THE JEWS ON THE FLOTILLA ~~ SELF HATERS OR SIMPLY FED UP WITH ISRAELI POLICIES?

Desert Peace

Israeli attempts to paint flotilla activists as a violent threat to the national security of the state has only brought the efforts of these Jews more exposure. The flotilla may have been stopped from physically sailing to Gaza, but the damage it has inflicted on Israel’s position as the vanguard of Jewish identity has added dramatic new layers to a painful internal discussion already in motion.

Over the past two weeks, American activists aboard the US boat to Gaza, dubbed the Audacity of Hope, have been engaged in nonviolence training, holding preparation meetings and speaking to the media about their mission to Gaza. Yesterday, their mission officially ended. The Greek government acting on the behest of Israel, stopped their boat, arrested their captain and ended their mission. Confident that they still won the public relations war, the emotional withdrawal from such an event will leave a lasting mark on many of the passengers. For the Jewish passengers on the Audacity of Hope, their convoluted relationship with Israel will continue to play a major role in their lives when they return to the United States.

The exhaustion of two anxious weeks of preparation was clear on the face of 74 year old Sante Fe resident Ken Myers as he talked about his Jewish background while on the lower deck of the Audacity of Hope, snacking on a freshly prepared Greek salad the night before the boat set sail. “For the most part, my family including my Israeli family have been supportive of my participation in this mission to Gaza.” He remarked as passenger chefs announced that everyone must take second portions of the salad since there is not enough storage space on board for leftovers. “I grew up in an extremely Jewish neighbourhood on the south shore of Long Island but my parents never forced Zionism on me even though my friends were all in Zionist youth groups.” Taking his last bits before handing over his plastic dish to the chefs he said, “I have come to understand that Zionism is simply incompatible with my version of Judaism.”

The Israeli government announced that it would seek a 10 year travel ban for all passengers participating in the Gaza flotilla for ‘illegally entering Israel’. Myers, visibly upset at the prospect of being banned from a country claiming to be his homeland questioned the rationale of the decision. “I am not traveling to Israel on this boat. I am traveling to Gaza and if Israel takes over the boat en route and claims that I illegally entered Israel despite the facts, well, banishment is the price I am willing to pay.”

As the Audacity of Hope left port on Friday afternoon, passengers embraced one and other triumphantly. Despite that the fact that they had not entered international waters and would surely be stopped by the Greek coast guard, many felt that their mission to confront Israel had succeeded when the boat left port. When Greek coast guard officials approached, their nonviolent trainers went into action, informing passengers to take  positions around the wheelhouse in order to protect the captain.

The initial excitement of the confrontation with the Greeks wore off as the evening approached. The passenger chefs prepared a dinner of pesto pasta as the defeat of their mission to Gaza set in. Some passengers remained upbeat even after it was clear that the boat would not travel to Gaza. Steve Fake, a writer and activist from New Orleans, remarked under the setting Athenian sun as the boat approached a military port, “just getting this boat to sea, even if it has only been for an hour, is proof that our mission of awareness has been successful.”

French Flotilla Boat Sets Sail For Gaza

Intifada Palestine

A French boat has set sail for Gaza from Corsica in the latest attempt by activists to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory, according to a journalist aboard the vessel.

The Dignite al Karama, which left the western Mediterranean island overnight is, thus far, the only boat in a flotilla organised by pro-Palestinian activists to successfully sail for Gaza, with most confined to ports in Greece.

The vessel’s passengers include Olivier Besancenot, head of the New Left Party in France, French politician and member of the European Parliament Nicole Kiil-Nilsen, and other well-known French personalities.

“We are about 20 minutes from international waters, and when we arrive there, the organisers on the boat will decide what their next move is,” Quentin Girard, a journalist with the French newspaper Liberation, told Al Jazeera from aboard the boat.

Girard said that the activists on the boat want to go to Gaza, but are waiting to decide if they will go once the boat arrives in international waters.

“I think they will go if the international committee for the flotilla encourages them to go,” Girard said.

Charges dropped

Meanwhile, the captain of a US ship, who was arrested by Greek authorities, was released on Tuesday and all charges against him dropped, Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal reported from Athens.

“He has not been fined for anything, and he is a free man. This after Greek authorities arrested him or detained him late on Friday as he tried to bring his ship out and take the passengers to Gaza,” Elshayyal said.

The Audacity of Hope, also part of the so-called ‘Freedom Flotilla’, set sail on Friday from the Greek port of Perama and was towed back to shore by the Greek coast guard.

“Many viewed that the case today would be indicative of how likely it would be that this flotilla would actually set sail altogether,” Elshayyal said. ”And it seems that there is reason for optimism on the part of the participants, since now their captain has been set free.”

Greece’s coast guard said on Saturday that the captain of The Audacity of Hope faced charges of trying to leave port without permission and of endangering the lives of the boat’s passengers.

The US boat is one of nine vessels carrying several hundred activists attempting to deliver aid to Gaza.
Some of the passengers on the US ship have remained on board in solidarity with the jailed captain.

On June 24, an anonymous complaint was filed against the ship’s “seaworthiness”. The Israel Law Centre (Shurat HaDin), took responsibility for the complaint in the Israeli media.

‘No matter how long it takes’

Crispian Balmer : Greece's role in Gaza blockade is result of Israel's UN gambit

Scotsman
Crispian Balmer

PRO-Palestinian activists hoping to sail to Gaza this week expected their flotilla to be blocked by Israeli marines. Instead the mission was holed even before they put to sea - by Greece.

The diplomatic manoeuvring that snarled the Gaza initiative pales in comparison with the behind-the-scenes tussles surrounding a unilateral drive by the Palestinians to secure United Nations' recognition of statehood this September.

While Israel has won this first round, the stakes will be much higher in the months ahead, with the possibility of chaos in the Palestinian Territories if politicians mess it up.

"Gaza is just a prologue to a series of events that we will see heading into September," said Yoram Meital, professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "If we cannot find a way for a resumption of serious peace negotiations then we will face a completely different environment and a very risky context."

Israel earned widespread criticism last year when its commandos boarded the first flotilla heading to Gaza, which is run by Islamist group Hamas, killing nine Turkish activists in clashes on deck.

In an effort to shore up waning support, Israel subsequently went on a charm offensive, reaching out to Turkey's historic foe Greece and proposing a series of military and business tie-ups.

Athens welcomed the overture and the friendship has paid dividends for Israel, with Greek authorities pouncing on flotilla ships preparing to leave its ports this week and keeping them in harbour.

Canadian Boat 'Tahrir' raided by Greek forces

Gaza flotilla to set sail Monday despite numerous setbacks

Haaretz
By Amira Hass

An activist stands in front of the "Stefano Chiarini"
ship, during a demonstration against the Greek authorities'
ban on Gaza-bound ships, July 2, 2011.
Photo by: Reuters

Activists say all operational ships will be ready to depart, but exact number is yet unknown.

The organizers of the Gaza-bound flotilla said Sunday that all operational ships will set sail on Monday, despite the numerous delays the flotilla activists had encountered in the past week.

The decision to depart on Monday was made following several days of deliberations on the subject, and the exact number of ships due to sail is still unknown.

In contrast to recent reports, most of the Gaza flotilla activists are still participating.

Moreover, activists in several countries of origin of the ships participating in the flotilla such as Canada and Belgium held protests in support of the Gaza flotilla and against the Greek government, which had issued an order to bar the ships from leaving Greek ports.
Gaza flotilla July 2, 2011 (Reuters)

Eight of the ten ships due to participate in the Gaza flotilla were delayed over the weekend in various Greek ports, following an order by the Greek government to bar the departure of the vessels.

The activists as well as members of the leftist opposition in Greece accused the Socialist government of caving in to Israeli pressure. Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis said that the Greek government is preventing the departure of the vessels in order to avoid a ‘humanitarian disaster’ which will result from a violent confrontation with the Israeli navy.

The foreign minister also promised that he will continue to negotiate with the UN in order to find a solution to the flotilla crisis.

The Greek ban applies to all Greek and foreign vessels in Greek ports heading to Gaza.

LA Times Runs Pro-Gaza-Blockade OpEd and Omits that Author Is Ret. IDF Colonel

Palestine

Amos N. Guiora

In it's July 1st edition, the LA Times is running an OpEd piece by Amos N. Guiora titled, "Gaza Flotilla: Israel's Gaza sea blockade is an act of self-defense." In the bio at the bottom of the piece, the author is identified only as "a professor of law at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, is the author of 'Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security.'" Glaringly missing from the description of Guiora is the fact that he is a retired Israeli Defense Forces Lieutenant Colonel who believes that extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinians is within Israel's rights under international law. The "oversight" is akin to the LA Times publishing a pro-torture OpEd by John Yoo and identifying him simply as a University of California professor of law. If the Times chooses to correct this oversight online or in future print editions, or if they choose to stand by this deceit, remains to be seen. 

 Check out Amos Guiora's credentials, clips taken from his Hasbara credentials, wikipedia, facebook, and articles he has written.


Who really is Amos Guiora? Teaches law in Utah? That's his claim to fame? No, that's his OpEd cover. Unequivocal legalistic advocacy for Israel First is his job.

Guiora is an Israeli Defense Forces Lt. Col. charged with educating -- and devising legal defenses for -- soldiers of a foreign country (not the USA), whom he believes have the right to kill unarmed civilians.

Guiora is no disinterested American, but a dual-passport wielding professional killer for Israel. This is a fact puzzlingly missing from his bio in the OpEd the LA Times which so generously afforded him space for his foreign state's propaganda without having fact-checked his professional identity. Conflict of interest seems to have escaped the editors of LAT.

Even a perfunctory check of Guiora's basic bio at UU reveals his long military career:


He served for 19 years in the Israel Defense Forces as Lieutenant Colonel (retired), and held a number of senior command positions, including Commander of the IDF School of Military Law, Legal Advisor to the IDF Home Front Command and Legal Advisor to the Gaza Strip.
http://www.law.utah.edu/faculty/faculty-profile/?id=amos-guiora


In the July 1st OpEd, Guiora slyly renames Israel's illegal "collective punishment" blockade of Gaza a "high-seas blockade" -- a devious distortion of the blockade's legal status, as per most informed expert opinion, which U.S. policy has enabled Israel to thumb its nose at.

It becomes clear from a casual perusal of his writings and career focus -- providing legalese to cover for Israeli war crimes and propagandizing in the United States so that an ill-informed populace will keep automatically shoveling our billions of spare taxes into Israel's illegal military colonization of Palestinian lands.

Note this from Wikipedia:

Crime against peace

A crime against peace, in international law, refers to "planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of wars of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing".[1] This definition of crimes against peace was first incorporated into the Nuremberg Principles and later included in the United Nations Charter. This definition would play a part in defining aggression as a crime against peace.

An important exception to the foregoing are defensive military actions taken under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Such defensive actions are subject to immediate Security Council review, but do not require UN permission to be legal within international law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_against_peace

Guiora is a very dangerous man to the humanitarians on the Freedom Flotilla. Here is what he has said elsewhere:

Gilad Atzmon: Gaza Flotilla vs. Diaspora Jewry

The People's Voice
Gilad Atzmon

The Israelis are preparing themselves for another massacre on the high seas.

This should not take us by surprise: after all, people who are detached from a true notion of history, and driven by a continuous fantasy of destruction, would be the last to draw a lesson from their past.

Earlier today I learned that The Israeli Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry held a simulation practice, ahead of the Gaza flotilla: in the course of the exercise, Minister Yuly Edelstein formed a ‘special situation room’ that is designated to disseminate ‘public diplomacy’ on the internet ,via messages, 
photos, video clips and additional materials, with emphasis on Diaspora 
communities, Jewish organisations, and friends of Israel around 
the world.

Just in case you weren’t sure what the expected role of Diaspora Jews is, I guess that by now Minister Edelstein has provided the answer.

However, the most interesting part of the story is the detailed description of the flotilla simulation itself: the imaginary scenarios depicted by Minister Edelstein and the IDF provide a glimpse into Israeli collective psychosis.

“The exercise was based on a scenario in which approximately 500 activists on 
approximately ten ships reached Israel's territorial waters at 10:00,” says the Israeli document. 
”Despite having been warned by the IDF, the ships continued on their way. At 
10:30, the Israel Navy began approaching the ships. Stun grenades were 
thrown at the IDF soldiers, as well as one live grenade that caused a number 
of casualties to our forces.”

But what are we to make of such an absurd supposition in Edelstein's exercise, that the flotilla volunteers ( many of whom are women and elderly ) will be armed and dangerous, and intent of attacking the IDF? We have seen repeated statements from the Flotilla organisers reassuring the Israelis that the Flotilla is a peaceful humanitarian mission that has no combative intentions, and the media have been invited to visit the boats to verify the innocent nature of the Gaza bound cargo.

What is it then? Why are these Israelis preparing for a war? The answer is clear and simple: as I have explored in the past, Jewish identity politics is shaped by a totally unique psychological disorder. I call it Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome (as opposed to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). Jewish reality is shaped by an imaginary fictional future threat. To repeat the 19Th century Yiddish joke. “A Jewish telegram: get worried, details to follow.” Yet, the lack of capacity to differentiate between reality and imagination leads to the inevitable emergence of the most tragic possible scenarios. Time after time, the Israeli collective easily buys into any given tragic fictional and imaginary treat, and would approve any 'counter' measures.

The end result is known to us all: an endless chain of colossal Israeli war crimes, that are committed in the name of the Jewish people.

Reps urge Clinton to protect U.S. citizens on Gaza flotilla

JTA

Six Democratic lawmakers urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ensure the safety of the American citizens who join  the Gaza flotilla.

U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), William Clay (D-Mo.), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) signed a letter to Clinton last Friday expressing their concern for the safety of the passengers who will be aboard the U.S. ship The Audacity of Hope. Filner is Jewish.

"We request that you do everything in your power to work with the Israeli government to ensure the safety of the U.S. citizens on board," they wrote.
At least 36 Americans are set to travel with the flotilla.

Their concern, the letter said, stems from Israeli actions taken against the Gaza flotilla in May 2010, in which nine civilians, including one American, were killed and others injured during a confrontation.

"We wholeheartedly support Israel's right, and indeed its duty, to protect its citizens from security threats," the letter said. "The measures it uses to do so, as in the case with any other nation, must conform to international humanitarian and human rights law. We are encouraged that The Audacity of Hope organizers have stated that their cargo 'is open to international inspection' and that they 'are fully committed to nonviolence and the tenets of international law.' "

Separately, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) posted an appeal to the State Dept. to "ensure protection to the participants" in the flotilla on the website of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group.

Lawfare: Israeli-AIPAC attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

Ann Wright
Sabbah Report

Israel is hard at work to stop international citizen activists groups from 22 countries that form the Gaza Freedom Flotilla from sailing in less than three weeks to bring international attention to Israel's brutal siege on Gaza. As a part of Israeli government propaganda, the civil society to civil society project is purposefully and wrongly portrayed by the Israeli government as sending weapons and "material support" to Gaza's democratically elected government headed by Hamas — a group Israel and the United States have designated as a terrorist organization.

Extensive investigations by the United Nations, Turkey and even the Israeli government concluded there were no weapons on any of the six ships of the 2010 flotilla and that the cargo was consigned to non-governmental organizations in Gaza. However, the Israeli government never lets truth get in the way of its propaganda machine!

Israel's massive diplomatic offensive on European countries, Turkey, Canada and the United States that strongly demands countries not allow ships and passengers to sail has been followed by a new type of warfare called "lawfare."

Instead of direct military "warfare," the Israeli government and its front organizations, American Israeli Public Affairs Council (AIPAC) and the Shurat HaDin Law Center, are using lawsuits filed against insurance and satellite telephone companies that may sell equipment to the flotilla organizers and against citizen activist groups that have raised funds to purchase ships as strategies to attempt to stop the flotilla.

AIPAC Joins Israeli Government Attack on the Gaza Flotilla 

On June 2, New York City corporate attorney Neal Sher, the former executive director of AIPAC, the most powerful lobby in the United States, filed a lawsuit in Toronto, Canada against the organizers of the Canadian Boat to Gaza for "raising funds and providing material support to Hamas."

The lawsuit was on behalf of a Canadian-Israeli citizen and asks for an interim and permanent injunction to stop the Canadian Boat to Gaza initiative "from continuing to raise funds, purchasing equipment or supplies, and purchasing or renting a vessel for the purpose of delivering goods or funds to the Gaza Strip." The lawsuit also wants to block the Canadian grassroots group "from sending goods, funds or any other material support, directly or indirectly, to Hamas or any of its representatives, and/or from aiding and abetting Hamas by assisting in bringing imports and exports to and from the Gaza Strip."

In addition, the Canadian-Israeli citizen, 68-year old Cherna Rosenberg, wants $1 million in damages "for trauma and injuries suffered as a consequence of the defendants' conspiracy" from the time she lived in the Israeli town of Sderot, where she "endured the constant and relentless mortar attacks emanating from Gaza."

The lawsuit's aim is to continue the Israeli government's six-decade control over the economic future of Gaza by refusing to allow the export and import of goods by sea and the free movement of Palestinian people without the approval of either the Israeli or Egyptian government.

One would hope that a counter-suit by a citizen of Gaza would be brought asking for millions of dollars in damages for the daily attacks on Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces "for trauma and injuries suffered as a consequence of Israel's aggression on civilians" in all parts of Gaza where "they endured constant and relentless attacks by F-16s, Apache gunships, naval bombardment, drones, white phosphorus, dense inert metal explosive bombs and countless other weapons."

Lawsuits in the US Against Companies Offering Services to Participating Ships 

A second lawsuit attempts to prevent the flotilla from sailing by bringing lawsuits in the United States against companies that provide services to ships in the flotilla.

Shurat HaDin Law Center, reportedly an independent non-profit organization but certainly supporting and working for the policies of the State of Israel, sent letters to worldwide maritime insurance firms and satellite communications companies, warning that companies that provide services that assist in the breach of the Israeli blockade on Gaza will be sued in the United States for aiding the Hamas terrorist organization.

Shurat HaDin's Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner demanded that mobile satellite services company Inmarsat, one of the companies providing communication and navigation services to ships that sail in the region, refuse to provide their equipment and services to ships participating in the flotilla. Darshan-Leitner said, "We informed them that if they do so, they will be in violation of the American Neutrality Act, which prohibits aiding a group in their struggle against the military of an ally country. Since Imarsat has offices in the US, the law binds them."

Shurat HaDin has also sent letters to 30 of the top maritime insurance companies in the world announcing the law center's intent to sue if the companies provide insurance to ships participating in the flotilla.
Relentless Campaign of False Information Used Against the Flotilla

"Maritime insurance companies insuring the boats utilized by the Gaza Flotilla surely have no idea that the passenger boats that they are indemnifying are being used by the organizers to run the coastal blockade, violently challenge the IDF and smuggle weapons into Gaza. No legitimate insurance company nor its shareholders would reasonably agree to insure an expedition like that. We have begun to send letters placing the maritime insurance companies on notice concerning the Gaza Flotilla, and warning them that if they provide insurance (a necessary component in the effort to smuggle contraband to the terrorists) that they themselves will be legally liable for any future terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas."

Lloyd's, the world's largest maritime insurance company, reportedly said that it would not insure ships participating in the flotilla. Lloyd's Senior Manager of International Regulatory Affairs, Andy Wragg, responded to Shurat HaDin's letter…

"As you correctly point out in your letter, Hamas is subject to UK and EU terrorist-financing sanctions. As such, any vessel identified as being owned or controlled by that organization would not be permitted to be insured by underwriters at Lloyd's, or any other EU insurer. The Lloyd's Market has robust systems in place to ensure international sanctions are followed, and therefore, any underwriter identifying an insured or prospective insured acting on behalf of, or for the benefit of Hamas, would not insure such a risk."

However, none of the ships of either the 2010 or 2011 flotilla have any connection with Hamas and no amount of false Israeli propaganda can change the truth. Although the truth is not what much of the commercial media is concerned with.
Force is not the Best Way to Stop the Flotilla
Darshan-Leitner commented…

"We…think that the war on the flotilla should not be left for the Special Forces to fight alone. There is no need for Israeli soldiers to repel down ropes in order to stop the next flotilla — all that's needed is some courage and original thinking. There are various ways to prevent, postpone, limit and avert the danger — and force isn't always the best way."

We Agree-Force is not the Way to Stop the Flotilla-Ending the Naval Blockade is!
On this, we agree with Darshan-Leitner. Force is not the way to stop worldwide condemnation of Israel's blockade of Gaza. The way to stop the flotilla is to end the naval blockade of Gaza!
Until the blockade ends, Flotillas filled with citizens from around the world will continue to challenge Israeli's brutal policies and the United States complicity in them.

* Ann Wright is a retired US Army Reserve Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. As a U.S. diplomat, she served in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia, serving a Deputy Ambassador in the last four Embassies. She travelled to Gaza three times in 2009 after the Israeli attack on Gaza that killed 1440 Palestinians and wounded over 5,000 and left 50,000 homeless. She was a passenger on the May, 2010 Gaza flotilla and is an organizer for the U.S. Boat to Gaza, “The Audacity of Hope,” that will sail in the second flotilla.

Will the Gaza Flotilla be Safe from Israel's Murderous Threats?

Salem News
Stuart Littlewood

It was a simple question.

On 27 March I wrote to my Member of Parliament asking: "What is the British government planning to do, please, to safeguard British subjects (and indeed the other humanitarians) sailing with the flotilla on its peaceful mission to Gaza?"

The government had been only too happy, I said, to dispatch the warships Cumberland and York to help civilians of all nationalities caught up in the Libyan trouble and deliver aid to the Benghazi medical centre.

I attached a press release from one of the flotilla organizers, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG). It called on all governments representing participating citizens to take concrete steps to protect their safety.

After a long wait I have finally received a response from Alistair Burt, Foreign Office minister for Middle East affairs.

He avoids the question altogether, saying:

Alistair Burt, Foreign Office minister for Middle East affairs.

We are clear in our advice against all travel to Gaza and in particular participation in flotillas of this nature, given the events of May last year. We also believe that the delivery of aid is far more effective when coordinated with the major international organizations on the ground, such as the UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

That’s all he has to say on the subject.

Burt used to be an officer (not a mere member but an officer) of the Conservative Friends of Israel. In a speech to the Board of Jewish Deputies in London last year, he told his audience he had worked from the age of 15 for an MP who was a president of the board and founder of the Conservative Friends of Israel, and how this “had a lasting effect upon me, and on my interests in Parliament”.

Burt said:

Israel is an important strategic partner and friend for the UK and we share a number of important shared objectives across a broad range of policy areas... And as an honest broker, the UK government does not believe that economic sanctions or embargoes on Israel [are] the way to engage or to influence it.

The director of the Conservative Friends of Israel called Burt’s Foreign Office appointment excellent news.

Israel's naval blockade is illegal and so was Israel’s interception of the Mavi Marmara in international waters last May. The United Nations fact-finding mission set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law and humanitarian and human rights law resulting from the Israeli attacks a year ago on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza,  explains why. In that assault nine people were killed and many others injured.

The UN fact-finding mission’s team, chaired by Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, QC, a retired judge of the International Criminal Court, reported that they were:

satisfied that the blockade was inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and that as such the interception could not be justified and therefore has to be considered illegal…

The mission considers that one of the principal motives behind the imposition of the blockade was a desire to punish the people of the Gaza Strip for having elected Hamas. The combination of this motive and the effect of the restrictions on the Gaza Strip leave no doubt that Israel’s actions and policies amount to collective punishment as defined by international law... No case can be made for the legality of the interception and the Mission therefore finds that the interception was illegal.

And that wasn’t all. The naval blockade was implemented in support of the overall closure regime. “As such”, according to the fact-finding mission,

it was part of a single disproportionate measure of armed conflict and as such cannot itself be found proportionate. Furthermore, the closure regime is considered by the Mission to constitute collective punishment of the people living in the Gaza Strip and thus to be illegal and contrary to Article 33 of the  Fourth Geneva Convention

The action of the Israel Defence Force in intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high seas was "clearly unlawful" and could not be justified even under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations (the right of self-defence).

Will the world allow Israeli thugs to maul this latest flotilla? Yes or no?

Perhaps Mr Burt should also re-acquaint himself with Security Council Resolution 1860 (2009), which emphasizes "the need to ensure sustained and regular flow of goods and people through the Gaza crossings" and calls for "the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment".

Recent reports tell of the desperate shortage of hospital drugs in Gaza. The lack of 180 essential medical items and 200 disposables brings public health to crisis point. This terrible situation has been going on since I was there in 2007 and was handed an emergency list of medicines and spares for critical equipment like dialysis machines.

Even the World Health Organization, I hear, can’t get necessary medical supplies delivered.

“The flotilla will be going about its commendable, lawful business and British nationals will be on board. [UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair] Burt and his colleagues are duty-bound, legally and morally, to protect them from the criminal assault they have been threatened with.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned that his military will use force against anyone disobeying his navy's orders and heading for Gaza's shore. They threaten to also use snipers.

The flotilla will be going about its commendable, lawful business and British nationals will be on board. Burt and his colleagues are duty-bound, legally and morally, to protect them from the criminal assault they have been threatened with.

But Burt, by word and deed, is clearly an “Israel-firster” and influenced by that delinquent foreign power. How can his employment in a Foreign Office role (or indeed any British government role) be consistent with the principles that underpin standards in public life?

An email to ECESG asking if they had received assurances from any of the governments they approached has gone unanswered. A telephone number on the UK website was answered by a voice that was almost unintelligible and I was referred to someone in Stockholm. That person said he could only speak about the situation with the Swedish government, which had sent a note to the Israelis saying Sweden expected the flotilla not to be attacked. That, it seems, was as far as they were prepared to go to protect the civilians.

I also emailed Britain2Gaza asking for a quick reply. No luck. It is little wonder that the flotilla project never gets the space it deserves in mainstream media.

So what is the situation, please? Is it the attitude of most Western governments that the humanitarian flotilla can “sink or swim”? If so, why aren’t the organizers being more communicative and mobilizing public outrage?

Or have those governments found the courage to embrace the flotilla’s noble cause?

Article originally published by Redress Information & Analysis

_________________________________

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. Stuart's articles are serious and revealing; they address the pertinent issues regarding Israel and Palestine and sixty years of conflict that have devasted millions of human beings. For further information please visitwww.radiofreepalestine.co.uk

Undefeated, Gaza’s Freedom Flotillas Expand

Anti-War
Eva Bartlett

GAZA CITY — A gleaming new memorial towers in the center of Gaza City’s battered port. Flanked by flags of various nations whose citizens have sailed to the Gaza Strip to highlight the all-out siege on Gaza, the memorial’s inscription bears the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago when Israeli commandoes firing machine guns air-dropped onto the Freedom Flotilla, killing nine and injuring over 50 of the civilians on board.

On the one-year anniversary of the illegal Israeli attack on and abduction of over 600 civilians on the Freedom Flotilla from international waters, Gaza’s harbor bustles with people and energy: they have come to mourn the dead and to herald the coming boats of Freedom Flotilla Two. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya addresses the audience, thanking the Turkish activists and government for their continued solidarity with Palestine.

Since Free Gaza boats arrived in 2008 — the first blockade-breaking boats and first boats to dock at Gaza since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Strip — the boat movement has grown exponentially. Free Gaza successfully docked in Gaza five times, with another four voyages violently thwarted by the Israeli navy.

The December 2008 sailing ended when an Israeli warship rammed a Free Gaza vessel carrying medical supplies, non-violent activists, surgeons and journalists. The February 2009 attempt ended with Israeli soldiers forcibly boarding the ship, beating and abducting the passengers from international waters. A June 2009 sailing was likewise forcibly halted by the Israeli navy, the passengers aboard abducted and deported.

The various vessels have carried non-violent activists, international television and newspaper journalists, European parliamentarians, Jews in solidarity with Palestine, including Holocaust survivors and Israeli activists and journalists, and even Palestinians unable to get out of Gaza for studies in universities abroad and those unable to enter Gaza to re-unite with family.

Israel’s pretext in blocking boats’ passage to and from Gaza is for security reasons, claiming weapons are being smuggled into Gaza. In each instance when a Free Gaza or Flotilla vessel has been forcibly absconded to Israel, only humanitarian supplies were found aboard. Rather than defeating the boat movement, Israel’s aggressions have had the opposite effect.

Vessels from Libya, Malaysia, and a boat carrying Jewish activists have all sailed for, and been blocked by Israeli gunboats from, the Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers fired upon a Malaysian aid ship carrying piping for a sanitation project in Gaza, forcing it to dock in Egyptian waters.

In May 2010, Free Gaza, supported by Turkish humanitarian organization IHH, again sent vessels and activists sailing to the besieged Strip, this time accompanied by the massive Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara. As the six vessels with over 600 passengers in the Freedom Flotilla approached Gaza, Israeli commandoes unleashed a barrage of machinegun fire on the boats still sailing in international waters. Equipped with satellite streaming, the Israeli assault was videoed and broadcast to disbelieving viewers in Gaza and worldwide.

Keven Niesh, 53, a Canadian activist on board the Mavi Marmara, described the killings. "There were several guys who had two neat bullet holes side by side on the side of their head — clearly they were executed," Niesh told CounterPunch in an interview after the Flotilla massacre last year.
Undaunted by last year’s massacre, international activists have organized the Freedom Flotilla 2, due to sail in one month’s time with at least 10 boats and over 1,000 activists. Canadian and US boats will join those of Europe, Turkey, and other nations.

Immediately following the massacre one year ago, Egyptian authorities partially opened the Rafah crossing. In an effort to deflect criticism, Israeli authorities subsequently announced they would ease the siege on Gaza. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s Mathilde De Riedmatten, in a May 2011 interview, noted that "the entry of goods into Gaza is also still highly restricted, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of the particular items allowed."

More recently, Egyptian authorities announced the continued opening of the Rafah crossing. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), however, notes that this change will not impact on imports, exports or Gaza’s economy. "These procedures will not ease the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population or change the economic situation caused by the strict closure imposed on the Gaza Strip," a PCHR statement reads.

It calls for "lifting the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, opening the crossings for commercial transactions and allowing the freedom of movement of persons, including the movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, through the outlets that are controlled by the Israeli occupation forces."
The siege on Gaza impacts drinking water (95 percent of Gazan water is below the World Health Organization standards), the sanitation system (untreated sewage is pumped into the sea daily for want of storage capabilities), and the agriculture and fishing sectors (farmers and fishermen are shot at on a daily basis by Israeli soldiers). Unemployment and malnutrition levels soar, power outages occur daily, impacting on hospital machinery, and Palestinians continue to live in what more and more outsiders are describing as an "open-air prison". Renowned classical pianist Anton Kuerti, endorsing the Canadian boat to Gaza, says the siege has rendered Gaza "indistinguishable from a concentration camp."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested nations prevent their citizens from sailing, saying governments should "use their influence to discourage such flotillas, which carry the potential to escalate into violent conflict."

Free Gaza’s attorney Audrey Bomse stated "the flotilla violates no international laws or laws of the sea and so an outright ban on our sailing to Gaza is essentially a statement against the rights of the Palestinian people to control their own ports and lives."

Turkey has demanded an apology and compensation from Israel to the martyred activists’ families, with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on NTV television warning "Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas."

As was Free Gaza’s goal, the expanded Flotilla aims to end the illegal siege on Gaza. The Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) will "challenge Canadian foreign policy and the uncritical support of Israeli war crimes by the current government."

CBG’s David Heap says the Freedom Flotilla participants are not intimidated. "Where our governments have failed the Palestinians of Gaza, civil society must act instead."