's Strike

Angry Crowd Pickets Israeli Embassy in New Zealand

New protests in the german capital against the Israeli attack on the FreeGaza flotila

Renewed protests against the slaughterous Israeli assault on the Gaza solidarity convoy took place on tuesday in Berlin. Hundreds of participants deplored the victims of the attack and condemned the Israeli government on account of this crime. They also strongly criticised the german and US complicity in the murderous Israeli politics.

In reference to the german involvement, they mainly denunciated the exportation of weaponry all over the world including Israel.

Annette Groth, member of the Bundestag (german parliament) who had survived the assault on the ship convoy, also rose to speak during the manifestation in front of the german Foreign Office. In contrast to the majority of the passengers of the solidarity convoy she could leave Israel soon after the hijacking of the ships by the Israeli army.

Further manifestations against the Israeli assault have been announced for friday and saturday (day of international solidarity) in the german capital.

כותרות הטלוויזיה החברתית

כותרות העיתונים הנפוצים

ידיעות אחרונות:

המלכודת: המארב והמחדל

 

greek police attacks solidaridy to gaza_protest outside the Israeli embassy, 31.05.10

 

interview with an activist from FreeGaza flotila who return back in Athens today

 

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