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Greek cargo crew beaten

A note from dear friend Sana Kassem

Today morning the 6 crew members of the Greek cargo ship arrived to Athens..they were deported..They have seen the Israeli soldiers beating up brutally four of our comrades in Ashdod (Jelle you remember Vangelis, he was beaten the most but also Yannis the film producer that you talked to him about our videos), when one of them refused to leave the ship they used electric guns and pulled him, another one was shot in the leg)..Now we received a msg from a friend she is still detained in Ashdod and thinks the other Greeks are taken to Jails..Knowing them they will refuse to sign any paper for their release..
Yesterday we had a protest at the Isreali embassy (Jelle I told you 2000) newspapers are talking about 10,000, 5 minutes after the beginning of the protest the police rained us with tear gases, the brutality of the Greek police was unprecedented (ta gourounia = the pigs). A big demonstration is planned for thursday at the ministry of foreign affairs: we want our people back..

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Ireland : Government officially condemns Israeli raid on aid ships

Tuesday, June 01, 2010 – 03:38 PM

The Government has officialy moved to condemn the Israeli assault yesterday on aid ships bound for Gaza during which nine people were killed.

Five Irish passport holders remain in a detention centre in Israel after their vessels were seized by commandos in international waters.

Its still not known if any received injuries during the incident.

Backed by the Government, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin today issued a series of demands, which included the immediate and unconditional release of the Irish citizens.

The Minister’s proposals included:

* Condemn the actions by the Israeli military as completely unacceptable and disproportionate and stemming directly from the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza which the Minister and Government has repeatedly urged should be ended;

* Call for a full, independent and international enquiry into yesterday’s events, preferably under UN auspices;

* Call for the immediate and unconditional release of all the Irish citizens detained by Israel and for the Israeli government to respect its international obligations under the Vienna Convention and ensure full consular access by Irish Embassy officials to those detained;

* Call upon the Israeli government to allow the Irish owned vessel, the MV Rachel Corrie, to complete its humanitarian voyage to Gaza peacefully and without any attempt to impede its journey and to be allowed discharge its humanitarian cargo in Gaza upon arrival;

* Express its deep condolences to the Turkish government and to the families of all those killed in yesterday’s events as well as to those injured.

“The Government agreed fully with these points,” said the statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“It also agreed that the Minister for Foreign Affairs should continue to liaise closely with EU colleagues on the current situation and all necessary steps to achieve a peaceful resolution.”

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The Legal Position on the Israeli attack

At the rally and march in Times Square yesterday, and also on many listservs, peace activists are referring to the Israeli attack as acts of “piracy”. Please take a careful look at the legal analysis written below by Craig Murray who was a speaker at the London demonstration.

Pirates are not commissioned by a state government, so the term should not be used in this instance. By sending state sanctioned commandos to illegally attack a Turkish ship in international waters, Israel has committed an act of war not piracy and this should be reflected in our signage:
The Legal Position
on the Israeli Attack

Craig Murray
May 31, 2010

I think that anybody with any fairness is bound to admit that the statement
William Hague came out with is much better than anything on Israel which
New Labour ever came out with, especially this bit:

“This news underlines the need to lift the restrictions on access to Gaza,
in line with UNSCR 1860. The closure is unacceptable and counter-
productive. There can be no better response from the international
community to this tragedy than to achieve urgently a durable resolution
to the Gaza crisis.

I call on the Government of Israel to open the crossings to allow
unfettered access for aid to Gaza, and address the serious concerns
about the deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation and
about the effect on a generation of young Palestinians?.”
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=22300485

But as I told this afternoon’s tremendous spontaneous demonstration on
Whitehall, fine words are not enough and we must now see the kind of
sanctions regime we saw against apartheid South Africa.

A word on the legal position, which is very plain. To attack a foreign
flagged vessel in international waters is illegal. It is not piracy, as the Israeli
vessels carried a military commission. It is rather an act of illegal warfare.

Because the incident took place on the high seas does not mean however
that international law is the only applicable law. The Law of the Sea is quite
plain that, when an incident takes place on a ship on the high seas (outside
anybody’s territorial waters) the applicable law is that of the flag state
of the ship on which the incident occurred. In legal terms, the Turkish ship
was Turkish territory.

There are therefore two clear legal possibilities.

Possibility one is that the Israeli commandos were acting on behalf of the
government of Israel in killing the activists on the ships. In that case Israel is
in a position of war with Turkey, and the act falls under international
jurisdiction as a war crime.

Possibility two is that, if the killings were not authorised Israeli military
action, they were acts of murder under Turkish jurisdiction. If Israel does not
consider itself in a position of war with Turkey, then it must hand over the
commandos involved for trial in Turkey under Turkish law.

In brief, if Israel and Turkey are not at war, then it is Turkish law which is
applicable to what happened on the ship. It is for Turkey, not Israel, to carry
out any inquiry or investigation into events and to initiate any prosecutions.
Israel is obliged to hand over indicted personnel for prosecution.

Craig Murray is a human rights activist, writer, former British Ambassador,
one time Foreign Office specialist on maritime law and an Honorary Research
Fellow at the University of Lancaster School of Law.

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/the_legal_posit.html

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Concern grows over flotilla missing and prisoners

UK, 2pm, Tuesday 1st June

source: http://www.ism-london.org.uk/1736

International Solidarity Movement volunteers today expressed grave concern over the fate of wounded, imprisoned and missing flotilla activists.

The group said, with an information blackout from Israel preventing news of their plight reaching the media, speculation is mounting about the Internationals’ safety.

Theresa MacDermott (Scotland) Ewa Jasiewicz (Britain/Poland) and Caoimhe Butterly (Ireland) along with hundreds of other civilian passengers have not been heard from since before the Israeli attack on Monday morning. (1)

Israel has today refused Free Gaza lawyers permission to make contact with the human Rights defenders.

Sharyn Lock (England), founding member of The FreeGaza Movement and author of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs, said today:

“Through my experience volunteering with ambulances in Palestine, I know Israel regularly lets civilians die without allowing medical aid reach them.” (2)

She went on to say:

“It is deplorable that family and friends are being refused contact or information and we can only speculate as to their whereabouts and injuries.”

“We call on the EU member States to fulfil their obligation to protect the safety of human rights defenders. (3)We demand that Israel allows access to the injured and imprisoned immediately.” added Vittorio Arrigoni (Italy) who was himself injured by Israeli gunboats in 2008.

ISMers and former flotilla passengers Eva Bartlett (Canada) and Alberto Arce (Spain)are also waiting to hear from their missing colleagues.

“All of us are nonviolent activists who have personally come under fire from Israeli forces, and several of us have been wounded or detained. It is common for Israeli forces to open fire with live rounds on unarmed civilians, both Palestinian and Internationals.” said Eva, from Gaza. (4)

Human rights defenders in Gaza are attacked on a daily basis. Amongst them are Bianca Zammit (Malta), who was shot while accompanying farming families in Gaza on April 25th, 2010 (5) and Adie Mormech (England),who was kidnapped and imprisoned after the FreeGaza boat The Spirit of Humanity was forcibly boarded by Israel on June 30, 2009.

All the ISMers mentioned in this release are available now for comment.

-ENDS-

NOTES:

1. Ewa Jaciezicz is a freelance journalist. She and Caoimhe Butterly have trained as First Responder Medics. Theresa MacDermott is a postal worker.

2. Alongside flotilla passengers Caoimhe and Ewa, Eva Bartlett, Sharyn Lock, Alberto Arce, and Vittorio Arrigoni worked daily with Palestinian medics during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, with Eva and Alberto filming the shooting by an Israeli sniper of medic Hassan as he tried to retrieve a body. The footage taken by Alberto and Mohammed Rujailah became their award-winning film “To Shoot an Elephant” Alongside flotilla passenger Theresa MacDermott in 2008, Vittorio Arrigoni, Eva Bartlett, and Sharyn Lock came under regular fire as they accompanied unarmed Gaza fishermen, who are often shot at not only within three miles of the Gaza shore, but actually on the beach.

3. EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders:

Click to access GuidelinesDefenders.pdf

With related resources here:

http://www.ishr.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=189&Itemid=267

Click to access Frontlinehandbook.pdf

4. Bianca Zammit received a gunshot to the thigh when Israeli soldiers fired on farming families, Gaza, 2010. Vittorio Arrigoni required ten stitches after Israeli gunboats attacked the fishing boats he was accompanying, Gaza sea 2008. Caoimhe Butterly recieved a gunshot to the thigh while rescuing Palestinian children, West Bank 2002. Sharyn Lock was shot in the stomach from an Israeli armoured personel carrier while walking backwards with her hands in the air, one of ten internationals injured, West Bank 2002.

5. Bianca says: “Israeli soldiers fire live ammunition at unarmed civilians, farmers and activists without any inhibition. On the day they shot me soldiers were shooting aggressively at the demonstrators. It was clear they had a policy of at least “shooting to injure”. I was filming and documenting when the bullet struck my leg. For me this was a clear message that Israeli soldiers do not hesitate to shoot at internationals
but also that they feel threatened by our work”.

CONTACTS:

Sharyn Lock (Free Gaza Movement, England) +44 7881651 259 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 7881651 259 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
ISM London, +44 7913 067 189 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 7913 067 189 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Vittorio Arrigoni (Italy, based in Gaza) +972 5977 50820 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +972 5977 50820 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Eva Bartlett (Canada, based in Gaza) +972 5987 10648 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +972 5987 10648 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Adie Mormech (England, based in Gaza) +972 5977 17696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +972 5977 17696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Bianca Zammit (Malta, based in Gaza) +972 5975 89688 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +972 5975 89688 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Alberto Arce (Spain) +0034 6556 50048

http://www.freegaza.org/

http://www.palsolidarity.org/

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3 dead in Israeli air strike on Gaza

Published today (updated) 01/06/2010 16:45

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike hits Palestinian smuggling tunnels in Rafah,
in the southern Gaza Strip on 2 May 2009.[ MaanImages/Hatem Omar]
Gaza – Ma’an – Medics in the Gaza Strip confirmed three dead following an Israeli air strike on the northern Strip near the town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday afternoon.

An Israeli military source said planes were aiming for a “clear target” in the area, and pilots noted “secondary explosions” following the bombing.

The fire is the second, possibly third of the day, with clashes reported in the south with alleged militants, and shots fired toward a 65-year-old woman hitting her in the legs near the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Israeli military representatives said two “infiltrators” were killed, though Palestinian medics said no bodies had been recovered from the area.

The same representatives said they were unaware of any military activity in the region where the elderly woman was killed, saying the fire that injured the woman was not from Israeli forces.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=288886

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Egypt opens Rafah border

Egypt opens Gaza border following IDF raid on aid flotilla

Egypt opens Rafah crossing amid a storm of international criticism of Israel’s blockade of the enclave, to let Palestinians cross until further notice.

By Reuters

Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, letting Palestinians cross until further notice amid a storm of international criticism of Israel’s blockade of the enclave, officials in Egypt and Gaza said.

The move, urged by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against whom the embargo has been directed, prompted dozens of people to race to the crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, though the gates appeared still to be closed.

‫

It is the only point on Gaza’s borders that is not fully controlled by Israel. Cairo, coordinating with Israel, has opened it only sparingly since Hamas Islamists, who are allied to Egypt’s opposition, seized control of Gaza three years ago.

‫

A permanent opening of the crossing, which lies above a stretch of desert frontier riddled by hundreds of smuggling tunnels, would be a major boost for Hamas and a blow to efforts by Israel and its Western allies to cripple the Islamists.

‫

The Interior Ministry run by Hamas since it seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007 said in a statement: “Rafah crossing is open every day from 9 A.M to 7 P.M.” Since Hamas took over, Egypt has opened the crossing only sporadically and with restrictions.

Egyptian security source told Reuters: “Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to allow humanitarian and medical aid to enter the Strip.

‫

“The border will remain open for an unlimited time,” the source said, letting Palestinians enter and leave Egypt.

‫

Aid convoys, to which Egypt has in the past allowed only limited access, would be allowed to use the crossing, subject to following Cairo’s limitation that only food and medical supplies be transported.

‫

“Hard materials” – apparently including concrete and steel which Gazans want to repair damage from last year’s Israeli offensive – would have to go via Israel, the Egyptian source said. Israel has made clear since it halted a Turkish-backed aid convoy at sea on Monday that it will not ease its embargo.

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Unprecedented Editorial in the Guardian

Gaza: From blockade to bloodshed

Nothing has done more to establish Israel’s status as a pariah state among its neighbours than the actions of its armed forces

If an armed group of Somali pirates had yesterday boarded six vessels on the high seas, killing at least 10 passengers and injuring many more, a Nato taskforce would today be heading for the Somali coast. What happened yesterday in international waters off the coast of Gaza was the work of Israeli commandos, not pirates, and no Nato warships will in fact be heading for Israel. Perhaps they should be.

Nothing has done more to establish Israel’s status as a pariah state among its neighbours than the actions of its armed forces. Israel’s navy said it met with “pre-planned violence” when it boarded the ships and opened fire in the middle of the night. Their intention was to conduct a mass arrest, but the responsibility for the bloodshed was entirely theirs. Having placed themselves in a situation where they lost control and provoked a riot, the Israeli navy said they were forced to open fire to avoid being lynched. What did the commandos expect pro-Palestinian activists to do once they boarded the ships – invite them aboard for a cup of tea with the captain on the bridge? One of those shot and severely wounded was a Greek captain, who refused medical aid in Israel and demanded to be flown back to Greece. Presumably he, too, was threatening the lives of Israeli naval commandos.

There was nothing on board those ships that constituted a threat to Israel’s security, so Binyamin Netanyahu’s argument that his troops were acting in self-defence has no validity. They should not have been there in the first place. The convoy was carrying construction materials, electric wheelchairs and water purifiers for Gaza’s people. This was recognised by the Israeli navy, who said in a statement that it had offered to transfer the aid by land to Gaza. Four years into a blockade mounted ostensibly to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the enclave, this claim, too, is utterly specious. Two years of pressure from Washington failed to persuade Israel to let these construction materials in, for the benefit of the 5,000 families still in tents after the ruin wreaked by Operation Cast Lead. If Israel was so obdurate to the entreaties of its ally, why would it now acquiesce in the demands of its enemies? The fact is that Israel has used its blockade not only to prevent Hamas from rearming, but also to impose collective punishment – as a boot which it applied to the Palestinian throat. This pressure on the jugular has the opposite of its intended effect. Defiance has only grown in Gaza, and the Islamic resistance movement is reaping the benefits – as any Fatah man will admit.

In one operation Israel has destroyed whatever hold it had over the international community on Gaza. It is not simply the fury that it has created in Turkey, which will only grow as the bodies of its dead are buried. Egypt too is complicit, because its government has sealed the southern border of the Gaza strip. It has done so amid mounting popular opposition, and as a nervy transfer of power in Cairo is about to take place. The Egyptian government will not welcome the intense embarrassment that Israel has caused it. There were many calls yesterday for the siege to be lifted, notably from Britain’s new foreign secretary William Hague. After what Nick Clegg, his coalition partner wrote in this newspaper about Gaza last year, he could hardly do otherwise. But as Mr Clegg said, it is action, not words, that counts now.

The blockade should end, but that will only be the start of the U-turn which is now required. Closely allied to Gaza’s physical isolation is its political one. The international consensus is also crumbling on isolating Hamas by insisting it recognise Israel before it is allowed to join a national unity government with Fatah. Russia broke the taboo first two week ago when its president, Dmitry Medvedev, met Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader in Damascus, but other countries in Europe are now planning to follow suit. Brick by brick, this policy is coming apart, and in a strange way Israel is helping.

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Free Gaza Calls for ‘Open, Independent’ Investigation Into Deadly Flotilla Raid

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june10/gaza2_05-31.html

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Rachel Corrie continues to Gaza

I have spoken tonight with the Irish Free Gaza co-ordinator and she has confirmed that the Irish cargo boat, the Rachel Corrie, is continuing towards Gaza and expects to reach there in the next two or three days. The Rachel Corrie, which has sailed from Ireland, was travelling more slowly than the other boats and was therefore not with the flotilla when it was attacked. The crew and passengers of the Rachel Corrie have told us that they are continuing towards Gaza and will attempt to succeed in reaching there. On board are a number of experienced members of the Free Gaza movement, who were involved in previous Free Gaza missions.

They are therefore calling on the support of all of us to increase the pressure on our own governments and on Israel, to ensure their safety and their successful arrival in Gaza.
There will be a press release about this soon, but currently the Free Gaza support team (in Cyprus) are exhausted and overwhelmed, so there is a need for us all to spread the news about the Rachel Corrie, and use this as one of the means of keeping up the momentum. One last thing – Free Gaza is appealing to activists to keep drawing attention to the fact that this is not just about aid – it is primarily about the right of Palestinians to have sea, land and air routes to the rest of the world and for all aspects of the blockade to end.

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