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<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
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<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 02, 2010 1:29 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Washington comes to aid of Israel over Gaza convoy
massacre</DIV></DIV>
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<H2>Washington comes to aid of Israel over Gaza convoy massacre</H2>
<H5>By Jean Shaoul <BR>2 June 2010</H5>The Obama administration has come to the
aid of Israel in its efforts to quell criticism of its murderous act of piracy
on the international aid convoy to Gaza and to manage the worsening diplomatic
fallout. The early Monday morning raid has sparked international condemnation,
against a background of global protests and calls for Israel to lift its
three-year blockade of Gaza.<BR>An Israeli commando force attacked the six
ships, which were carrying supplies that included cement, wheelchairs, paper and
water purification systems, in international waters, 70 miles off the Gaza
coast. The commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry, one of three
ships provided by Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), a Turkish aid organisation.<BR>The
Mavi Marmara was carrying 600 of the 700 activists, nationals from Turkey, the
United States, Britain, Australia, Greece, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Israel and
elsewhere. Prominent figures included the Swedish author Henning Mankell, two
Australian journalists, three German parliamentarians, and Hanan Zu’bi, an Arab
Israeli and a member of the Knesset. The Israeli commando unit killed at least
nine people and injured dozens more. Most of the victims are believed to be
Turkish.<BR>The ships were diverted to Ashdod in Israel. At least 40 passengers
are in hospital. Nine are believed to be in a serious condition. Six Israeli
soldiers are in hospital, with light to serious injuries. The passengers who
refused to sign documents agreeing to deportation—only about 50 agreed—were
dispersed to detention centres throughout Israel for questioning. At least 30
have been arrested for refusing to give their names and detained in prison.
Israel has as yet to give a list of who has been killed, injured, deported or
imprisoned.<BR>Two more ships that were organized by the Free Gaza Movement, an
international coalition of Palestine solidarity activists, are expected to
challenge the Israeli blockade. Organizers said one, a converted merchant ship
christened the Rachel Corrie, for the American activist who was killed by an
Israeli bulldozer, is already on its way from Cyprus and is expected to enter
Gazan waters Wednesday, June 2. Among its passengers are the 1976 Nobel Peace
Prize laureate, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire of Northern Ireland, and a Holocaust
survivor.<BR>An Israeli navy commander indicated to the <EM>Jerusalem Post</EM>
that the military was readying violence against the next two ships as well. “We
boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war,” he said. “That will mean
that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war.”<BR>Turkey
expressed outrage at the commando raid for targeting the Turkish ship and
killing mostly Turkish activists. In a speech to parliament, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the Prime Minister, called Israel’s raid a “bloody massacre”.<BR>The
Obama administration put enormous pressure on Turkey, currently a member of the
United Nations Security Council, to accept a watered-down statement from the
Security Council, as discussions dragged on for 11 hours in an emergency session
throughout the evening and night.<BR>As a result of US arm-twisting and use of
its power of veto, the UN made no direct condemnation of Israel and removed the
call for an international investigation of the incident. It also weakened the
demand to end the economic blockade of Gaza that the activists were trying to
break.<BR>The Security Council issued a statement saying that it “deeply
regretted the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during
the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy
sailing to Gaza”. It requested the immediate release of the ships as well as the
civilians held by Israel and meekly suggested that the situation in Gaza was
“not sustainable”. It called only for an impartial inquiry into Israel’s raid,
which Washington interprets as leaving Israel free to organise its own
whitewash.<BR>According to the Israeli daily <EM>Haaretz,</EM> the Obama White
House placed no pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cancel his
scheduled visit to Washington, citing a White House source who said that the two
sides talked about moving it up to Monday, but it was not possible.<BR>A summary
of Obama’s phone conversation Monday with Netanyahu posted on the White House
web site said that the meeting would be rescheduled “at the first
opportunity”.<BR>A State Department statement on the massacre was even clearer
in its support for Israel’s justification for the attack, appearing to blame the
killings on the Palestinians and their supporters.<BR>After calling upon the
Israeli government to conduct a “full and credible investigation” of its own
crime, the State Department added: “However, Hamas’ interference with
international assistance shipments and work of nongovernmental organizations,
and its use and endorsement of violence, complicates efforts in Gaza. Mechanisms
exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by governments and
groups that wish to do so. These mechanisms should be used for the benefit of
all those in Gaza.”<BR>There have been demonstrations against Tel Aviv’s actions
in London, Manchester, Paris, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Cyprus and more than 20
cities in Greece. More are planned for the weekend.<BR>Israel has imposed a
complete media blackout on its actions, just as it did during its assault on
Gaza in 2008-09, in order to make sure that only its own version of the
events—that the commandos acted in self-defence against an imminent
lynching—gets a hearing. With major media outlets accepting censorship and the
passengers in prison, Israeli officials are largely in control of the news. The
naval base at Ashdod is off-limits to journalists and has been declared a closed
military zone.<BR>Netanyahu claimed that the commandos were enforcing a legal
blockade and only fired in self-defence. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor
Lieberman, told European diplomats that the ship’s passengers were “terrorist
supporters who fired at IDF soldiers as soon as the latter boarded the
ships.”<BR>The IDF issued an edited video shot from a helicopter, showing what
it says was a melee on deck, in which its forces were met with a barrage of
weapons and during which activists tried to “kidnap” a soldier. But according to
Ron Ben Yishai, a journalist with the <EM>Yediot Aharonot</EM> newspaper who was
an eyewitness, these “weapons” were improvised and Israeli troops opened fire,
with permission from their superiors, once they realised they were being
overwhelmed. The IDF video stops as a soldier aims his pistol at a
passenger.<BR>The Israeli version of the massacre has been flatly contradicted
by passengers on board the Mavi Marmara, who reported that violence was
initiated by the Israeli commandos who boarded the vessels firing sound and gas
bombs and using live fire against unarmed civilians, even after a white flag was
raised.<BR>Passengers on other vessels, where the Israeli government claimed
there was no violence, reported that, on the contrary, they were shot at with
plastic bullets and subjected to beatings, blows from rifle butts and the use of
electrical stun guns. The activists were forced to lie on the deck and were
brutally questioned by the commandos.<BR>“During their interrogation, many of
them were badly beaten in front of us,” said Aris Papadokostopoulos, a passenger
on the Free Mediterranean, which was travelling behind the Turkish ship.<BR>Uri
Avnery, a former member of the Knesset and leader of the Gush Shalom peace group
in Israel said, “No one in the world will believe the lies and excuses which the
government and army spokesmen come up with.”<BR>Richard Falk, a professor of
international public law at Princeton University and the UN Special Rapporteur
for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said that the raid was “clearly a
criminal act, being on the high seas.”<BR>“The people on these boats would have
some right of self-defence,” he added, as they were the ones who were under
unprovoked attack, not Israel.<BR>The raid was no accident. All the signs are
that Israel has been stepping up its provocations to engineer a <EM>casus
belli</EM> for a war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Tel Aviv
sees as unfinished business its inconclusive wars: the first in Lebanon in 2006,
and the second in Gaza in 2008-09.<BR>The military assault on the convoy was
approved by Israel’s inner security cabinet, headed by Ehud Barak, the Defence
Minister. The IDF confirmed this saying, “This IDF naval operation was carried
out under orders from the political leadership...”<BR>Tensions have risen in
Gaza, where there were protests at Israel’s raid. Shortly after the UN statement
was released, there was an exchange of fire on Gaza’s border with Israel that
resulted in the deaths of two Palestinian militants. Later, Israeli planes
killed five Palestinian militants in Gaza.<BR>Within Israel, the Arab Higher
Monitoring Committee has organised a general strike among Israeli Arabs and
police have been placed on high alert in anticipation of protests and
demonstrations.<BR>The raid has inflamed tensions throughout the region. There
have been demonstrations in Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran. The regime of
Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, which has played a key role enforcing the
blockade, is in a particularly invidious position. It has been forced by the
strength of public opinion and protests outside the foreign ministry in Cairo to
open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to allow
humanitarian aid through, although it is unclear for how long.<BR>The strongest
reaction came from Turkey, where there have been furious demonstrations against
Israel. Ankara, a longstanding military ally of Israel, has recalled its
ambassador from Tel Aviv and announced that it was cancelling three joint
military drills. Israel’s foreign ministry has called on people planning trips
to Turkey to delay or cancel their visits and urged Israelis in Turkey to return
home.<BR>In his hour-long speech to the Turkish parliament—which was translated
simultaneously into English and Arabic, an unprecedented move—Turkish Prime
Minister Erdogan stated: “It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore
Israel’s lawlessness. This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking
humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse. This attack is on
international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace. Israel in no way
can legitimize this murder. It cannot wash its hand of this blood.”<BR>The
Turkish government criticized Washington for refusing to directly denounce the
Israeli attack. “We expect a clear condemnation,” said Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu Tuesday as he prepared to go into meetings with his US counterpart
Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration’s national security adviser, James
Jones.<BR>“We expect full solidarity with us,” Davutoglu added. “It should not
seem like a choice between Turkey and Israel. It should be a choice between
right and wrong, between legal and illegal.”<BR>Asked whether the Turkish
government would send naval vessels to escort future convoys headed towards
Gaza, the foreign minister said that the government had not yet reached a
decision on such action.<BR>The <EM>Jerusalem Post</EM> quoted unnamed Israeli
military officials as saying that while they viewed the deployment of Turkish
warships as unlikely, given Turkey’s membership in NATO, Tel Aviv still saw it
as a “great concern.”<BR>“This is a definite possibility that we need to prepare
for,” a senior defence official told the paper Tuesday, suggesting that the
Israeli state is getting ready for a confrontation that could trigger a
catastrophic war in the region.<BR>Asked whether the Turkish government would
send naval vessels to escort future convoys headed towards Gaza, the foreign
minister said that the government had not yet reached a decision on such
action.<BR>The <EM>Jerusalem Post</EM> quoted unnamed Israeli military officials
as saying that while they viewed the deployment of Turkish warships as unlikely,
given Turkey’s membership in NATO, Tel Aviv still saw it as a “great
concern.”<BR>“This is a definite possibility that we need to prepare for,” a
senior defence official told the paper Tuesday, suggesting that the Israeli
state is getting ready for a confrontation that could trigger a catastrophic war
in the region.<BR><BR>
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