Israel Attack Humanitarian Ship, 10 men killed

[give her dixie]

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/irishman-held-in-israel-lsquothreatened-by-top-official-close-to-pmrsquo-14931606.html

Irishman held in Israel 'threatened by top official close to PM'

Thursday, 2 September 2010


The Donegal man detained in Israel after its commandos shot dead nine people on a flotilla of ships heading for Gaza has told the UN that he received a "serious threat" from an official close to the Israeli Prime Minister.

Fiachra O Luain from Carndonagh was second mate on the Challenger 1 and watched in horror as Israeli forces descended on the Mavi Marmara and opened fire.

The 28-year-old, who went to secondary school in Derry, said he had yet to decide whether he would return on the next aid convoy in October.

This week Mr O Luain submitted his statement of evidence to the United Nations Secretary General's Panel Of Inquiry.

In his statement, he reveals how before the raid he alerted Senator John Kerry's office in the US and the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs to a "serious threat" he received in an email from an official close to Binyamin Netanyahu — the same official with whom he had celebrated the Passover.

Their relationship deteriorated when the official learned Mr O Luain was on the flotilla.

In his evidence he said: "He wrote: 'Details have been sent to the Foreign Ministry... May you and your boat sink to the depths of the sea, may you know the punishment meted out to the enemies of God's Chosen People'. Knowing how close this man was to the Israeli Prime Minister, I realised how serious this threat was."

[Banana Man]

''The enemies of God's chosen people''

Therein lies the problem, these boys think they can do no wrong and they are an extension of God no matter what they do - couldn't see the big man upstairs running around nicking laptops never mind land grabbing, sinkin boats, making permanent refugee camps, killiing children etc etc

[Hardy]

''The enemies of God's chosen people''

Therein lies the problem, these boys think they can do no wrong and they are an extension of God no matter what they do

Indeed. Mind you, they're probably not alone in this conceit. Everyone claims to have God on their side. The Zionists are just one of the few to state it explicitly.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

[Tyrones own]

Shame on you myles - I'll have to explain it for you. You see because the shells landed outside the school compound its ok that they killed 40 odd people. Israel's military genius is so precise that the knew exactly where the shells would land and they surgically removed 40 odd terrorists who were standing around outside the school. You probably wouldn't understand how this was possible and it might look risky to have shells detonating so close to a school that people in the school compound get injured by the shrapnel but really this was a surgically targetted miliary exercise. 

Myles - there really is no point arguing with someone as deluded as our friend here but remember if this could happen to an Irish guy going over there, what hope is there for the millions who couldn't know any better.

You may be right seanie but i'm conflicted personally as to which is the more dispicable act; Palestinian scum using children and schools as shields from which to shell from or the Israeli's blindly countering
Just have him check his facts before making a fool out of himself next time

[magpie seanie]

Was this not a UN school? Were the UN shelling Israel - is that what you are saying?

[Tyrones own]

''The enemies of God's chosen people''

Therein lies the problem, these boys think they can do no wrong and they are an extension of God no matter what they do

Indeed. Mind you, they're probably not alone in this conceit. Everyone claims to have God on their side. The Zionists are just one of the few to state it explicitly.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

Absurdities like the promise of martyrdom with the 72 virgins an all for committing attrocities the world over...hey I'm hearing ye

[Tyrones own]

Was this not a UN school? Were the UN shelling Israel - is that what you are saying?

Where did I say that ???Read it again like a good lad

[mylestheslasher]

Shame on you myles - I'll have to explain it for you. You see because the shells landed outside the school compound its ok that they killed 40 odd people. Israel's military genius is so precise that the knew exactly where the shells would land and they surgically removed 40 odd terrorists who were standing around outside the school. You probably wouldn't understand how this was possible and it might look risky to have shells detonating so close to a school that people in the school compound get injured by the shrapnel but really this was a surgically targetted miliary exercise. 

Myles - there really is no point arguing with someone as deluded as our friend here but remember if this could happen to an Irish guy going over there, what hope is there for the millions who couldn't know any better.

You may be right seanie but i'm conflicted personally as to which is the more dispicable act; Palestinian scum using children and schools as shields from which to shell from or the Israeli's blindly countering
Just have him check his facts before making a fool out of himself next time

Your the fool buddy - check your post above, you are supposedly in conflict between Palestinian "scum" and Israelis "countering". Seems like your mind is not in much conflict at all despite all the evidence out there. Do you honestly believe what the US media is giving you? You think supposedly being from the North (which I am doubting the more muck you write) that you would have developed the ability to see through the official line of big armies and their agencies. Now take down that flag of the republic from your avatar, you are an embarrassment to all republican ideals.

[give her dixie]

UN chief releases Israeli, Palestinian reports on alleged war crimes during conflict
By Edith M. Lederer (CP) – Aug 18, 2010

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday released the results of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into alleged war crimes during the conflict in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009 which did not appear to include any input from Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The U.N. chief introduced the 247-page report with brief observations that made no comment on the submissions by Israel or the Palestinians, which were requested by the General Assembly. He said it was important to respect international human rights and humanitarian law and expressed hope that "steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of violations."

Last November, the 192-member world body gave Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake "independent, credible investigations" into the findings of a U.N.-appointed expert panel chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone. In February, it gave both sides an additional five months to conduct their inquiries.

The 575-page Goldstone report concluded that both sides committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza war, in which 13 Israelis and almost 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including many civilians.

It said Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields, and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its three-week incursion into the Gaza Strip from Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009 to root out Palestinian rocket squads. It accused Palestinian armed groups including Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through rocket attacks on southern Israel.

Both sides rejected the charges when the Goldstone report was issued, and their positions remained unchanged in the newly released reports.

The General Assembly resolution warned of possible "further action" by U.N. bodies, including the Security Council, if both sides didn't conduct independent and credible investigations. Whether the assembly plans any follow-up to Wednesday's report remains to be seen.

Human Rights Watch called on governments and the U.N. to maintain pressure on Israel and Hamas to conduct thorough and impartial investigations, and to provide justice to the victims of abuses.

"Israeli investigations still fall far short of being thorough and impartial, while Hamas appears to have done nothing at all to investigate alleged violations," the rights group's program director Iain Levine said in a statement. "We regret that the secretary-general merely passed on the reports he received from Israel and the Palestinian side instead of making the failings of these investigations clear."

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban was asked by the General Assembly to solicit investigation reports from both sides but was not requested "to express his views on the responses received."

The Israeli military submitted its report on July 21 and said it has made "numerous changes to its operational procedures and policies in order to further enhance the protection of civilians from the hazards of battle and the protection of private property during military operations."

The report said Israel has launched more than 150 investigations in allegations of misconduct or violations of international law during the Gaza conflict. It said the military has opened 47 criminal investigations and initiated criminal prosecutions of four soldiers in separate incidents.

The Palestinian report was submitted by the Independent Investigation Commission established by the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007.

It said "the numbers and the facts speak for themselves" and accused Israel of acting with impunity, disregarding international law, and justifying "its indiscriminate, disproportionate and collective punishment measures against the Palestinian people, as if no limitations applied to Israel."

The Palestinian commission said that since Hamas took over Gaza "legal institutions are being undermined and this has resulted in a high number of violations of international human rights law, negatively impacting the situation of human rights in Gaza." But the commission emphasized "that there is no moral equivalency" between Israel's violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the Gaza conflict "and the situation concerning observance and respect for human rights in Gaza by Hamas."

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

[give her dixie]

Thousands in Turkey have welcomed the return of the lead vessel of an Ankara-backed aid convoy, which took a deadly Israeli assault on its way to the Gaza Strip.


Mavi Marmara rolled into the dock at the port of Sarayburnu in Istanbul in northwestern Turkey on Sunday -- reportedly boarded by the survivors of the Israeli assault, AFP said.

A thousands-strong crowd joyously received the vessel, some waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting "Allah is Great."

The ship headed for the Gaza Strip earlier in the year as part of a six-vessel convoy, carrying approximately 750 human rights activists and around 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies.

Israeli commandos violently attacked the human rights campaigners on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring around 50 others.

The attack prompted a strong international response and did the severest-yet damage to Tel Aviv's ties with Ankara.

On Saturday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu repeated Ankara's demands of apology and compensation over the attack and said "nothing can cover up" the deadly act of aggression, the Associated Press reported.

Following the onslaught, the activists were expelled and the cargos were transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod to the south of Tel Aviv. Reports, meanwhile, pointed to Israeli forces' appropriating and misusing the activists' personal belongings.

Before heading for Istanbul, the ship was reportedly towed to the Turkish port of Iskenderun in the south in August. Forensic teams were said to have identified over 200 bullet holes in it, many of which had been painted over by Israel.

An upcoming Turkish movie, called Valley of the Wolves - Palestine -- an adaptation of TV series of the same name -- is to feature Mavi Marmara and the protagonist's capture of the military commander planning and ordering the attack.

Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid, also known as IHH, the Turkish rights group, which organized the Flotilla, said the ship is to part of a new fleet, which will leave for Gaza on May 31, 2011, AFP reported.

[give her dixie]

Today, Israel has released a report into its actions on the Mavi Marmara last year, when the ship - carrying aid as part of a flotilla to Gaza - was attacked by Israel, leading to the deaths of 9 Turks and the injuring of dozens more.

Viva Palestina's Kevin Ovenden, who was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked by Israeli forces in May last year, said, "The claim by Israel's Turkel Commission that Israeli forces acted legally when they killed nine people aboard the Mavi Marmara, and left another brain dead, will be laughed out of court by all but the Israeli government and its most fanatical supporters.

"This whitewash commission was set up by the Netanyahu government, the same people who commissioned the assault on the aid ship. It is simply unfeasible to claim that, for example, the two men shot immediately to the left and right of me, were gunned down in some act of self-defence. They were shot from above. No Israeli commando was in sight of us when the bullets rang out.

"Israel has refused an independent international inquiry and instead was brazen enough to establish this farce. No Turkish official, lawyer or representative was allowed to take part. One of the only two international observers who was a fig-leaf for the commission's "impartiality" was Lord (David) Trimble. In the hours following the savage attacks, Trimble established a "Friends Of Israel" initiative. As a leading establishment figure in the north of Ireland, he refused for decades an independent inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civilians on the streets of Derry in 1972, the truth about the massacre only being officially acknowledged 38 years later with the report of the Saville inquiry.

"The United Nations Human Rights Council already found last year prima facie evidence of grave human rights abuses and war crimes aboard the Mavi Marmara.  The UN report stated: "The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."

"Rather than entertaining this charade from Tel Aviv, the British government should demand that Israel and those responsible for the atrocity of Bloody Monday on the Mediterranean on 31 May last year are held to account and to the same universal standards of justice that are required of other states.

"Whatever risible PR Israel and its supporters attempt to spin, that is going to happen. And on the one year anniversary of the attack on the Mavi Marmara a second, bigger international aid effort will set sail for the point at where it was so brutally attacked and will ask, civil society organisations, religious groups, politicians, governments, and people of conscience around the world to demand that all relevant governments and international bodies all it safe passage to Gaza.

"Wikileaks has confirmed what independent Israeli researchers told us last year. The siege on Gaza is carefully calibrated by the Israeli government to keep the Palestinian people in a state of dependency, with their economy society hovering just above complete collapse.

"The French foreign minister Michele Alliot-Marie is the latest high profile visitor to Gaza and Palestine to call for an end to the blockade.

"The pressure to end this barbarous policy is increasing. I think I can speak for all those who were aboard the Mavi Marmara in saying that we are redoubling our efforts in 2011 to bring it to an end this year. We will be part of the next aid missions, by land, by sea and by air.

"This sick joke from an Israeli government that has already lost all international credibility will serve only to increase our determination to bring justice to the Palestinian people."

Sarah Colbourne, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and who was also onboard the Marvi Marmara when the Israeli Defence Force attacked the boat said:

"However hard the Israeli Government attempts to rewrite history, they can't rewrite the truth. The facts are simple, the Marvi Marmara was carrying essential humanitarian aid like baby milk to the besieged people of Gaza. There were no guns or weapons on board the boat, we were in international waters, when over 300 bullets – or one for every two people on board - rained down on us, killing 9 people and injuring over 50.

The actions of the Israeli Defence Force and the Israeli Government where by all international standards of law illegal as is their continued occupation of Gaza and the oppression of the Palestinian people."

[seafoid]

Israel in serious diplomatic shit. Only total surrender acceptable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/23/palestine-papers-expose-peace-concession

A cache of thousands of pages of confidential Palestinian records covering more than a decade of negotiations with Israel and the US has been obtained by al-Jazeera TV and shared exclusively with the Guardian. The papers provide an extraordinary and vivid insight into the disintegration of the 20-year peace process, which is now regarded as all but dead.

The documents – many of which will be published by the Guardian over the coming days – also reveal:

• The scale of confidential concessions offered by Palestinian negotiators, including on the highly sensitive issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

• How Israeli leaders privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state.

• The intimate level of covert co-operation between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian Authority.

• The central role of British intelligence in drawing up a secret plan to crush Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

• How Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders were privately tipped off about Israel's 2008-9 war in Gaza.

As well as the annexation of all East Jerusalem settlements except Har Homa, the Palestine papers show PLO leaders privately suggested swapping part of the flashpoint East Jerusalem Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah for land elsewhere.

Most controversially, they also proposed a joint committee to take over the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City – the neuralgic issue that helped sink the Camp David talks in 2000 after Yasser Arafat refused to concede sovereignty around the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques.

[Minder]

Palestinians in disarray as leak exposes leadership

Times Online - Sophie Tedmanson

Palestinian leaders are said to have agreed to Israel building 1,400 homes in Gilo
Yuval Nadal/AFP/Getty Images
Post a comment
Recommend (0)
Print
Email
Share

Follow stories about
Middle East
What's this

Palestinian leaders are said to have agreed to Israel building 1,400 homes in Gilo Yuval Nadal/AFP/Getty Images
Sophie Tedmanson
38 minutes ago
The Palestinian leadership was scrambling for credibility today as a Pandora's box of 1,600 documents held by the al-Jazeera news channel threatened to tear apart any semblance of unity in the occupied terrirories.
Al-Jazeera has promised that it will provide evidence of close co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces and explosive claims that Shaul Mofaz, then the Israeli Defence Minister, allegedly co-ordinated with his Palestinian counterpart, General Nasser Yousef, over the assassination of a senior member of Hamas's security services in Gaza.
The channel said it also held evidence that the Palestinian Authority was tipped off by Israel before it launched its Gaza offensive in December 2008.
Al-Jazeera has already published a series of documents showing how the Palestinian leadership made an unprecedented offer to allow Israel to annex almost all of the Jewish settlements it has built in east Jerusalem during negotiations with the previous Israeli Government.
Despite the offer, the Israeli negotiating team, headed by Tzipi Livni, then the Foreign Minister, rejected the offer because it did not include all the settlements, the documents published by al-Jazeera said.
This morning the Palestinian leadership fought to repair the damage. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator named in the documents, dismissed the report as "lies and half truths". When questioned by al-Jazeera, Mr Erekat said the Palestinian leadership had "nothing to hide'' and said most of the report of the negotiations was "a pack of lies''.
According to the documents Mr Erakat told the Israeli team that "we are offering you the biggest Yerushalayim in history. But we must talk about the concept of al-Quds", using first the Hebrew word for Jerusalem, then the Arabic. "We have taken your interests and concerns into account but not all. This is the first time in Palestinian-Israeli history in which such a suggestion is officially made."
However, the Israelis reportedly turned down the offer because it did not include the settlement of Har Homa, on the edge of Jerusalem and overlooking Bethlehem, nor the eastern settlement suburb of Maale Aduumim.
The talks, held from late 2007 until the Israeli military offensive into Gaza at the end of 2008, were held in absolute secrecy and the cache of documents which al-Jazeera said it had obtained are the first time in-depth information about the substance and tone of the negotiations has been divulged. The revelations are likely to be highly damaging to both sides. The Palestinian population is liable to be shocked by how much their leadership was willing to give up, displaying their weakness. The news will be grist for Hamas, which has accused the West Bank administration of President Abbas of caving in to Israel and which has said the only way to win territory is to fight for it.
The chief Palestinian negotiator in the 2008 talks, Ahmed Qureia, claimed that "many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership".
He denied making an offer about the Jewish enclaves in east Jerusalem, claiming that Israel refused to discuss the issue.
The release comes at a very sensitive time after US-brokered talks collapsed in September last year over the issue of continued Israeli settlement expansion, and as the Palestinian Authority is trying to build a de facto state by August this year.
Philip Crowley, the US State Department spokesman, said overnight that Washington was reviewing the alleged Palestinian documents, but added: "we cannot vouch for their veracity".
"The US remains focused on a two-state solution and will continue to work with the parties to narrow existing differences on core issues," Mr Crowley wrote on his Twitter account overnight.
At the weekend Mr Abbas warned that if there was no breakthrough in the peace process, there was a risk of a new fighting breaking out.

[give her dixie]

The shit has well and truely hit the fan with the release of these documents. The Palestinian Authority have been known for years to be corrupt, and this is the final nail in their coffin. No doubt they will have to stand down over these leaks.

The main point for everyone in the release of these documents is the fact that Israel is not interested in peace. Their only goal is to get as much land as they can, preferably all of it, and to get rid of the Palestinian people currently living on it.

The docements reveal that the PA served up on a silver plate major concessions, and they were all refused by Israel. The peace talks are finished and the idea of 2 states is also gone. I can see a groundsweel of support for Hamas is just around the corner, and Israel will reget that they didn't do a deal with the corrupt PA when they had a chance.

It is all going to be very interesting over the comming days and weeks. Abbas and co could have to flee just like the Tunisian President.......... The middle east is rapidly changing, and with a day of protests planned for Tuesday in Egypt, don't be surprised to see Mubarak running for cover........

[seafoid]

Israel reminds me of that Fritzl man who imprisoned his daughter in the basement and raped her regularly for over 20 years. She ended up having some of his children and they lived in the basement and never saw the light and developed dreadful health problems. Above ground Fritzl was the epitome of respectability. He did everything to ensure she wouldn't escape but eventually the oldest child became so ill that she had to go to the doctor and the whole thing broke down.
Fritzl built a very complex system of control around an absurdity. It started off as a sexual urge and developed into a monstrosity. The biggest question was how Fritzl thought he could get away with it.

And so it is with Israel. The idea of a Jewish state running from the Jordan to the Med was very compelling. But how to achieve it ? Very Fritzl.

The PA has outlived its usefulness. But the people are still there.