More voices from the Gaza aid convoy

Hasan Nowarah, UK:
“We could hear screaming and see bullets flying. Israeli aircraft were trying to land on the Marmara and they were shooting people on the deck who were in their way. Three people were shot in the head and died instantly so everyone started taking cover. When they actually landed, the activists started to run at them and there was a confrontation beyond belief. It was crazy.”

Kevin Ovenden, UK:
"The attack started with percussion grenades and we feared they would use tear gas. The Israeli commandos attacked from all sides and began shooting almost immediately, initially with so-called rubber bullets but certainly within two or three minutes we heard the unmistakable sound of live rounds. A colleague from Viva Palestina, Nicci Enchmarch, was next to a Turkish man who was holding a camera. He was shot through the middle of the forehead. The exit wound blew away the back of his skull and she cradled him in her arms as he died."

Sarah Colborne, UK:
Israeli boats were detected on the radar at 11 pm on Sunday evening. The decision was made to move farther back into international waters. An emergency medical room was assembled and we put our lifejackets on. I went to sleep at 2 am and woke up again at 4:10 am. I went up on to the deck and saw boats and dinghies, bristling with guns and military, speeding towards the ship. There were helicopters above us, and gas and sound bombs were being used. There were then gunshots and the first passenger was fatally wounded. He was brought to the back of the deck but he’d been shot in the head. It was a massacre that took place there."

Jamal Elshayyal, Al Jazeera:
"As soon as this attack started, I was on the top deck and within just a few minutes there were live shots being fired from above the ship, from above, from where the helicopters were. It was evident there was definitely fire from the air, because one of the people who was killed was clearly shot from above — he was shot, the bullet targeted him at the top of his head. There was also fire coming from the sea as well. Most of the fire initially from the sea was tear gas canisters, sound grenades, but then it became live fire.

Hanin Zoughbi, Arab Knesset member also said that the Israeli navy started to fire at the passengers of the Mavi Marmara before the commandos landed on the deck, denying Israel’s claims that its soldiers opened fire in self-defense. “There were deaths within minutes. The aim was to create an atmosphere of terror. A person raised a white flag and there were enough indications that we did not want any confrontation."
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Gaza aid convoy witnesses begin to tell their stories

AL JEZEERA INTERVIEWS RETURNEES

As the people from the Gaza aid convoy begin to return home, we can finally begin to learn their side of the story. The only hard evidence they have is the injuries sustained. Israeli forces confiscated all cameras, cellphones and laptops in an ongoing attempt to censor information, which began with jamming cellphone signals prior to the boarding.

Nevertheless, there are 700 of them, and that collective voice will have weight.

Israel continues to claim that the commandos were only acting in self-defense and did not initaite the violence which has left 9 or more dead. But activists tell of pre-emptive force with shots and tear gas being used prior to the actual boarding.

"Israeli commandos started shooting from the air without warning," said Mubarak al-Mutawa, a lawyer who was on the main vessel, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara. They killed a number of volunteers even before landing aboard the ship," reports al Jazeera.

Talat Hussain, executive director of Aaj TV in Pakistan alleged that Israeli soldiers were shooting people in cold blood. “Four people were shot in the forehead in front me." quoted the Hindu News.

Israeli forces also used tasers and tear gas prior to boarding. Australian photographer Kate Geraghty was was struck by a stun gun before Israeli authorities boarded their vessel.

"Even before they jumped on the boat they did use their taser guns to get people ... because when they approached our boat we were standing close to the edge and putting our hands up trying to prevent them from getting on, so they threw these percussion grenades that explode on the boat and also used tasers to push people back," she said.

MEMBERS OF THE SHAYATET 13 ISRAEL'S NAVAL COMMANDOS

Retired US diplomat Edward L. Peck who was not on the ship where fatalities occurred was interviewed on his return by the Baltimore Sun. "We tried to resist passively, which the Israeli people were not prepared to accept."

"If somebody were to appear at my door, fully armed, wearing balaclava masks, I'd defend my home," he said. "It's the Israeli commandos that were attacking" a ship in international waters "that didn't want to go to Israel," and the passengers defended themselves with deck chairs and iron pipes, but no guns.

What is the legality of the boarding?

In a letter to the Times UK Daniel Machover, chair of the British group Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights writes:

The attack by Israeli forces on the Turkish-registered vessel Mavi Marmara in international waters was clearly unlawful.

By virtue of the decision by the Permanent Court of International Justice in the Lotus case (1927), the basic principle under customary international law, is that “...vessels on the high seas are subject to no authority except that of the State whose flag they fly”; in this case, Turkey. Indeed, a 1988 treaty, to which Israel is a party, criminalises the unlawful and intentional seizure or exercise of control over a ship by force and all connected injuries, deaths and/or detentions.

Israel claims that it was lawfully enforcing a legal blockade. Even if the blockade is legal, in order to rely on this legal justification, Israel is required to liaise with the flag state, Turkey, before trying to board the vessel. It did not.

In any event, this blockade is not lawful. An embargo on adequate food and medical aid can never be lawful. As the boarding of the Mavi Marmara by Israeli forces was unlawful, those on board had the right to defend themselves, subject to the constraints of Turkish criminal law. Any force used by Israeli commandos may be judged as unlawful, let alone the use of lethal force.

Turkey must now be assisted by all UN member states to gain access to all of the evidence relating to this incident so that it may conduct a comprehensive criminal investigation, at the conclusion of which the Israeli personnel involved may need to defend their actions before a criminal court. UN sanctions should be imposed against Israel if it refuses to co-operate with such an investigation. Finally, the unlawful blockade of Gaza must now end.


Meanwhile, an Irish ship which was separated from the main flotilla is still heading towards the blockade. Ireland has asked Israel to allow it safe passage and has warned Israel that an attack on the ship will have "serious consequences."

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Israel not winning many new supporters

Warren Goldstein writes this at HuffPo:
"Let's get this straight. Israel is enforcing a blockade against Gaza that is in blatant defiance of international law.

A flotilla of activists attempts to break the blockade and supply humanitarian aid to Gaza.

And Israeli commandos in international waters board some of the ships, in order to take them over, and have the nerve to complain when they are attacked?"

I think that sums it up in such a way that the "they attacked us first" defense by Israel is irrelevant, even if it were true. And that's a big IF. I don't know about you, but if I saw commandos armed with automatic weapons, rapelling from a helicopter yelling "hut-hut-hut" or whatever the equivalent is in Israeli, I don't think I'd go after them with a stick.

Meanwhile, here in Toronto, not a peep from the MSM on today's protest against the attack. You have to read about it in the Winnipeg Free Press, or at Rabble.ca

CBC Radio One seemed to be all Nentanyahu all the time today, as every time I tuned in on there he was giving his speech and actually saying the soldiers came in peace. Again, if I saw a bunch of heavily armed commandos rapelling down from a helicopter, peaceful intent would not be my first, my second, or even my last impression.

But let's give the last word to Chaim Weizman, the first president of Israel who wrote in 1947:

"There must not be one law for the Jew and another for the Arabs....In saying this, I do not assume that there are tendencies toward inequalirty or discrimination. It is merely a timely warning which is particularly necessary because we shall have a very large Arab minority. I am certain that the world will judge the Jewish State by what it will do with the Arabs, just as the Jewish people at large will be judged by what we do or fail to do in this state where we have been given such a wonderful opportunity after thousands of years of wandering and suffering."
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Israel attacks aid convoy - up to 19 dead

ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU ADDRESSES A CROWD IN TORONTO FROM BEHIND BULLETPROOF GLASS MAY 30

It's said that in politics timing is everything. Stephen Harper's cozy reception of Israeli PM Netanyahu while Israel's military was attacking a humanitarian aid convoy bound for Gaza can hardly be considered good timing. Up to 19 people are reported dead after the attack, which occurred in international waters, and Netanyahu has cancelled his upcoming meeting with Barack Obama.

So much for the pro-Israel love-fest at Sussex Drive.

The US has long been a staunch supporter of Israel, but not even they are quite so blindly onside as the Harper regime, or the Christian fundies who long for Armageddon in the middle east. Turkey, one of Israel's only allies in the region has pulled its ambassador in protest, and numerous demonstrations are taking place around the world, including one at the Israeli consulate at noon today in Toronto (thanks to blogger laura k for the info). The UN has also scheduled an emergency session.

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called the flotilla an "armada of hate and violence" that launched a "premeditated and outrageous provocation." Humanitarian aid now equals hate? Wow, good luck selling that one.

Some additional links
Q&A on the blockade - The Financial Times
Israel needs to have national inquiry into attack - Ha'aretz
Israel walked into PR trap - Globes Online (Israeli business journal)
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