[News] UN decries Israeli flotilla raid

[Anti-Imperialist News]

UN decries Israeli flotilla raid
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106133254496419.html
June 1, 2010

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Jerusalem on the storming 
of the flotilla and its aftermath

The UN Security Council has condemned acts leading to the deaths of 
civilians during Monday's Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid convoy 
that was headed to the Gaza Strip.

In a formal statement adopted after more than 10 hours of closed-door 
negotiations, the council requested the immediate release of ships 
and civilians held by Israel and called for an impartial investigation.

Prior to the emergency session, almost all the 15 members of the 
council deplored the attack that left at least 10 activists on board 
the Freedom Flotilla dead and dozens injured.

"It is clearer than ever that Israel's restrictions on access to Gaza 
must be lifted in line with Security Council Resolution 1860," Mark 
Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, said on Tuesday.

"The current closure is unacceptable and counterproductive," Grant said.

France, Russia and China also called for the blockade to be lifted 
and for an  independent inquiry.

The United States, Israel's traditional ally, did not request 
specifically that Israel end its blockade on the Gaza Strip. But it 
hinted that the measure at least should be eased.

Alejandro Wolff, US deputy permanent representative, said that 
Washington was "deeply disturbed by recent violence and regrets 
tragic loss of life and injuries".

Meanwhile the EU and Russia have issued a joint condemnation of 
Israel's use of deadly force in the operation, and urged the opening 
of crossings in Gaza.

Speaking during a Russia-EU summit, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian 
foreign minister and Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief 
demanded an end to the blockade of Gaza.

Their joint declaration added: "The EU and Russia call for immediate 
opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial 
goods and people to and from Gaza."

The EU's president, Herman Van Rompuy, called for a "durable 
solution" for the situation in Gaza. "We regret the loss of life, 
condemn the use of violence and demand an immediate, full and 
impartial investigation," he said.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, said that the civilian deaths 
were "irreparable and absolutely unjustified."

Meanwhile, Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip 
letting Palestinians cross until further notice.

Palestinian TV said that Mahmood Abbas, the president, phoned Hosni 
Mubarak, his Egyptian counter-part, to thank him for "responding to 
the massacre" by opening the post.

Deadly raid

The statements reflected the international community's 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/20105316216182630.html>strong 
disapprovalof Monday's events in the high seas, when Israeli soldiers 
stormed the six ships in international waters about 65km off the Gaza coast.

The ships with about 700 pro-Palestinian activists were carrying 
10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Gaza, the coastal territory 
under a crippling Israeli siege.

Israel insisted that its troops had acted in self-defence after being 
attacked by those on board.

But Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, on board the lead ship Mavi 
Marmara, said troops opened fire even after passengers had raised a white flag.

Israeli troops have taken the ships to the port of Ashdod after seizing them.

Activists who were injured are being treated in hospitals while 480 
others are been detained and subjected to interrogations. Another 48 
activists have been deported to their respective countries.

Al Jazeera's Elshayyal is reportedly being held at a detention 
facility at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, together with two of his colleagues.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Ashdod, said: "We are 
still trying to get information in terms of the condition of the passengers...

"An identification and interrogation process has gotten under way, to 
identify the individuals and then provide them with the option of 
being deported immediately or sent to prison here," he said.

Global outrage

Freedom Flotilla has incensed people, triggering 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/05/201053116143622331.html>mass 
protests in cities across the world.

Thousands marched in the streets of Istanbul, London and Amman in 
Jordan among other cities on Monday, denouncing the deadly raid on 
the ships that sought to deliver much-needed supplies to Gazans.

But Israel has remained defiant with Mark Regev, its government 
spokesman, insisting that "Israel was totally within its rights under 
international law to intercept the ship and to take it to the port of Ashdod".

He said the people on board the flotilla were not peaceful activists.

"They are part of the IHH, which is a radical Turkish Islamist 
organisation which has been investigated by Western governments and 
by the Turkish government itself in the past for their links with 
terrorist organisations."

Reporting from Jerusalem, Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland said Israel's 
reaction has largely been of defiance.

"Many [Israeli citizens] have flocked to the port of Ashdod to 
basically express their rejection of what they see as the foreign 
media's negative spin on events.

"...Israeli spin masters have been going into overdrive, doing their 
best possible to spin this event as though the Israeli commandos were 
not the ones attacking but rather the attack was perpetrated by 
people on board," she said.

Israeli 'cover-up'

But Israeli efforts notwithstanding, the country has come in for 
strong censure.

Murat Mercan, the head of Turkey's foreign relations committee, said 
that activists on board had links to terrorist organisations was 
Israel's way of covering up its mistake.

"Any allegation that the members of this ship is attached to al-Qaeda 
is a big lie because there are Israeli civilians, Israeli 
authorities, Israeli parliamentarians on board the ship," he told Al Jazeera.

"Does he [Regev] think that those are also attached to al-Qaeda?"

Mark Taylor, an international legal expert, told Al Jazeera that 
every state, including Israel, has the right to self-defence.

"In this case, we're looking at a humanitarian aid convoy, with 
prominent people and activists, clearly not a military target in any 
way whatsoever."

Israeli media reported that many of the dead were Turkish nationals.

Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the Gaza Strip, said the 
assault was a "massacre" and called on the international community to 
intervene.

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, urged Arabs and Muslims to 
show their anger by staging protests outside Israeli embassies across 
the globe.




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