Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a UN body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate UN probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship.

The so-called Palmer Report on the Israeli raid of May 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists said earlier this month that Israel had used unreasonable force in last year’s raid, but its naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled strip was legal.

A panel of five independent UN rights experts reporting to the UN Human Rights Council rejected that conclusion, saying the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

The four-year blockade deprived 1.6 million Palestinians living in the enclave of fundamental rights, they said.

“In pronouncing itself on the legality of the naval blockade, the Palmer Report does not recognize the naval blockade as an integral part of Israel’s closure policy towards Gaza which has a disproportionate impact on the human rights of civilians,” they said in a joint statement.

An earlier fact-finding mission named by the same UN forum to investigate the flotilla incident also found in a report last September that the blockade violated international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the blockade violates the Geneva Conventions.

Israel says its Gaza blockade is a precaution against arms reaching Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas by sea.

The four-man panel headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer found Israel had used unreasonable force in dealing with what it called “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers.”

Turkey has downgraded ties with Israel over the incident.

Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and one of the five experts who issued Tuesday’s statement, said the Palmer report’s conclusions were influenced by a desire to salve Turkish-Israeli ties.

“The Palmer report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law,” he said in the statement.
About one-third of Gaza’s arable land and 85 percent of its fishing waters are totally or partially inaccessible due to Israeli military measures, said Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, another of the five.

At least two-thirds of Gazan households lack secure access to food, he said. “People are forced to make unacceptable trade-offs, often having to choose between food or medicine or water for their families.”

The other three experts were the UN special rapporteurs on physical and mental health, extreme poverty and human rights, and access to water and sanitation.

Haaretz

Israel likes to portray itself as a small, defenceless nation in the middle of a sea of angry Arabs. However, while Israel is anything but defenceless – it is after all a nuclear power with one of the most well-equipped and well-trained armies in the world – it is indeed beginning to be the focus of an upsurge of hostility and anger from its neighbours. Even long-time allies have started to lose their patience with Israel for its consistent law-breaking, daily human rights violations, lack of accountability and unabashed arrogance about the fact that it has, until now, been able to commit serious crimes with impunity.

Israel’s status as a pariah state is becoming more and more entrenched as a result of two key developments. The first is the gradual democratisation of countries in the Middle East and the second is Israel’s own conduct in refusing, for example, to apologise for killing the citizens of a former friendly state, or to bring those responsible to justice.

In terms of the democratic shifts in the region, countries like Turkey and Egypt, which once turned a blind eye to Israel’s criminality or were complicit therein, are finally waking up and taking a stand against the bully of the Middle East. Israel’s past reliance on its close ties with the Turkish military is no longer a winning hand. Since the ruling AKP came to power the army has been sent back to barracks and its influence over Turkish politics has diminished. The Israeli government now has to contend with its peers in Ankara and the likes of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, who is making it very clear that the past alliance between Israel and Turkey is no longer assured. Understandably, he maintains that any relationship between the two countries is conditional and must be based on mutual respect. It is Israel’s apparent lack of respect and, it could be said, contempt for the people of Turkey which is placing the once cosy relationship in jeopardy.

Ever since May 2010 when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish citizens on board the Mavi Marmara on a humanitarian mission to break the siege on Gaza but still in international waters, Turkey’s stance against Israel has been hardening. Erdogan’s government in Ankara has waited patiently to give time for diplomacy to run its course in the hope that Israel would do the right thing and offer, at the very least, an apology for the killings. To no avail, it seems; the Israelis responsible have not been brought to justice and Israel’s piracy and kidnapping has gone unpunished. Israel’s refusal to offer a simple apology for the murder of Turkish civilians is an insult that the government of Turkey cannot let pass; it has become a matter of national dignity.

The escalation in diplomatic tensions between the two “allies” has seen Turkey expel Israeli diplomats from Ankara and downgrade its own diplomatic representation in Tel Aviv. Turkey has also said that its navy will now maintain a constant presence in the Mediterranean and provide a military escort for any future humanitarian flotillas heading for Gaza. Furthermore, Prime Minister Erdogan is visiting Egypt, with speculation rife about a possible visit to the besieged Gaza Strip. That would be a bold statement creating both anger and embarrassment in Israel which would be applauded across the Arab and Muslim world. Erdogan’s visit to Cairo may also see Turkey and Egypt solidifying their stand against Israel; if so, that would be bad news for the Zionist state.

Israel’s arrogance and refusal to apologise for its criminality is foolhardy as it has the potential to lose one of its strongest allies in the region. Turkey is emerging as a huge regional power, politically and economically, and is leading the way for many other countries to step out of the shadows and challenge Israel. Many of the emerging post-revolution Arab governments will be looking to Turkey for leadership and guidance and may well take Ankara’s lead on how to deal with Tel Aviv.

In Egypt, the same two issues are also having a major impact on the country’s relationship with Israel. Democratic change and Israeli intransigence place the countries’ peace treaty under threat. The Zionist state has enjoyed the protection of its Egyptian ally ever since the Camp David accords in 1979; post-revolutionary Egypt, however, is emerging as an entirely different kettle of fish. While the government and military institutions may more or less still be the same, the Egyptian people are not and never will be the same again. The nation has found its voice and will not be silenced. If the first significant victim of the Egyptian people’s freedom was Hosni Mubarak, the second may well be the treaty with their Israeli neighbour. It suited Israel to be surrounded by Arab dictators, particularly Mubarak, at its beck and call, but that era has now passed.

When Israeli troops killed six Egyptian soldiers on the border recently, could Tel Aviv have guessed that this would prompt demonstrations in Cairo leading to the Zionist ambassador and his staff having to flee the country? It is significant that the Palestinian flag was raised alongside the Egyptian flag over the embassy after the demonstration; that is indicative of the mood of the people of Egypt. The sight of the Palestinian flag around the Middle East does not bode well for the Zionist state.

Israel is in a quandary, not simply because the Middle East is undergoing such a seismic shift but also, primarily, because Israel is not evolving and adapting its own policies to the changes taking place around it. The stubborn refusal to amend its policies and practices towards the Palestinians is clearly costing Israel in terms of relations with its erstwhile allies.

Cries from Tel Aviv about the attack on the “sovereign land” of its embassy in Cairo fall on stony ground. How can the Israeli government have the audacity to complain while it continues to abuse Palestinians in their own land; build illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories; kill Egyptians going about their lawful business; launch invasions of Lebanon apparently at will; and annex land stolen from its Arab neighbours? Israel cannot continue to insist on one set of rules for itself and another for everyone else. It has to get used to being judged by the laws and conventions by which the rest of the world is expected to abide. There is a limit to global patience, and it is running out, as is the time for Israel to make amends. If it ends the occupation of Palestine, perhaps that will give Israel a glimmer of hope. If not, what sort of future can there be for a pariah Zionist state in a sea of emerging Arab democracies?

Dr Hanan Chehata

Middle East Monitor Online

Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.
Last Saturday, Turkish officials told Hurriyet Daily News that the Turkish navy will significantly strengthen its presence in the easter Mediterranean Sea, as one of the steps the Turkish government has decided to take following the release of the UN Palmer report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla.

“The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against civilian vessels,” a Turkish official was quoted as saying.

As part of the plan, the Turkish navy will increase its patrols in the eastern Mediterranean and pursue “a more aggressive strategy”.

Haaretz

Turkish charter airlines yesterday began to cut back weekly flights on routes to and from Israel against the backdrop of the crisis in relations between the two counties and the rise in canceled reservations for travel to Turkey.

Meanwhile, El Al Israel Airlines has contingency plans that would address the possibility that Turkey would bar the Israeli carrier from overflying Turkish territory, Haaretz has learned.

The contingency plan was developed after relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated last year in the wake of a confrontation between the Israel Navy and the Gaza flotilla ship Mavi Marmara. Relations deteriorated further this past week with the release of a United Nations commission report on the incident, a clash in which nine Turkish passengers were killed.

On Monday, a group of air travelers who arrived in Istanbul on a flight from Israel complained of humiliating treatment. Turkish passengers claimed similar treatment at Ben-Gurion International Airport the day before.

If Turkish airspace is closed to Israeli airlines, it would require El Al to fly longer routes to several destinations, particularly in the Far East, including flights to China and Thailand, and to former Soviet republics. In addition to the inconvenience it would cause passengers due to longer flights, it would also require El Al aircraft to use more fuel, with the added expense involved.

Foreign Ministry staff expressed the hope that the Turks would not disrupt Israeli air traffic over Turkey, noting that it would engender international condemnation as a violation of agreements. Israeli carriers pay Turkey for the right to overfly the country, payments that collectively can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The latest decline in ties between Turkey and Israel follows a summer travel season in which there was an upturn in travel between the two countries with charter operators increasing service between Israel and Turkish destinations. Tourism operators will not only suffer a loss of flight business if Israelis don’t travel to Turkey, but will also lose out on guarantees they made on hotel space in Turkey for future stays. A reduction in air service from Turkey could also affect foreign tourism by travelers who add short stays in Israel to vacations in Turkey.

A senior Israeli official has warned that it would be a “diplomatic mistake” for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit the Gaza Strip. Reports in the Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli official who said that Erdogan would damage Turkey’s relations with the United States by visiting Gaza. Mr. Erdogan is due to visit Cairo and has hinted that he may go to Gaza straight from Egypt.

According to the media reports, a visit by the Prime Minister to Gaza, and meetings with officials from Ismail Haniyeh’s cabinet in Gaza “would also weaken Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. A trip to Hamas-controlled Gaza would, it is assumed, pose a threat to Mr. Abbas’s legitimacy as the representative of the Palestinians.

Since Ankara cut its diplomatic and military relations with Israel, there has been media speculation about Mr Erdogan’s intention to make an official visit to the Gaza Strip, although the visit has not been confirmed officially.

Middle East Monitor

Under the financial pressure of EU bailouts to Greece, following their complicity in the blockade of Gaza earlier this year with the prevention of the ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ vessels moored in Greek ports, Greece and Israel signed a security cooperation agreement. The content of the memorandum was not disclosed

Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis, making the first official visit by a Greek defense minister to Israel, and his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, signed a cooperation memorandum on ‘security’ in Jerusalem on Sunday during the first day of Beglitis’ three-day trip.

“I come as my country’s defense minister to state our political will as a government, as well as the majority of the country’s political forces, for the two countries, the two governments, the two peoples, to work together so that we can further develop and deepen our bilateral relations in all sectors of mutual interest and concern,” Beglitis said.

The visit is part of a cooperation memorandum signed last year between Prime Minister George Papandreou and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week a Greek Parliament committee approved the purchase from Israel of Rafael-made Spice 1000 and 2000 bomb precision upgrade kits at a cost of $155 million for 400 systems.

Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Arie Mekel, noted the “unprecedented number of high-level visits” between Israel and Greece this year. He said the visit by Beglitis “highlights again the dramatic upgrade of the relations between Greece and Israel for the benefit of both countries.”

Beglitis clarified that his visit concerns bilateral relations with the State of Israel exclusively and is not functioning competitively with other countries in the region.

His visit comes in the wake of the release last week of the United Nations’ Palmer report which said that Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal, but that Israel used excessive force when boarding the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara, leading to the deaths of nine Turkish citizens, in May 2010. Turkey has demanded an apology and, with none forthcoming, said it would ramp up sanctions against Israel.

Beglitis was scheduled to meet Monday with Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, and also will have a private meeting with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. He met previously with the chief of Israel’s military, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.

Barak said he was pleased by the upgrading of the military and defense cooperation between Israel and Greece.

“We are seeing with satisfaction the deepening and widening of relations between us and the Greeks in all sectors, including the security sector, and we desire to see the deepening and widening of this cooperation between the governments, between the Defense Ministries and between our peoples,” Barak said.

On Friday, 2 September, a pro-Israeli body at the United Nations released a brazenly unbalanced report concluding that Israel’s four-year  blockade of some 1.7 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was “legal” and  “within the barometers of international law.”

The scandalous report, dubbed as the Palmer report, also concluded that the manifestly criminal  Israeli assault on a Turkish ship carrying solidarity activists and humanitarian materials  to besieged Gazans, which occurred 18 months ago and   killed at least nine Turkish citizens and injured many others, was also legal.

The report was reportedly prepared by a group of fanatical Zionists who thought that Israel could do nothing wrong and that its victims, whether Turks or Arabs, were either terrorists or sub-humans whose lives had no sanctity whatsoever.

The obscene disregard of truth inherent in that infamous and biased document showed that professionalism and objectivity were the last things on the minds of that commission’s members.

Indeed, the victims of the Gaza siege, which ironically  is yet to be lifted, have every right under the sun  to cry out to the seventh heaven, in anger and bitterness, wondering what right  the Nazi-like entity, Israel, ever had to withhold medicine and  food supplies, fuel and  other  basic necessities from the people  of  Gaza.

To justify its murderous  and  enduring blockade, which killed ( and continues to kill) thousands of innocent  people,  including children,   and devastated the lives  of hundreds of thousands others, Israel invoked  the mantra of arms smuggling into Gaza .

However, the truth of the matter is that under the rubric of preventing the alleged smuggling  of weapons  into the coastal  enclave, Israel repeatedly demonstrated that it was hell-bent  on  starving ordinary Gazans by denying  them badly-needed medicine and  by ruining their originally meager  economy, causing  real starvation with catastrophic proportions.

In fact, some Zionist officials boasted rather gleefully and sadistically about Israel’s ability to make the people of Gaza go on a diet. Unfortunately, the sickening remarks were not prominently featured in the Jewish-controlled American and western press whose coverage of Israeli criminality fell markedly short of basic professional standards.

In the final analysis, when people, including Jews, think, behave and act like the Nazis, these people ought to be compared with the Nazis, let alone treated as the Nazis were treated.

Failing  to hold these comparisons due to “special sensitivities” such as the fear of being  branded “anti-Semitic” is both a betrayal  of  human conscience and professional standards.

Gaza is not  a state, it is  rather an impoverished and heavily-populated  coastal enclave packed  with refugees who had been forced to flee their native towns and villages  at the hands of terrorist Jewish gangs coming from  Eastern  Europe .

Israel claimed ad nauseam it left Gaza for good. However, the truth of the matter is that the Nazi-apartheid regime retained its erstwhile tight control of Gaza’s territorial water, border crossings as well as air space.

And when the Islamic  liberation movement, known as Hamas, won meticulously  internationally observed elections, Israel lost its  composure and decided to  impose draconian  sanctions encompassing  everything  entering  Gaza or  coming  out of the blockaded territory.

The criminal siege, which many courageous  international  observers compared with the Nazi siege of the  Ghetto  Warsaw during the Second  World War, was always made to  produce maximum suffering  and  pain  thanks to a never-ending series of criminal aggressions that mainly targeted innocent civilians.

Israeli leaders, most of them are actually  certified war criminals,  were  quoted on several   occasions  as saying that the targeting of  innocent  Palestinian  civilians by the Israeli  occupation army  was meant to force the civilians  to rise up against their elected government.

There is no doubt that the deliberate and planned targeting of innocent children by Israel is a criminal act. Even Israeli human rights organizations, such as B’tselem, admit that it is.

The fact,  that the whoring  press and  TV networks  in New York ,   London ,  or Montreal don’t see it this way doesn’t make the reality of Israeli  criminality any less nefarious.

A genocide or an attempted genocide doesn’t become less evil if and when perpetrated by Jews. This is what Israel’s ignorant supporters in the West ought to realize, the sooner the better.

In light,  one is prompted to treat the Palmer report with the contempt it deserves. In the final analysis, judging murder, including haphazard murder, as legal because Jews are involved is the ultimate expression of moral bankruptcy, dishonesty and maliciousness.

The same thing applies to the other conclusion about the murderous  attack on Marmara, the Turkish aid ship sailing in international waters in May 2011.  That ship was carrying peaceful activists who wanted to reach the shore of Gaza to deliver urgently-needed relief materials, including  milk, to besieged Gazans.

Yet, instead of allowing the ship to proceed to its destination unhindered, the Gestapo-like  Israeli marines ganged up on innocent  and unarmed men and women, riddling  them with bullets from all sides.

The Turks and  other activists onboard Marmara never ever posed any real threat to the Jewish Rambos. How could they possibly do that, unless we adopt the proverbial  criminal  logic that it was the victims’ heads and chests  that hit the bullets, not the other way around, which puts the blames decidedly on the  victims.!

Unfortunately,  the government of Israel resorted to hasbara and lies and stone-walling to escape  responsibility, claiming  that its soldiers’ lives were  endangered, a claim that shouldn’t be dignified by commenting  on it.

Moreover, in an effort to come out clean of this murderous obscenity,  Israel made numerous insinuations about the humanitarian organization that planned and chartered the aid voyage, calling it terrorist.

Well, the Jewish state and its numerous mouthpieces  of mendacity  would automatically call anyone giving the Palestinians a helping hand terrorist even if the  that one were Jesus Christ or Moses, the  son  of Amram.

This is their way of demonizing and  dehumanizing their victims, just as the Nazis did several decades ago.

It is really heartening that the Turkish government has decided to show Israel that Turkish blood is a red line and that Israel could no longer mobilize its Free Mason  tools in Turkey to bully the Turkish leadership to grovel before Jewish feet. These days are over.

The  reported decision to expel the Zionist ambassador from Ankara, along  with the planned   downgrading  of  security relations with the  Jewish Reich in  occupied Jerusalem, should only be the beginning  of  a new strategic approach  on the part  of  Turkey toward Israel, an approach  that must demonstrate  to Jews and non-Jews alike  that Muslims are human beings, too, and have dignity like  everyone else.

By Khalid Amayreh in Israeli-occupied Jerusalem

Palestinian Info Center

Some 40 Israelis on board a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul were separated from the rest of the passengers upon arrival in Turkey on Monday and were questioned at length by Turkish police, marking a highly unusual event against the backdrop of a deepening diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel.

What will be the consequences of the Israel-Turkey crisis? Visit Haaretz.com on Facebook and share your views. Turkish police took the Israelis’ passports upon arrival and questioned each person individually in an investigations room. Only after prolonged questioning did the Israelis receive their passports back and were freed to go. Foreign Ministry officials said in response that the event is highly unusual and serious, and said that many of the Israeli passengers called the Foreign Ministry and said they felt fear during the questioning. The Foreign Ministry turned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and demanded an explanation, however the Turks said they were not familiar with the incident. ”

At this time it looks like a local initiative of police in Istanbul, but we are still looking in to the event and mostly trying to understand what was the character of the investigation,” said a Foreign Ministry official. The recent crisis in Israel-

Turkey relations deepened after the UN-commissioned report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid was leaked to the New York Times, foiling a last-ditch effort to patch up relations between the two countries. Turkey then announced a series of measures against Israel, beginning with the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the downgrading of bilateral relations to the level of second secretary.

Haaretz

In mid June, Bülent Yildirim, chairman of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, declared that the “Mavi Marmara” ship, which was hard hit in the Israeli raid, could not take part in the “Freedom flotilla II” but will “definitely set sail for Gaza when it completes repair and maintenance works.” Was it a realistic decision for the flotilla organizers to set sail without the “Mavi Marmara”? Huseyin Oruç, deputy of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation explains his position in this interview.

Silvia Cattori: How many Turks are here in Athens waiting to sail with the “Freedom flotilla”?

Huseyin Oruç: We are about twenty people from Turkey ready to participate in the “Freedom flotilla II” in different ships. There are only a few places in the boats. In each boat there is a Turkish participant. We have people in the Canadian boat, the Spanish boat, the French boat, the Greek boat, the International boat.

Silvia Cattori: So, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has not withdrawn from the “Freedom flotilla II” as reported by many commentators? Is that correct?

Huseyin Oruç: We did not withdraw from the coalition. We are part of the coalition. We officially are continuing to support the “Freedom flotilla”. IHH is one of the members of the Steering Committee of the “Flotilla 2”. I am the deputy of IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation) and a coordinator of the “Freedom flotilla.” The only thing is that the “Mavi Marmara” ship could not join the vessels in this second mission of the “Freedom Flotilla” since repair and maintenance works on the ship have not been completed.

Silvia Cattori: I would like to know whether the non-participation of the “Mavi Marmara” is a Turkish government decision?

Huseyin Oruç: It is not a government decision. It is an IHH decision. It is a decision of the registration of the “Mavi Marmara.” We have announced 20 days ago to our partners that, technically, we had difficulties in participating with “Mavi Marmara.” That for technical reasons we could not participate in this “Flotilla”. We wanted to allow all other organizers to prepare themselves accordingly. We announced that we were not cancelling but rather postponing the participation of the “Mavi Marmara”. We will continue our mission. You have seen the high commitment of IHH people in the coalition and you will continue to see it.

As we have declared it hundreds of times, the “Mavi Marmara” is not merely a Turkish ship. It is an international ship. It does not depend only upon the Turkish initiative. It is the symbol of the Palestinians – one of the symbols of all oppressed people in the world.

Now the “Mavi Marmara” became a very important figure. We are not cancelling our participation with the “Mavi Marmara”. Whenever the Palestinians need it, the “Mavi Marmara” will go. We cannot give you a time but we say that we will sail. In any case it will not be a Turkish ship but an international ship. The “Mavi Marmara” became the conscience of the world. There will be many nationalities on the “Mavi Marmara” when we will decide to go. There will be about 500 people from all over the world. And it will continue. It is not the end of the “Flotilla”. Until this illegal siege is lifted, this “Flotilla” will continue; with new perspectives, with new surprises, not to repeat itself; and it will continue to change the history.

Silvia Cattori: Because the “Mavi Marmara” represents a great and beautiful symbol it was a shock for the people in Gaza to learn that your ship could not be part of the “Flotilla II”. Was it a realistic decision for the flotilla organizers to set sail without the “Mavi Marmara”?

Huseyin Oruç: Of course the “Mavi Marmara” was one of the largest ships in the Flotilla that can carry about 500 passengers. The fact that it is not participating now in the “Flotilla” has a negative side and a positive side. We need to use whatever is happening to our advantage. The fact that we have deferred the participation of the “Mavi Marmara” puts us in a favourable position. We are maintaining the pressure on Israel. Anyway, we are still participating in the “Flotilla 2” and of course we are one of the supporters among the Committee members; we are one of the founders of this “Flotilla” organisation.

Remember what the Israelis have been saying throughout the last year. They have targeted Turkish people, they have targeted the Muslims, they have targeted IHH, and they have targeted the Turkish government who organized this Flotilla. But on the other side the Israelis have never done anything against our colleagues from the West. And now that the Turkish participation is les prominent, look what is happening.

Now that we are not participating with the “Mavi Marmara”, what is the reason to attack the boats? What is the reason to stop the boats? The main reasons are being removed from their agenda. Now the Israelis are showing their real face. They are not acting only against the Muslims, not only against the Turks; they are acting against everybody. And they want to control the West. They feel they oversee things at the highest level and that Westerners have their orders. It is the position now and European people need to understand that it is not related to religion. It is not related to beliefs, to nationality. It is completely related to the bad Zionist policy. And this policy is not only against the Muslims. They are not making any differentiation between religions. Whoever is against them, they are ready to kill them: Americans, Greeks, Germans and whatever they are.

Silvia Cattori: I entirely agree with your analysis. But the Turkish diplomacy regarding the Middle East seems to have changed. What is your interpretation about that?

Huseyin Oruç: Let me say first that Turkey did not change. And let me say that the decision of IHH is totally independent. One month ago, just five days before deciding not to participate in the Flotilla with the “Mavi Marmara”, we, the Steering Committee met here in this hotel ; we sat together and, very frankly, we explained the situation. Everybody knows us; knows who IHH is, how serious we are; how we are working, what we have done in the “Freedom flotilla I”. All members of the Steering Committee know that, if IHH takes a decision, it is not in favour of someone else, it is in favour of the Palestinians. This mission is totally related to the oppressed Palestinian people. And whatever we are planning, we are doing it for the benefit of the Palestinians.

For all decisions taken by IHH, without any pressure from anyone, we have checked everything. And when you look at the problems of the “Freedom flotilla”, it is very important; it is not the problem of a single society because of the Israeli policies. What the Israelis have done in the last one year: they have been attacking the “Freedom flotilla, all civilians on the target. They have been attacking and they have been talking about the “Flotilla”. On the one hand, you have a big government and one of the most effective diplomatic machines in the world using all their powers. On the other side, you have some civilians. This allows us to surprise them and the Israelis do not realize what they are doing. They are not targeting Turkey, they are not targeting America, they are not targeting Greece; but they have created big enemies for themselves with their own hands.

Silvia Cattori: The Israelis are trying to invent all sorts of scenarios to divide people as in the past; to make Christians more acceptable than Muslims. This is their policy. By the way, it sounds a bit strange that this time the “Freedom flotilla” sails under, respectively, the flag of France, the flag of the United States, the flag of Sweden, etc…Is this not a way to make it easier for the Israelis to divide you?

Huseyin Oruç: No, it would not be easy because, in this mission, everybody understands what is going on. Not only the Israelis but the Flotilla people have learned diplomacy. Everybody is aware of what is going on. Our cause is the same. We do not keep something silent. We do not hide anything. And whenever we are talking about something in the Steering Committee, it is very open. Even if the Israelis try to use their intelligence, if they want to act wisely, they could easily manage this crisis; in a very easy way. But they cannot, because they do not believe in rights, they believe in power. They believe that, when they slam someone they will win, when they kill someone they will win. But this does not agree with reality or history. With power you cannot be successful. I do not believe that they can understand it, but they will see it.

The motivation of the participants is very high. And it is a very flexible coalition. We have opened the way for all initiatives, for all countries to do something by themselves. All initiatives work independently. We came together but it is not a centrally organized “Flotilla”. Each one organized its own internal campaign; and the Steering Committee brings everyone together in the actions.

Silvia Cattori: Thank you very much

Organizers of the Gaza flotilla said yesterday that they are determined to set sail even if the heads of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH ) do not participate. The flotilla is currently scheduled to depart in one week to mark the anniversary of last year’s raid of the Gaza-bound flotilla in which nine Turkish activists were killed.

“The Israeli attempt to link the flotilla to the desires of only the Turks is an intentional deception intended to influence public opinion,” said sources from the coalition behind the flotilla.

	A boy helps IHH load humanitarian supplies onto a truck bound for Syrian refugees on June 15, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

While Turkish participation is crucial, that does not mean the flotilla will be canceled if the Turks do not participate, the sources said. The IHH is considering whether to back out of the Gaza flotilla because of tensions along the Syrian-Turkish border, Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper reported yesterday. “We are reconsidering our plans,” IHH board member Huseyin Oruc told the newspaper. “We cannot close our eyes to the developments on our doorstep,” he said, referring to events in Syria.

It is growing more and more likely that the IHH will cancel or postpone the flotilla, according to a source in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Oruc’s statements are the most recent in a series of indications that the IHH is interested in canceling or rescheduling the flotilla.

By Jack Khoury and Barak Ravid

Freedom Flotilla

A year after Israeli Defence Force personnel massacred nine humanitarian aid volunteers on the Mavi Marmara in international waters, preparations are well underway for another 1500 to take their place, to confront the root cause of Gazan’s dependence on humanitarian aid – the illegal naval blockade of Gaza. (1)

Like Hydra’s heads, for every boat that Israel attacked in 2010,(2) at least another two have appeared, to take up the challenge to bring justice to Gaza, and hold Israel accountable for its breaches of international law.

2010’s six boats carrying over 600 people from 37 countries, have swelled to an expected 15 boats carrying 1500 passengers from 100 countries. To give an idea of the magnitude of international civil support for the 2011 flotilla, Turkish relief agency The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) reports it has already had some 300,000 applications for the 500 places available on its repaired Mavi Marmara.

First to leave for Gaza will be Freedom Flotilla II, a German ship departing Hamburg on June 19, with journalist Peter Wolter and Swiss writer Henning Mankell aboard.

They plan to meet up in the Mediterranean in late June with boats from Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland (Saoirse), Italy (Stefano Chiarini), Norway, Scotland (Discovery II), Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey (Mavi Marmara), the U.S.A. (The Audacity of Hope) and Canada (Tahrir). All are then expected to sail to Gaza with their cargoes of humanitarian aid, including medicines, educational materials, and even letters and cards with messages of solidarity and hope for Gaza’s beleaguered population.

Parliamentarians from several countries are preparing to join the peaceful activists from all walks of life – professionals, labourers, even sportspeople such as recently-retired Irish rugby star Trevor Hogan – setting sail for Gaza, despite threats by the Israeli armed forces to use attack dogs and snipers against them. Threats of physical violence have been accompanied by diplomatic pressure from the Israeli government on the governments of flotilla participants, and an Israeli law centre is even threatening the satellite navigation company providing services to the boats.(3)

The greatest peril facing those taking up the Herculean task of breaking Israel’s illegal blockade is not the stench of Hydra’s breath, but that of Israel’s brutality and mendacity.

As the flotilla participants prepare for their hazardous journey in the coming weeks, I will be talking to Gazans about their perceptions of this dangerous trip – and why is so important, and so necessary for civil society to take the lead, when international organs have failed them so miserably.

Stay tuned.

And to donate online, go to: http://kiaoragaza.net/

(1) Ceren Mutus, in An International Law Analysis Of The Flotilla Crisis Between Turkey And Israel, noted that Israel remains the occupier of Gaza, and because states are not allowed to impose a blockade on the territories they occupy, the naval blockade itself is illegal. Thus the subsequent interception of the flotilla based on the illegal blockade is also unlawful in itself. http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/401/an-international-law-analysis-of-the-flotilla-crisis-between-turkey-and-israel.html

(2) Huwaida Arraf, human rights activist and lawyer on board the Mavi Marmara, gives a brief history of the flotilla movement here http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3382&ed=193&edid=193

(3) http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=278915

Julie Webb-Pullman SCOOP NZ