Nadeem Malik

Monday, May 31, 2010

Israeli warships attack flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip...............

Israeli warships attack flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip...............

 

 

 

Israeli warships attack flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip...............

Syed Talat Hussain, Executive Director News and Current Affairs and team of AAJ.TV is also on board

 

Please raise your voice

 

Nadeem Malik

AAJ TV
www.nadeemmalik.pk
http://twitter.com/nadeemmalik
 
 

 

 

Syed Talat Hussain and team of AAJ TV is also on board 

 

Israeli warships attack flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip
 

[turkey] Reuters

Demonstrators in Istanbul protested against Israel in front of the Israeli consulate on Monday.

TEL AVIV—Israeli warships early Monday intercepted a flotilla of activists and aid bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, and Israel's military confirmed that more than 10 activists had been killed in a skirmish after Israeli forces boarded at least one of the ships.
The ships involved were still at sea, under Israeli naval escort, and believed headed for an Israeli port. The details of the boarding weren't clear early Monday.
An Israeli army spokesman accused activists on the ships of arming themselves with knives and clubs. The spokesman said at least a dozen activists had been injured, as well as 10 Israeli military personnel, in the fighting. He said activists stole a gun from one Israeli personnel and started firing on the soldiers.
Local media put the death toll much higher. Israel's Channel 2, a private station, citing Palestinian officials, reported early Monday that at least 16 died in a confrontation between Israel forces and activists and crew members aboard the ships. The station said Israeli soldiers acted only after responding to violence, but the source of the report wasn't clear.
Israel's official Army Radio, citing Turkish reports, also put the death toll at 16, but said there wasn't any official Israeli confirmation of that number. "The soldiers responded when live bullets were fired on them and one of the soldiers' weapons was stolen," Army Radio reported.
A correspondent for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic news channel, was aboard one of the ships and reported for his network that Israeli forces boarded a separate boat in the flotilla in darkness, at one point opening fire shortly after boarding, as helicopters hovered above.
Israeli officials have for days warned that they wouldn't let the flotilla make port in Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Palestinian group Hamas and has been under effective blockade by Israel and Egypt. Human-rights activists have long alleged that Israel was keeping out crucial aid and basic materials, a claim Israel has denied.
Sensitive to the possible public-relations fallout of any confrontation, Israeli officials had debated the appropriate response to the flotilla, fearful a heavy-handed approach could deepen Israel's current diplomatic woes.
Monday's violence threatens to pose another big setback for Israel's international standing, whether the military action Israel took at sea was warranted and measured, or not.
Turkey's foreign ministry accused Israel of violating international law and demanded an "urgent explanation," according to the Associated Press. Police in Ankara blocked dozens of stone-throwing demonstrators who had converged on the Israeli consulate in protest early Monday. Later in the morning, the protests turned into a more peaceful vigil, AP reported.
The flotilla was carrying around 800 pro-Palestinian activists from various countries, as well as 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies, according to organizers. It is by far the largest fleet of aid to try to reach Gaza since Israel and Egypt began restricting the flow of goods into and out of the territory in 2007 after Hamas seized control.
The latest effort, which organizers called the "Freedom Flotilla," was carrying European parliamentarians, former U.S. diplomats and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire. It is unclear whether any of these high-profile passengers were involved or injured in the skirmish.
Last week, Israel vowed to stop the flotilla, but also said that if the ships docked at an Israeli port first, it would allow the full shipment of humanitarian cargo to reach Gaza, after undergoing security checks. The flotilla was originally scheduled to reach Gaza on Friday, but was repeated delayed over the weekend.
The battle at sea follows a series of diplomatic setbacks for Israel in recent months, including strained relations with the U.S. and the expulsion of Israeli diplomats from Britain and Australia over Israel's alleged role in forging passports used by suspects in the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai. Israel says there is no evidence of its involvement in the slaying.
And Israel's relationship with Washington, its strongest ally, chilled recently after a standoff between the two over Israel's insistence on continuing to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That rift appeared on the mend, with President Barack Obama inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House for separate meetings this week.
 
 

Up to 16 killed in Israeli attack on Gaza aid flotilla

Israeli Navy sailors embark on a warship in order to stop a flotilla of activists attempting to deliver aid to Gaza in spite of Israel's blockade, in Haifa, Israel.

Turkey denounces Israeli assault in international waters as 'unacceptable' and warns there would

 

Patrick Martin

Jerusalem Globe and Mail Update

What started as a peaceful demonstration of support for the 1.7 million people of Gaza, turned bloody Monday as Israeli forces boarded six ships attempting to run the three-year-old blockade Israel has maintained of the Gaza Strip.
Reports of as many as 16 of the human rights activists being killed in the assault are giving Israel an international black eye, and threaten to dramatically change the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"This is a historic day … a day of freedom … a turning point in the battle to end the siege of Gaza," said Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on Gaza television. He sent his sympathies to the families of the dead and assured them the people would be viewed as "martyrs" in the campaign to liberate the Palestinian people.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, speaking from Ramallah, declared three days of mouring for the deaths of the international activists. He described the incident as the product of years of "built up aggression."
In the seaport of Gaza, that had been prepared to receive the international flotilla had it succeeded in running the blockade, banners in Arabic, English and Turkish proclaimed the convoy participants were "heroes."
"The people are in shock and greatly angered," reported Hassan Jaber, a Gaza journalist. "They have begun to gather at many sites around Gaza waving Turkish flags and protesting what has happened."
Many of the hundreds of activists were from Turkey were encouraged to participate by an Islamic human rights organization. The government of Turkey denounced the Israeli assault in international waters as "unacceptable" and warned there would be "consequences."
Until Israel's assault on Hamas in Gaza in December-January 2008-09, relations between Turkey and Israel had been warm. The unexpected attack on Gaza triggered a diplomatic backlash and Monday's assault on Turkish citizens will almost certainly worsen a key regional relationship.
Reuters reports that Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, has demanded a full inquiry about the circumstances in which the deaths occured, and called for "an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of the crossing for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza."
The boarding of the vessels, all flying European flag, in international waters is being denounced as an act of "piracy."
"People condemn Somalia for its attacks on ships in the Indian Ocean," said Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas government's deputy foreign minister. "What the difference? Israel is boarding peace ships in a clear violation of the Law of the Sea.
Reports from on board the ships indicate that the boats were contacted by the Israeli navy and asked who they were and where they were going.
"Our reply was that we were part of a flotilla and we were going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies," a spokesman for the flotilla said.
"On the radar, the boats could see three Israeli war ships shadowing us, and 15 minutes later, a silent aircraft hovered over the flotilla.
"One of our Hebrew speakers had found Israel's strategy and posted it to us. It stated: 'You will be boarded by highly trained, very efficient and very SILENT commandos. They will use silent inflatable boats to get to our boats and both try to board our boats directly from the inflatables and by dropping divers into the water to climb onto the boats,' so people were preparing for them to come up and over the sides of the ships."
Israeli television showed video taken from one of the ships prior to being boarded and it showed a wooden baton that looked like an axe handle being handed to one of the party.
"Our initial findings show that at least 10 convoy participants were killed," a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces said.
"During the intercept of the ships, the demonstrators on board attacked the IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs. Additionally one of the weapons used was grabbed from an IDF soldier. The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose. "
"As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces employed riot dispersal means, including live fire," the statement said.


 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------
N A D E E M   M A L I K 
http://www.nadeemmalik.pk
Facebook   




 


Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.

NADEEM MALIK LIVE

NADEEM MALIK LIVE

Nadeem Malik Live is the flagship current affairs programme of Pakistan. The programme gives independent news analysis of the key events shaping future of Pakistan. A fast paced, well rounded programme covers almost every aspect, which should be a core element of a current affairs programme. Discussion with the most influential personalities in the federal capital and other leading lights of the country provides something to audience to help them come out with their own hard hitting opinions.

http://youtube.com/NadeemMalikLive