The Gaza Flotilla of Aid Boats Attacked by Israel

by Sheila Musaji

Note:  Most recent updates at bottom of the page unless they are directly related to an existing category; e.g. answers to questions, or legal issues, and in that case they are at the bottom of the relevant section.  My personal comments in bold.

(Click any item in this table to jump directly to that section)
WHAT HAPPENED
WORLDWIDE CONDEMNATION & PROTESTS
DOWNPLAYING, COVERING UP, OR DENYING THE REALITY - THE ISRAELI PROPAGANDA MACHINE IN FULL SWING
BEYOND BELIEF - UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES
WHO WAS ON BOARD THE SHIP
HOW DID WE GET TO THIS PLACE? - ANALYSIS
WHAT YOU CAN DO
LEGAL ISSUES
QUESTIONS AND SOME ANSWERS  updated regularly as new information is available
EYEWITNESS TESTIMONIES ARE BEGINNING TO BE AVAILABLE
KEY SITUATION UPDATES (DAY-BY-DAY)
FURTHER READING

The Freedom Flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement and a Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi,  includes six cargo and passenger boats and 600 International peace activists (including journalists and 19 European Parlimentarians) who were attempting to break Israel’s three-year blockade of Gaza and deliver much needed supplies. 

We have been posting news items about the progress of this International humanitarian effort.  Those articles are included in the further reading at the bottom of this page.  In previous years The American Muslim has posted many articles about the efforts of the Free Gaza Movement.  (Type Gaza boat into TAM’s search engine AND 25 articles will come up).  In previous years there has been frustration and rights violations, but nothing like what is happening this morning.  No one could have expected such an incredible and devastating event.

The flotilla has been stopped by an Israeli attack, and the details are still coming in.  I am concerned about all of the peace activists, but particularly about my dear friend Hedy Epstein who is on one of the boats.  (Full passenger lists by country available here.  This is what we know to date:

The Free Gaza Movement has issued a press release

(Cyprus, June 1, 2010, 6:30 am) Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep. According to the live video from the ship, two have been killed, and 31 injured. Al Jazeera has just confirmed the numbers.

Streaming video shows the Israeli soldiers shooting at civilians, and our last SPOT beacon said, “HELP, we are being contacted by the Israelis.”  We know nothing about the other five boats. Israel says they are taking over the boats.

The coalition of Free Gaza Movement (FG), European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG), Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), the Perdana Global Peace Organisation , Ship to Gaza Greece, Ship to Gaza Sweden, and the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza appeal to the international community to demand that Israel stop their brutal attack on civilians delivering vitally needed aid to the imprisoned Palestinians of Gaza and permit the ships to continue on their way.

The attack has happened in international waters, 75 miles off the coast of Israel, in direct violation of international law.

Haaretz reports

Arab media sources reported on Monday that the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, has been seriously wounded in the IDF attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.    Sheikh Salah’s deputy, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, said that there is still no clear indication regarding Salah’s condition. In a radio interview, Khatib said that if turns out Salah has been killed, Israel will be directly responsible for the act.

Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss reports Initial reports – 10-16 people killed, 30-60 injured in Israeli attack on freedom flotilla.  Video available on site.  Mondoweiss with do regular updates on the situation.

Press release from Free Gaza Movement

[Cyprus – 1 June, 2010] The UN Security Council Calls for Impartial, Credible Investigation of Israeli Boat Raid. The raid in international waters, on the aid convoy headed to Gaza left at least 16 civilians dead. After an emergency session wrapped up in the early hours this morning, the council agreed to language condemning the acts that resulted in the deaths and injuries aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara and the European Campaign’s vessel Spendoni.    The council called for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards. The council statement also reemphasized the importance of implementing U.N. resolution 1860, which calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance to Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.  The flow of aid has been severely hampered by Israel’s three-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.    Yesterday, Israeli-licensed attorneys filed two habeas briefs: one is asking for to release the passengers and the boats, so we can continue on our way to Gaza, since it was illegal to stop us in international waters. The other one is asking for information on all of the passengers, because there has been a total blackout on where the passengers are, who was wounded and who was murdered.    u>Lawyers are only being allowed access for three hours every day from 13:00-16:30. They have the names of three Palestinians still in detention: Sheik Salah, Mohammad Zeidan and Lubna Marsawa.  Haneen Zuabi, a member of the Israeli Knesset, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/31/haneen-zuabi-new-arab-isr_n_181164.html has been released, because she has immunity as a member of the Knesset

. She held a press conference this morning in Nazareth to talk about the attack. She was on board the Mavi Marmara.  6/1

WORLDWIDE CONDEMNATION & PROTESTS

The Muslim News in Britain reports

The fate of 28 Britons among some 700 passengers about the humanitarian Gaza Freedom Flotilla going to Gaza remained unknown ... 19 people have been killed, 10 of them Turkish and 26 injured, according to Israeli military sources.  ...  countries like Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Greece have summoned Israeli ambassadors and the EU has called for an immediate inquiry.  Turkey has labeled this state terrorism.  ...  Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin has already expressed “grave concern” following Israel’s massacre with eight Irish nationals among the passengers. “The reports of up to 15 people killed and 50 injured, if confirmed, would constitute a totally unacceptable response by the Israeli military to what was a humanitarian mission attempting to deliver much needed supplies to the people of Gaza,” Martin said.

Earthtimes reports that the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero described the Israeli storming of a flotilla of aid ships as a “serious” and “worrying” event. 

ABC reports

“The United Nations’ human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was “shocked” at the violence, which some reports say killed as many as 19, many of them Turks, while the European Union demanded a full inquiry from Tel-Aviv.  ...  The EU has called for an inquiry into the deaths aboard the aid ships.  In a statement, the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed her regret for the loss of life and the violence.  She also called for the immediate and unconditional opening of the crossing into Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid.    French president Nicolas Sarkozy accused Israel of a “disproportionate use of force” in its raid on the flotilla.    The Arab League condemned Israel’s actions as a “terrorist act”, with its chief, Amr Moussa, calling for an emergency meeting of the 22-nation league to discuss the incident.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described Israel’s raid of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla as “unacceptable” and urged the Jewish state to “respond constructively” to criticism of its actions

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs has accused Israel of kidnapping Irish citizens in international waters. 
South Africa has issued a statement condemning the attack.  The Elders group have condemned the attack.  The Elders includes six Nobel peace prize winners — former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, former US president Jimmy Carter, detained Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The Greek Prime Minister has condemned the attack.

Amnesty International has called for an investigation.

The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek called it “an unjustified attack” and “a clear and unacceptable breach of international law, especially the fourth Geneva Convention”. 

Diplomats across the globe condemned the attack.

The Arab News is calling this a massacre

... Nabil al-Sharif, Jordan’s minister of communication and media affairs, gave a statement to reporters a few minutes ago; he called the Israeli attack an “ugly, unacceptable crime.”  Jordan is very concerned, and is following up on the fate of its 25 passengers aboard the flotilla, and holds Israel completely accountable and responsible for any harm caused to the Jordanians on board.  Jordan calls on the international community to take firm and immediate action to pressure Israel to lift its siege on Gaza.

The International Crisis Group has condemned this attack and their statement says in part

At the same time, the incident is an indictment of a much broader policy toward Gaza for which Israel does not bear sole responsibility.    For years, many in the international community have been complicit in a policy that aimed at isolating Gaza in the hope of weakening Hamas. This policy is morally appalling and politically self-defeating. It has harmed the people of Gaza without loosening Hamas’s control. Yet it has persisted regardless of evident failure.    “The flotilla assault is but a symptom of an approach that has been implicitly endorsed by many”, says Robert Malley, Director of Crisis Group’s Middle East Program. “It is yet another stark illustration of the belated need for a comprehensive change in policy toward Gaza.”    International condemnation and calls for an inquiry will come easily, but many who will issue them must acknowledge their own role in the deplorable treatment of Gaza that formed the backdrop to today’s events. The policy of isolating Gaza, seeking to turn its population against Hamas, and endorsing a “West Bank first” approach was not an exclusively Israeli one. To focus on this recent tragedy alone is to miss the much wider and more important political lessons.    The policy toward Gaza is in need of thorough re-examination. The US, EU and Quartet as a whole have been calling for relaxing the siege on Gaza. That is welcome, but opening the humanitarian tap is not an appropriate answer to a policy whose fundamental premise is morally callous and politically counter-productive. Instead, Gaza should be open to normal commercial traffic with adequate international end-use monitoring.

It seems that world opinion is overwhelmingly in opposition to Israel’s actions towards these ships.  It remains to be seen how events will unfold, however, if part of the rationale behind the attempts to break the Gaza siege by ship is to draw world attention to the situation in Gaza, then that attention is certainly firmly focused at this time.  The important issue remains the issue that brough