'Turkey snubs Israel outcry on flotilla'

The Mavi Marmara

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175041.html

Turkey has rejected a request by Israel to stop a new Gaza flotilla due to take activists and humanitarian aid to the impoverished coastal sliver, saying Ankara will not interfere, a report says.

A second “peace” flotilla, comprising of more than 15 ships, is preparing to set sail in the second half of May to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Israeli attack on a similar flotilla on May 31 of last year, which killed nine activists aboard the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara.

The move is another attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza Strip, put in place since 2007 after Hamas assumed power following a democratic election in the enclave, Turkey's Today's Zaman reported on Friday.

Israel's ambassador to Turkey, Gaby Levy, asked the Turkish government this week to help stop the activists heading toward Gaza, but a Turkish foreign ministry official responded by saying that, according to his government, the flotilla plan was not Ankara's 'concern.'

In a similar move, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu urged Europe on Monday to do all it can to prevent its nationals from taking part in the flotilla.

“This flotilla must be stopped” under any condition, Netanyahu told European ambassadors in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Since the attack on the Turkish vessel, Ankara has scaled back ties with Tel Aviv, demanding Israel's apology and compensations for the damages incurred in the attack, which also drew international condemnation.

Israel used 'excessive' force on Flotilla

The Mavi Marmara ship (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/164835.html

Turkey says it has unveiled its final inquiry report on the Israeli deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convey last year, which proves Israel used “excessive” force and trampled international law.

The Israeli commandos attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

The Turkish National Commission of Inquiry said in its final report to United Nations released Friday that Israel used “excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate force” against the unarmed civilians on board the aid convoy, TurkishPress.com reported.

The report has been submitted to the Panel of Inquiry set up by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August 2010, it said.

The case is now a litmus test for the international community “in upholding the rule of law,” it added.

It also argued that "since Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip is unlawful, any act it performs as a function of this blockade is unlawful par excellence."

The report said that the Israeli raid was a "full-fledged and well-planned attack" on the international aid flotilla.

"Israel must acknowledge its responsibility and accordingly convey a public apology to the Republic of Turkey and provide compensation for all the damage and losses resulting from its unlawful attack," according to the report.

"The attack took place 72 nautical miles from the nearest coast, and 64 nautical miles from the zone declared unlawfully, as will be seen, blockaded by Israel. As a result of the attack, eight Turkish citizens and one US citizen of Turkish descent were killed. Over 70 passengers from a host of nationalities were wounded. One of these remains in a coma to this day," the finding revealed.

"The case is a critical litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law ... Impunity must give way to accountability," the report said.

The Turkish report challenged an Israeli inquiry that cleared its military and government of any wrongdoing. The Israeli finding sparked Turkish protests.

Ankara said it was “appalled and dismayed” at the Israeli panel's findings, which had called both the assault and Tel Aviv's siege of the Gaza Strip 'legal.'

Much of the international community is united in expressing outrage over the incident and a United Nations inquiry found -- by complete contrast -- that the forces had shown “an unacceptable level of brutality.”

Israel has so far rejected to either apologize for the incident or pay any compensation -- two measures it has been obliged by Turkey to take to make amends.

US defends Israeli flotilla attack

US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161957.html

The US has described an Israeli probe into a raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid convoy that killed nine Turkish activists as a "credible and impartial" effort.

The praise came after an Israeli investigation panel declared Tel Aviv's military attack on the Freedom Flotilla as "legal" under international law, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.

The panel also claimed that the Israeli soldiers who took part in the killing of the nine activists acted in self-defense.

The activists aboard the aid convoy, which was attacked in international waters, were unarmed and only planned to deliver aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

"We think that this is an independent report, credible and impartial and transparent investigation that has been undertaken by Israel," US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said on Monday.

This is while an independent Turkish committee investigating the incident concluded on Sunday that "the Israeli Army used excessive force against the Mavi Marmara [the lead ship of the six-vessel fleet].”

Israeli commandos attacked the convoy in international waters on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring about 50 others.

The Israeli assault on the aid convoy provoked an international outcry, prompting Knesset members to set up a commission to investigate the legality of the raid as well as Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Responding to the Israeli report, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the report had "no value or credibility," with the Turkish Foreign Ministry issuing a statement saying it was "appalled and dismayed" at the Israeli investigative committee's finding.

World lets Israel get away with crimes

Human rights activist Ken O'Keefe was onboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla attacked by Israeli forces in the international waters in May

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161654.html


A Human Rights activist says Israel will continue its crimes against humanity since the international community allows the Israeli regime to get away with its “bloody murders.”

In an interview with Press TV, rights activist Ken O'Keefe, who was on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla attacked by Israeli forces in May, denounced the international community for allowing Israel “to get away with murder over and over again without any kind of punishment.”

“I have scorned the world such as the United Nations, the European Union and the United States because we have allowed Israel to get away with bloody murder for decades now,” O'Keefe noted.

“It would of course make sense to the Israelis that anything they do is perfectly legal,” O'Keefe went on to say.

The rights activist pointed out that he was on board the Mavi Marmara when Israeli commandos' raided the ship and "executed people in cold blood."

The Israeli forces killed nine activists, mostly Turks, and injured about 50 others.

Israel has recently released a report of an inquiry by an Israeli investigation committee, defending a naval assault on the Gaza Strip and the decision to prevent the flotilla from reaching the besieged territory, saying the attack was "legal."

“They didn't just murder people, they executed people in cold blood including Furkan Dogan, who they continually call in the liberal Western media a Turkish citizen, but he happens to be a Turkish American citizen,” O'Keefe added.

US President Barack “Obama and the Western governments continue to pretend as if one of their citizens were not executed,” the rights activist concluded.

'Don't dare to attack Gaza again'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129079§ionid=351020101


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Israel against any new military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at the Mausoleum of Imam Khomeini on the 21st anniversary of the death of the Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmadinejad said Israel would have to answer to the world for its blockade of the Gaza Strip, IRNA reported on Friday.

He also praised certain European countries for their stance against Israel following Tel Aviv's attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.

However, the Iranian President criticized the United States for its inadequate response and said that Washington's restrained stance could drive the administration of President Barack Obama into a dead end.

In addition, millions of Iranians staged massive demonstrations in several cities across the country to condemn Israel's deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla and the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip on Friday.

A six-point statement was issued at the end of the demonstrations, in which the protestors called on the international community and the UN Security Council to take “immediate and serious measures” to bring a halt to Israel's crimes.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, including eight Turkish citizens, and injuring about 50 others.

The fate of three other Freedom Flotilla activists is still unknown.

Israel also arrested nearly 700 activists from 42 countries on board the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

The world condemned Israel for the deadly attack, with the Arab League and many European countries calling for immediate action in response to the outrage.

'Israel must answer for Flotilla attack'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129074§ionid=3510203



US Congressman Dennis Kucinich has called for Washington to impose diplomatic and financial consequences on Israel over its deadly attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.

Israel's conduct "constitutes an act of belligerence against Turkey, which at one time Israel considered an important ally," the Ohio Democrat wrote in a letter to US President Barack Obama on Friday.

"It also undermines United States troops' efforts in Iraq, since your administration's efforts to achieve stability in the region and to withdraw troops from Iraq have depended upon Turkey's cooperation through use of its air bases," the congressman added.

Kucinich also said that the attack on the Freedom Flotilla should have consequences for the aggressors and urged Obama to call Israel to "an accounting for planning and carrying out the attack."

"If our nation fails to act in any substantive way, the United States licenses the violence and we are complicit in it and our own citizens will be forced to pay the consequences," Kucinich wrote.

Kucinich also called for an independent investigation into the incident.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, including eight Turkish citizens, and injuring about 50 others.

Israel also arrested nearly 700 activists from 42 countries on board the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

Lieberman takes on Rachel Corrie

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129059§ionid=351020202



Tel Aviv has threatened to block a humanitarian mission which is heading for the Israeli blockaded Gaza Strip onboard the aid vessel, Rachel Corrie.

"We will stop the ship, and also any other ship that will try to harm Israeli sovereignty," said far-right Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in remarks to Israel's Channel 1 television, Reuters reported.

The Irish vessel carries 11 human rights activists as well as a load of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian coastal sliver, which has endured almost three years of an all-out Israeli siege.

Tightened since mid-2007, the crippling restrictions have deprived Gaza's nearly 1.5 million residents of food, fuel and other basic necessities.

"There is no chance the Rachel Corrie will reach the coast of Gaza," Lieberman vowed.

Rachel Corrie is en route the Palestinian coastal territory only a few days after the Israeli forces assaulted the multinational relief convoy, Freedom Flotilla.

The attack in international waters 150km (90 miles) from Gaza killed at least 20 people and left scores more injured.

Egyptians call for end to siege of Gaza

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129072§ionid=351020502


Tens of thousands of protesters have poured into the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, calling for an end to Israel's three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanting slogans in support of Hamas, about 20,000 protesters also vented their anger at Israel over its deadly attack on the Gaza Flotilla on Monday.

"Hamas, Hamas, you are the artillery and we are the bullets," demonstrators chanted.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the main organizer of the protests, also staged demonstrations in Fayoum, south of Cairo, and in the northern Sinai Peninsula city of el-Arish on Friday, Reuters reported.

"Turkey, a thousand salutations. Long live Erdogan and long live the Turkish people," the protestors chanted in Alexandria, referring to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ties between Turkey and Israel have hit an all-time low since the assault.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, including eight Turkish citizens, and injuring about 50 others.

Israel also arrested nearly 700 activists from 42 countries on board the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza in order to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to the long-suffering people of the territory.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the opening of the Rafah border crossing to allow humanitarian assistance into the impoverished Gaza Strip a day after the attack on the Freedom Flotilla.