French 'aid ship' sails towards Gaza

MWC News

A French yacht carrying pro-Palestinian activists which set sail from a Greek island at the weekend, is expected to reach the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, organisers said.

The Dignite Al Karama left the Greek island of Kastellorizo late on Saturday following a troubled stay in Greece after Athens imposed a ban on the departure of any ships planning to join an international aid flotilla heading for Gaza.

The flotilla had hoped to break an Israeli naval blockade on the Palestinian territory, despite warnings from the Israeli govenrment.

"The boat should be off the Gaza coast on Tuesday afternoon," Maxime Guimberteau, a spokesman, told AFP news agency by phone from Paris on Monday.

"It is travelling slowly, mainly to conserve fuel," he said.

At least 16 people are aboard the boat, including three crew members and journalists from Al Jazeera and Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

The crew and seven of the passengers are French nationals, while another three are representing boats which had been due to join the flotilla but were blocked from leaving Greece.

Officials in Athens say they imposed the ban for the "safety" of the activists on board in the wake of last year's deadly incident when Israeli commandos raided a six-ship flotilla in a confrontation that left nine Turkish activists dead.

"This 'little' boat symbolises the determination of the international solidarity movement to break the blockade on Gaza and express its support for the 1.6 million Palestinians imprisoned there since 2007," a statement from the boat said.

"The fact that the Dignite Al Karama is at sea is a setback for the Israeli government which by force or by pressure is trying to perpetuate an illegal and criminal blockade and to silence civil society movements around the world," it said.

Israel has vowed to prevent any attempt to reach Gaza by sea in defiance of its naval blockade which has been in place since 2006 and was tightened a year later when Hamas took over the coastal territory.

Knesset member suspended

Meanwhile, Israel's parliament suspended an Arab politician on Monday for sailing aboard last year's flotilla.

The Knesset's Ethics Committee voted to suspend Hanin Zoabi from most parliamentary debates until the summer recess early next month, while allowing her to take part in any votes held in the current session.

Zoabi was punished after three politicians filed complaints against her for travelling aboard the Mavi Marmara, the converted cruise ship stormed by commandos.

The ethics committee said in a statement that Zoabi had "participated in an action destined to threaten state security".

It accused her of co-operating with the Turkish charity IHH, which provided funds and volunteers for the Mavi Marmara mission and is outlawed in Israel because of its links to Hamas.

Zoabi, who has denied wrongdoing in the flotilla incident, says she tried to mediate between the activists and Israeli forces.

"An automatic right-wing majority should not be permitted to punish me for my political views," she told Israel's Army Radio.

Zoabi, 42, the only female member of parliament in a party representing Israel's 20 per cent Arab minority, is a critic of the Israeli government's Palestinian policies.

She was stripped of some of her diplomatic privileges by the Knesset last year.

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.

Gaza Flotilla Move Stopped Under U.S. Instructions to Greece

IPS/Twitter

pers @ NY Greek Consulate told JVP supporter "It's your government [US] that ordered us not to let the ship sail!" link to twitter.com

Ray McGovern, passenger of the Flotilla 2,
which is held up in Greece

TEL AVIV, Jul 2, 2011 (IPS) - The besieger is besieged, such is the forlorn fact emanating from the order by Greece to block the ships docked at its ports from setting sail to the Palestinian strip of land, and that fact seems to have sealed the Flotilla's fate.

"Pursuant to a decision by the Minister of Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis, the departure of ships with Greek and foreign flags from Greek ports to the maritime area of Gaza has been prohibited," read the announcement issued Friday by the Greek embassy here.

The resolute Greek order is the latest in a series of no-lesser determined decisions that have highlighted a strange alliance of states against the international front of NGOs.

Last month, a similar statement was issued by Cyprus's transport minister. Earlier still, under the "advice" of Turkey, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) cancelled the participation of the sadly famous M.V. Marmara.

The "Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human" was supposed to head towards Gaza a little over a year after Israeli naval commandos stormed the "Gaza Peace Flotilla" and killed nine Turkish IHH activists, triggering an international outcry, and worsening Israeli-Turkish relations.

Yet, the botched assault seems to have had a deterrent effect on Israel's neighbours. "Greece of July 2011 is not the Greece of May 2010 when it comes to Israel," savoured a top Israeli official involved in the attempt to ward off the second Flotilla. "The organisers didn't understand this. Now they're paying the price."

When the U.S. vessel "Audacity of Hope" left Perama without authorisation later Friday, nonetheless attempting to set sail toward Gaza, it was intercepted a half-hour later by commandos of the Hellenic Coast Guard Authorities.

"We were forced to go back to a Greek port surrounded with bars and barbwire," read a Twitter message posted by "USBoatToGaza". Hagit Borer, an Israeli-American citizen, told Ynet about the takeover: "The commandos arrived with machine guns. It was quite scary. They seemed ready for a fight, looked threatening. They wore helmets and their faces were covered."

"So sad that the Greeks are doing Israel's dirty work by not letting us sail," another activist lamented to the Israeli website. "I never knew the Mediterranean was owned by Israel."

From a "breaking-the-Gaza-siege" posture, the flotilla is now trying to break the siege imposed on it, to no avail.

That the tables were turning on the flotilla became apparent from the action's onset. On Thursday, while docked in Turkey, the Irish M.V. Saoirse was forced to pull out due to damage inflicted on the ship. Earlier in the week, the Swedish-Greek "Juliano" had sustained damage in the Greek port of Piraeus. According to the Flotilla organisers, in both cases, the rods connecting the propeller shaft to the engine were "deliberately sabotaged".

"The inference is that the saboteurs were Israeli," charged Irish Ship to Gaza spokesman Raymond Deane. It took two days for the Israeli Foreign Ministry to deny the accusation. "Why didn't the Flotilla organisers complain to the police?" spokesman Yigal Palmor asked dismissively.

Also on Saturday, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported from "Turkish diplomats" that the Irish ship was damaged "before it entered Turkish waters" and that, according to an initial inquiry, "might not be a result of sabotage."

Even State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner took pain to declare Thursday that the U.S. had seen "no independent confirmation" that the ships had been sabotaged.

"Bad idea", "unhelpful", were only some of the diplomatic epithets used by officials in the U.S. France, at the UN, even in Ireland, to qualify the current attempt to set sail to Gaza.

Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who joined the flotilla reported Friday that the wait to sail to Gaza was "like living in Gaza." She wrote in Haaretz: "It seems like the Flotilla participants are undergoing a process of 'Gaza-tisation.' They willingly experience some of the characteristics of life under siege in Gaza. They're tied up against their will within a limited radius of several kilometres. Their plans are repeatedly foiled by superior forces."

From a thousand or so activists on 15 ships, a few hundred have remained aboard nine operational, yet stranded, vessels.

Thursday, at the annual graduation ceremony of Israeli Air Force cadets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed already to know that the flotilla endeavour was bound to sink slowly. While expressing Israel's gratitude to world leaders, he somehow enigmatically awarded a special mention to his counterpart and "good friend", Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.

For the first time in a long time, Israeli officials note, it's Israel's turn to enjoy some measure of international solidarity and legitimacy (albeit not necessarily the kind of legitimacy determined by world public opinion). Ironically, the catalyst to such reversal of fortune was precisely provoked as a result of the broad international solidarity movement of peace activists against Israel's policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians, they observe.

For now, Netanyahu may have the wind in his sails, so to speak. But in the protracted debate between state and civil society about their respective roles in the defence of Palestinian human rights, the tense relation between power and rights might be exacerbated.

Proponents of the centrality of states will continue to insist that official institutions be the only bodies allowed to act on behalf of the people they represent and protect Palestinian human rights, even though their record in doing so is not that promising. They will continue to support the primacy of the 'rights of power'.

Proponents of the 'power of rights', and of the centrality of civil society, will retort that only NGOs can provide true meaning to human security to both peoples, and to human rights and freedom to the Palestinians.

In a sense, the flotilla is only but a prelude to the true legitimacy battle currently being waged between Israel and Palestine as both peoples, and the international community, all grapple with the implications on peace-making and state-building of a September UN-endorsed recognition of Palestinian statehood. (END) 

30,000 Turks protest against Israel on Gaza flotilla raid anniversary

People's Daily

Protesters wave flags at a rally at the Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, May 30, 2011. Some 30,000 Turks staged a protest against Israel on Istanbul's main street Monday night on the anniversary of the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. (Xinhua/Ma Yan)

Some 30,000 Turks staged a protest against Israel on Istanbul's main street Monday night on the anniversary of the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Holding candles, waving Palestinian flag and flags of Turkey and Iran, and shouting slogans such as "wait Palestinians, Mavi Marmara ship is coming" and "blockade is crime against humanitarian," the protesters marched on the Istiklal street, the most important and prosperous business street in Istanbul, and gathered in the Taksim square.

The event was organized by the Turkish nongovernmental organization the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), to commemorate the eight Turks and one Turkish-American killed onboard the Mavi Marmara, a ship of the IHH's first aid flotilla, in a raid by the Israeli commandos on May 31, 2010.

The IHH claimed that it has planned a second Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of June despite the Israeli warning and the pressure from the U.S. government.

IHH chairman Bulent Yildirim said the new flotilla, which would be composed of 15 ships and about 1,500 activists from more than 100 countries, was organized by 22 activist groups from around the world to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"We would like to remind Israel to come to its senses. You must allow this flotilla," Yildirim said, "if you raid again, we will stay in the sea for days and become the current issue in the world. "

Yildirim called on Israel, which he said became isolated after the May 31 raid, to completely lift the blockade on Gaza.

The Turkish-Israeli relations have been at rock bottom since the raid. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and demanded an official apology and compensation from Israel in response to the attack which was condemned by many countries, while Israel refused to make an apology or consider compensation, saying it acted in self-defense.

The United States has warned Turkey that sending another flotilla to the Gaza Strip would not be helpful.

Yildirim criticized the U.S. government's support for Israel, which he said was isolating itself internationally due to its treatment of the Palestinians.

Flotilla Speakers Set to Sail Into New York

Politicker NY

On Monday, a host of New York's electeds held a press conference in Times Square calling on the State Department to investigate survivors of the Gaza flotilla, who are planning to come to the U.S. for a pro-Palestine speaking tour. At the event, the Jewish Community Relations Council presented a petition with more than 23,000 signatures, which was subsequently delivered to the State Department by Congressman Eliot Engel.

But, it seems, the petition hasn't scuttled the speaking tour.

Yesterday afternoon, David Letwin—a member of the pro-Palestinian group Al-Awda, which is hosting an event with three people who were aboard the Mavi Marmara tonight in Brooklyn—told The Observer that two foreign speakers were set to arrive in the U.S. without, to his knowledge, any problems.

Kevin Ovenden, who holds a passport from the United Kingdom, was scheduled to land at J.F.K. last night, and Ahmet Faruk Unsal, a Turkish citizen, was scheduled to arrive early this morning. A third flotilla passenger—Iara Lee, who concealed video footage of the encounter in her underpants during her detainment by Israeli authorites—is an American citizen. [UPDATE: Ovenden arrived last night, without incident, Letwin confirmed by email.]

The State Department did not immediately return a call for comment, and Congressman Engel's chief of staff said he had yet to hear any response to the petition. Congressman Jerrold Nadler—one of the electeds who rallied Tuesday—also wasn't sure of the petition's status, but reiterated his concerns.

"Because of their associations with IHH, the group that sponsored the ‘Freedom Flotilla,' the individuals seeking entry to the United States should be thoroughly vetted by the State Department," Nadler said in a statement. "It is clear that some of the passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara sailed with the intent not of providing humanitarian assistance, but of attacking Israeli soldiers."

A spokesman for Congressman Ed Towns—in whose district the event will take place tonight—did not immediately return an email for comment. At least one pro-Israel group, Stand With Us, is organizing a protest across the street from the event.

Letwin said the event would take place even if the flotilla members were unexpectedly stopped on their way into the country.

"If these speakers are, for whatever reason, prevented entry we'll go on with the forum and try to build on what that would symbolize," he said.

More international flotillas headed for Gaza Strip

SIFY news

Ships from several countries, including Iran and Lebanon, have reportedly left or are planning to leave for Hamas-controlled Gaza in defiance of an Israeli maritime blockade on that territory.

Israel considers Gaza-bound convoys a security risk because of Hamas' ongoing efforts to smuggle Iranian rockets and other weaponry into Gaza since the Iran-backed group overthrew the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup there in 2007.

Israel Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin has been quoted as saying by the non-profit organisation, The Israel Project, that a port in Gaza would "pose a huge security threat to Israel."

Reports about the new flotillas come in the aftermath of a May 31 Israeli campaign to prevent an illegal flotilla from reaching Gaza, in which nine Turks or of Turkish descent, were killed after passengers on board the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship in the convoy, were confronted by Israeli commandos.

Israel had ordered the vessels to dock in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod to unload the cargo for security inspections and subsequent delivery to Gaza. Despite the refusal of all six ships to detour to Ashdod, the Mavi Marmara was the only vessel where a violent confrontation took place.

According to The Israel Project, one Iranian ship left for Gaza June 12 from the Iranian port of Khorramshahr and plans to sail through Omani, Yemeni and Egyptian territorial waters before it tries to reach Gaza.

Simultaneously, two Iranian ships organized by Iran's Society for the Defense of Palestine are scheduled to depart shortly from the southern port of Bandar Abbas and from northern Iran.

Two Lebanese organizations - Journalists without Borders and Free Palestine - are sponsoring the Naji Al Ali, with at least 50 journalists and 25 European volunteers on board, including European parliament members.

Palestinian businessman and Free Palestine chairman Yasser Kashlak is funding the Naj Al Ali vessel, as well as an all-women's ship, the Mariam.

A U.S.-based group, the Council for the National Interest Foundation, has asked its supporters to volunteer to join the Lebanese convoy.

The Insani Yardim Vakfi, or "humanitarian relief fund" (IHH), a hardcore Turkish Islamist group that partly organized and funded the previous flotilla that included the Mavi Marmara, said it will send six more ships to Gaza in July.

A German organization called Jewish Voices for a Just Peace is sponsoring a ship with 14 activists aboard, scheduled for departure in mid-July.

Free Gaza - the group that sponsored the flotilla intercepted by Israel May 31 - and Viva Palestina, a UK-based group, are planning another convoy of 10 - 15 ships, slated to leave for Gaza by October. One of the main organizers is the Norwegian-based organisation Iyad el-Sarj. (ANI)

A Closer Look at Israel's Terror Accusations

Speigel Online

Were they peaceful activists or supporters of terrorism? Israel claims that some participants and organizers of the Gaza aid convoy attacked by the Israeli navy on May 31 had links with terrorist groups -- but they have offered no evidence. SPIEGEL ONLINE takes a closer look at the accusations.

The Israeli government, which has faced a storm of international criticism for its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship on May 31, has accused individual participants and organizers of the Gaza aid flotilla of having links with terrorist organizations, a charge those accused vehemently deny.

Initially the accusations focused on the Turkish aid organization IHH which had purchased three of the six ships in the convoy. Most of the nine Turkish activists killed in the raid appear to have been IHH members. But Israel has since then also accused five individuals who appear to have no connection with IHH of having links with al-Qaida, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.

The accusations are almost impossible to verify because the Israeli government appears to be basing them on secret intelligence information, if indeed there is a foundation for their claims. In a statement released on Monday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) released a list of five passengers on board the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara that the army claimed were "known to be involved in terrorist activity." The people named are:

• US-Iranian Fatimah Mahmadi, accused of having tried to smuggle "forbidden electrical components" to Gaza;
• Ken O'Keefe, a former US citizen with Irish and Palestinian citizenship, internationally known because he travelled to Baghdad as a human shield at the start of the Iraq war in 2003, accused by the Israeli army of being an operational member of Hamas. The IDF claimed he was a "radical anti-Israel activist and operative of the Hamas terror organization." It alleged he tried to reach the Gaza Strip to set up and train an elite unit for Hamas. Responding to the allegations, O'Keefe told the Irish Times: "Who the hell came up with that one?" He said he was considering taking legal action because the accusation could put him in danger;
• Hassan Iynasi from Turkey, alleged to have channeled money to the terror group Islamic Jihad;
• Hussein Urosh, also from Turkey, accused of having been traveling to Gaza to help smuggle al-Qaida operatives into the Gaza Strip via Turkey;
• Ahmad Umimon, a French citizen, accused of being an operational member of Hamas.

The list lacks any references to sources. "The following passengers on board the Mavi Marmara are known to be involved in terrorist activity," the statement says at the beginning. The Israeli army provides no evidence to back up its claims.

Publicly available sources contain no information that could back up the accusations. The fact that all five activists have since been released might be due to US diplomatic pressure, Israeli diplomats have suggested. But releasing terrorism supporters runs counter to normal Israeli practice -- that alone implicitly casts doubt on the veracity of the allegations.

Three Sources

The accusations levelled at the Turkish aid organization IHH are similarly complicated. It is certain that the NGO founded in the early 1990s is active around the world, conducts numerous aid projects, sympathizes with Hamas and is clearly anti-Israeli and is sympathetic to Islamist ideology.

But Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Danny Ayalon said on May 31 that the organizers of the convoy had links with international Jihadism and with al-Qaida, a much more serious allegation. Israeli embassies sent background briefing papers to journalists about IHH's supposed links with terrorism, an accusation that was also made by the spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry. The Israeli ambassador to Denmark said there were "rumors" about an IHH link with al-Qaida, the British daily Independent wrote.

The sourcing regarding accusations levelled against IHH is a little clearer. But there are question marks here too. Virtually all of the accusations that IHH has links with terrorists are based on a small number of sources:

• After the 9/11 attacks, the CIA declassified a 1996 report about the terrorism links of Islamic welfare organizations. The report mentioned IHH. But the allegations are rather vague. In an (apparent) excerpt from the CIA paper which was distributed by the Israeli organization Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) on May 30, IHH is accused of having "extremist links" with Iran and Algerian groups. The director of IHH's Sarajevo office is accused of having links with "Iranian operatives," but no sources are cited. The full name given for IHH in the CIA report -- International Humanitaire Hilfsorganization -- an evident misspelling that doesn't correspond with the organization's name (Insani Hak ve Hürriyetler Vakfi) -- doesn't inspire confidence in its reliability. In addition, the report says IHH has its headquarters in Germany, which is not the case.

• The second main source is a study by the Danish Institute for International Studies from 2006 which says Turkish investigations found that IHH members had trained for armed combat in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya and that guns and explosives had been found in a raid on a building in Istanbul. The study also refers to telephone calls with alleged al-Qaida contacts and weapon shipments to militants. The report also contains a summary of testimony given by France's former top anti-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, at a US trial in April 2001 in which he said there was a link between IHH and the defendant in the trial, who was later convicted of having plotted to attack Los Angeles International Airport for al-Qaida in 1999.

• Bruguiere's testimony itself is the third main source. The transcript contains a statement by him that IHH members were involved in weapons smuggling and document forgery for militants. In addition, the Associated Press interviewed the Frenchman last week about IHH. He told the news agency that he could not say if IHH still had links with terrorism today, but that it did when he investigated it in the late 1990s. "They were basically helping al-Qaida when (Osama) bin Laden started to want to target US soil," he said. The former judge said that at that time, IHH was infiltrated by Jihadists -- and that he didn't believe the IHH could have been infiltrated by terrorists without its knowledge.

The three documents indicate that, at least in the 1990s, individual IHH members may well have had links to terrorism. But it remains unclear just how this might apply to the whole organization, and whether it is true today.

IHH Denies Accusations

The IHH vehemently denies all allegations against it. It says that contrary to claims by Bruguiere, no weapons were found in the raid in Turkey. It says it is fundamentally peaceful and that it condemns terrorism. It also says it has no knowledge of the the IHH members that Bruguiere identified as being terrorist helpers.

IHH has been banned in Israel since 2008 due to its links with Hamas. Neither the US State Department nor European governments classify it as a terrorist group. A US State Department spokesman said last Wednesday the US could not "validate" that IHH has connections to al-Qaida, but added that the US was concerned about IHH's links with Hamas.

The picture remains confusing. What is clear that there was a wealth of incriminating indications concerning IHH members in the 1990s, but that there have been no fresh accusations in recent years apart from the Hamas connection.

Evan Kohlmann, a US terrorism analyst and the author of the 2006 Danish study, told SPIEGEL ONLINE: "On one side, you have the Israelis insisting that everyone on board is a terrorist. On the other side, you have the Turks insisting that everyone on board is an innocent peaceful humanitarian."

He added that "it doesn't take much insight to recognize that neither side is being very straightforward."