Israeli navy boards activist ship "Estelle"en route to Gaza

Finnish ship SV Estelle is seen during an operation off the southern Greek island of Gavdos, south of Crete (AFP Photo / STR)

Source: Russia Today

Israel’s defense forces have boarded a ship attempting to break through the Gaza blockade in “a peaceful operation.” The vessel was carrying Palestinian activists, parliamentarians and humanitarian cargo, said a mission spokesperson.

­Israeli naval boats surrounded the SV Estelle’ 38 nautical miles from Gaza while it was still in international waters.

A spokesperson from the Israeli Department of Defense said that they were forced to intervene after the vessel ignored numerous warnings to change course and cooperate with the Israeli authorities.

"After the passengers ignored calls to change course, the decision was made to board the vessel and lead it to the port of Ashdod,” said the spokesperson, adding that no one was injured when the marines seized control of the ship.

The organizers of the activist mission to Gaza announced over the radio that their vessel had come under attack shortly after it was approached by Israeli ships.

The activists are being transferred to Ashdod port where they will be handed over to police custody and then on to the immigration authorities. Previously, activists caught trying to break through the blockade have been deported from Israel immediately.

The Finnish vessel was reportedly carrying 41 tonnes of cement, books, toys, medical equipment and two olive trees.

A senior Defense Ministry official said that Israel was well within its rights to “operate at sea to prevent the smuggling of arms to terror organizations," reported Ynet. He denounced the activists as "provocateurs who are drive by hatred for Israel" and dismissed the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” maintaining “more than 1,500 trucks carrying tons of goods enter Gaza each week through the land crossings.”

In 2010, Israeli forces boarded a Turkish ship attempting to force its way through the blockade. Soldiers killed nine activists, sparking international outcry and condemnation from the UN for use of “excessive force.”

The UN has called for the six-year blockade on Gaza to be lifted on numerous occasions on the grounds that it represents “a denial of basic human rights in contravention of international law.”

-------------------------------------------

Gaza bound ship attacked by Israel forces

Source: Al Jazeera

A ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists seeking to breach Israel's naval blockade on Gaza has "come under attack"
shortly after being approached by Israeli vessels, a spokeswoman said.

"The Estelle is now under attack - I have just had a message from them by phone," Victoria Strand, a Stockholm-based spokeswoman for the Ship to Gaza Sweden campaign told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

According to Dror Feiler, another spokesperson, the Estelle, whose passengers include five parliamentarians and a former Canadian politician, was attacked at around 08:15 GMT.

"Five or six military vessels surrounded the Estelle. Soldiers wearing masks are now trying to board the ship. The attack took place on international water: N31 26 E33 45," Feiler said.

The Israeli military confirmed that navy vessels were in the vicinity of the Estelle but denied the ship had been attacked or boarded.

"The Israeli navy has attempted to make initial contact with them, but they have not answered and nothing further has happened at this stage," a spokeswoman said.

Asked whether any attempt had been made to stop or board the Estelle, she said: "Not at the moment."

The Estelle, the latest ship to try to break Israel's blockade on Gaza as part of the 'Freedom Flotilla' movement, set sail from Naples in southern Italy.

Luigi de Magistris, the mayor of Naples, met with members of the crew during a visit to the Estelle in the city's port.

The Estelle, whose voyage is being organised by an international pro-Palestinian coalition, is carrying humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip.

There are 17 activists from around the world on board, including passengers and crew from Canada, Israel, Norway, Sweden and the US.

Israel threatens to cut Gaza water, power

Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212323.html

Israel has threatened to cut the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip if rival Palestinian movements, Fatah and Hamas, establish a unity government.

"The foreign ministry is examining the possibility of Israel pulling out of the Gaza Strip in terms of infrastructure," AFP quoted Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon as telling the daily Yediot Aharonot's website on Saturday.

Ayalon, a Knesset (Israeli parliament) deputy for the leftist Yisrael Beitenu party, said a Palestinian unity government “would put an end to any hope for a peace agreement" with Tel Aviv.

On Thursday, acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas (leader of Fatah party) held talks with Hamas Political Bureau Chief , Khaled Meshaal, in the Egyptian capital Cairo, where they announced a new era of partnership between the rival Palestinian factions.

The talks seriously irked Israeli leaders who decided to maintain a freeze on the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in tax monies to the PA, to further increase the strain on Ramallah-based authority.

The transfer of funds, which make up a large percentage of the PA's monthly budget, was frozen in November by Tel Aviv, after the Palestine won full membership of the UN cultural organization, UNESCO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had in January threatened to cut off water and power to the long-blockaded Gaza Strip.

Israel continues to control the supply of water to Gaza and 70 percent of the territory's electrical power. The rest of Gaza's electricity needs are supplied by neighboring Egypt and local power plants, which rarely receive enough fuel to operate under Israel's blockade.

Israel has tightened its crippling closure on the Gaza Strip since 2007, defying international calls to lift the blockade.

Spain's pro-Palestine hint irks Israel

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195273.html

The Israeli regime expresses shock and despair over the Spanish foreign minister's call for a pan-European push towards the UN's recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

Tel Aviv formally protested on Monday Trinidad Jimenez's recent expression of optimism that the next month's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Poland would yield progress towards the issue, Reuters reported.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, announced Monday that the Spanish ambassador to Tel Aviv, Alvaro Iranzo, was summoned to the foreign ministry and that the Israeli regime was in a state of 'amazement and disappointment' over the remarks.

Israel has expressed its serious concerns to Iranzo over the possibility of UN recognition of Palestine as an independent state.

The Spanish ambassador has reportedly responded by alleging that Jimenez's comments were 'misunderstood.'

Jimenez stated in an interview with El Pais newspaper on Sunday that "there's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become [a] reality."

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't, it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people," she added.

The Palestinian Authority is to formally submit a request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for membership in the world body on September 20, when the UN General Assembly will commence its 66th session.

Israel's ministry of military affairs has reportedly paid nearly USD 22 million to purchase what has been described as 'crowd dispersal' weaponry to confront protest rallies that are expected to erupt in support of Palestine's UN recognition around the time the formal plea is submitted at the world body.

'Palestinians agree on truce with Israel'

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike in the north of the Gaza Strip on August 19, 2011. The 'informal' agreement came after recent attacks by Israel killed at least 16 Palestinians.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195099.html

Palestinian resistance movements based in the Gaza Strip reach an 'informal' agreement to strike a ceasefire deal with Israel after Tel Aviv escalated its attacks against the enclave.

The unofficial accord was brokered by the Egyptian authorities on Sunday, AFP reported.

"We have reached an informal agreement to establish a ceasefire from tonight on condition that Israel halts its attacks," said an official with the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas on condition of anonymity.

The development followed Thursday attacks by the Israeli military, which killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured more than 45 others across Gaza.

The regional grouping of the Arab League has condemned the attacks and called for United Nations intervention to stop Israeli aggression.

Keeping up their crackdown on the Palestinians, Israeli military forces also arrested at least 120 Palestinians, including Hamas members, in the city of al-Khalil [Hebron] in the south of the Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank earlier in the day.

Spain encourages Palestinian state

The Palestinians are seeking to obtain recognition of their state when the UN General Assembly meets in September.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195075.html

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs hopes that the European Union foreign ministers meeting in early September will bring progress along the road toward the recognition of a Palestinian state.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become [a] reality," Trinidad Jimenez said, Reuters reported.

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people," she added.

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting to upgrade the Palestinian status and gain full UN membership for his country.

Washington and Tel Aviv remain opposed to the move.

Palestinians have been campaigning to win UN recognition for a state that encompasses the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and illegally annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- the territories Israel captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Over 100 countries have endorsed the Palestinian 1988 declaration of independent statehood.

UN membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly, or 128 countries.

PA calls for UN meeting on Gaza

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194877.html

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the ongoing Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Abbas has instructed the Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, to call for the meeting, Ma'an News Agency reported on Saturday.

The developments come as continuous Israeli air raids targeting the impoverished Gaza Strip in the past three days have killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured a further 45 others so far.

Earlier, Abbas also called on the Arab League (AL) to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The AL Deputy Secretary General Ahmad Bin Helli announced on Saturday that the 22-member organization would hold an urgent meeting on the level of the permanent delegates on Sunday to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Israel began launching its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip late Thursday.

Moreover, Israel has claimed it launched the attacks in response to assaults that targeted two buses and a military vehicle near the Red Sea resort of Eilat in southern Israel, which left eight Israelis dead.

Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak quickly accused resistance groups in Gaza for the attacks and vowed a “full response.”

Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and warned against any act of aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Israel has also imposed a blockade on Gaza since the Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Iran to name street after Rachel Corrie

American activist Rachel Corrie

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193197.html

The City Council of Tehran has announced that a street in the Iranian capital will be named after the American activist, Rachel Corrie.

During a session on Tuesday, the council ratified a proposal to name a street after the activist, who is viewed by many as an epitome of resistance against Israel, Fars news agency reported.

According to the proposal, the 27th street of Tehran's municipal District Six will be named after Rachel Corrie.

Corrie, a 23-year-old American activist from Olympia, Washington, and a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003, when she intervened to prevent a Palestinian home from demolition.

The Israeli Army claimed her death was due to the bulldozer driver's restricted angle of view. Eyewitnesses, however, say there was nothing to obscure the driver's view.

Gaza-bound aid convoy to depart Greece

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186428.html

Hundreds of activists at Greek ports prepare to board Gaza-bound ships, carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged coastal enclave in defiance of the Israeli blockade.

Around 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries are set to join the Freedom Flotilla II, seeking to break the Israeli naval siege, AFP reported on Sunday.

Vaggelis Pissias, head organizer of the Ship to Gaza mission, said the boats will leave from various ports in Greece or meet off the coast.

Greece is being used as a departure point due to its geographic position and its “historical, cultural relations with Arab countries,” said Pissias.

In a recent development, the Israeli Navy announced that it would confront the Freedom Flotilla II convoy, which is scheduled to set sail towards Gaza on Tuesday. The convoy will comprise of 15 ships, 22 organizations and around 1,500 activists.

Two cargo boats of the flotilla will carry medicines, a fully-equipped ambulance car and cement to the impoverished Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish nationals aboard the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other activists that were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

“What happened last year caused us grave concern ... but we are determined to go to Gaza,” Pissias further explained.

Ankara said the Mavi Marmara had been withdrawn this year. There would be no Turkish vessels involved in the operation as boats from several countries, including Greece, France, Italy and Spain, will join the Freedom Flotilla II.

The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on Gaza in June 2007 after an elected Hamas government took control of the strip.

Some 1.5 million people in Gaza are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Israel, US declare war on flotilla

File photo shows a relative reacting during the funeral of a victim of the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla on May 31, 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186351.html

Israel and the United States have threatened journalists and human rights campaigners against taking part in a Gaza Strip-bound aid mission.

On Sunday, Oren Helman, director of Israel's Government Press Office, said joining the Freedom Flotilla II convoy could "lead to participants being denied entry into…Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions,” Reuters reported.

The fleet, which includes some 500 activists on board of 10 vessels, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday.

Tel Aviv claims the fleet would be violating its 2007-present siege of Gaza. The blockade has been depriving the enclave's 1.5-million Palestinians of food, fuel and other necessities.

Helman called the mission a "provocative and dangerous event, the purpose of which is to undermine Israel's right to defend itself and to knowingly violate Israeli law."

The activists are accompanied by at least one reporter for the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz named Amira Hass, who is to arrive in Gaza onboard a Canadian vessel known as Tahrir (Liberation).

The Foreign Press Association responded to Tel Aviv's warning, saying, "The government's threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press.”

The United Nations and a number of governments have also warned the flotilla not to set sail.

Washington has called on its nationals to not take part in the protest move.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has branded the move as a 'provoking act.' "We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza," she has said.

Israel military ordered to stop flotilla

Israeli naval commandos

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186343.html

Israel reportedly orders its military to prevent an incoming convoy of vessels known as Freedom Flotilla II from taking humanitarian aid to the Tel Aviv-blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime has instructed its forces “to stop a Gaza-bound flotilla from reaching its goal,” Xinhua reported on Sunday, citing official sources.

The fleet, which includes some 500 activists on board of 10 vessels, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday.

The mission is named after the Freedom Flotilla convoy, which lost nine of its Turkish activists to a violent Israeli attack on May 31, 2010.

Tel Aviv has also warned foreign journalists against joining the cause in an apparent attempt to cover up potential bloodshed by the forces.

The stubborn attitude comes while the siege has been depriving the 1.5-million Palestinians in Gaza of food, fuel and other necessities since its imposition in June 2007.

French ship sets sail to join Flotilla 2

A ship, Dignité, flying the French flag with six people onboard sails off the coast of the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on June 25, 2011 to join the new pro-Palestinian aid flotilla

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186300.html

A French ship carrying humanitarian aid and six people on board has set sail from the port city of Corsica to join a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The ship flying the French flag named Dignité (Dignity) headed for the coastal waters of Greece on Saturday to join up with the rest of the participants in the flotilla.

The entire fleet will sail for Gaza next week from various Mediterranean ports, French coordinator Julien Rivoire told AFP.

Ships, including two freighters carrying medical supplies "should reach the port of Gaza at the end of next week," he added.

Activists from more than 30 countries plan to sail aboard the ships to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza in the near future.

The Israeli Navy has already declared that it will not allow the new flotilla to break the blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed her strong opposition to the second Freedom Flotilla, claiming that it is both a 'provoking act' and 'unnecessary.'

"We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza," Clinton said.

Israeli Navy head Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom had earlier called on world leaders to "impose all their authority to prevent the departure of this needless, provocative flotilla."

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

Erdogan supports Palestinian statehood

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and the Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas attend a news briefing after their meeting in Ankara June 24, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186206.html

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the only solution for lasting peace in the Middle East is the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Erdogan made the remarks after meeting with acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, AFP reported.

"The founding of an independent and viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is the basic condition for the solution to the (Israeli-Palestinian) issue," Erdogan said.

Abbas travelled to Turkey on Tuesday, on a four-day visit, in a bid to rally support for a possible yes-vote at the United Nations.

Hamas and Fatah have agreed, after signing a unity deal in May, to seek UN recognition as an independent state in the next General Assembly meeting in September.

More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured and annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, leaked cables revealed that Israel's Foreign Ministry had launched a global campaign to thwart the Palestinian move to seek statehood recognition.

Israeli diplomats have been instructed to lobby the highest possible officials in their respective countries and muster their support to vote against the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Moreover, Israel's closest ally, the United States, has promised to veto any vote for the recognition of the Palestinian statehood.

'West must support Palestinian unity'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184107.html

Twenty-four former heads of government, foreign ministers, and peace negotiators have written an open letter calling on the international community to support Palestinian unity.

“In particular, we urge the United States and the European Union to constructively engage with the transitional government as well as with the Palestinian leadership that results from the elections next year,” the 24 high-profile figures said in the letter, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

In early May, the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Cairo to establish a unity government and agreed to form an interim cabinet of technocrats and non-partisan figures to lay the ground for national elections to be held within a year.

“Asking Fatah to choose between making peace with Hamas and making peace with Israel presents a false choice: a lasting peace with Israel is only possible if Hamas is on board,” the letter added.

The writers of the letter described the establishment of political and institutional unity between Gaza and the West Bank as “an obvious pre-condition for the establishment of a unified and viable Palestinian state.”

In conclusion, they said, “By supporting Palestinian unity at this vital juncture, the US and the EU have an opportunity to show their commitment to the two-state solution as well as to the democratic aspirations currently being voiced throughout the broader Middle East. The alternative is hard to contemplate. If Palestinian reconciliation is undermined, it will throw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into an even deeper impasse, with dramatic consequences for all parties and the international community at large.”

Former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine, former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt, and former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami were among the signatories.

Peace activists have hailed the reconciliation deal between the two Palestinian groups as essential for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and have condemned the Zionist regime's efforts to undermine the initiative.

Flotilla II to sail for Gaza in June

The Mavi Marmara led the first Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182477.html

International activists say the second Freedom Flotilla will set sail for Gaza in late June, challenging Israel's deadly blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

In a news conference held in Istanbul on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the first flotilla, a coalition of 22 activist groups said on Monday that 15 ships with some 1,500 activists from about 100 countries onboard will leave for Gaza from various Mediterranean ports around June 20.

"While we wholeheartedly welcome the decision of the Egyptian government to regularly operate the Rafah crossing... Israel's unlawful blockade remains in effect," Vangelis Pisias, the Greek coordinator of the initiative, told reporters.

"Israel still prevents Palestinians from using their sea, and controls and severely restricts all goods entering and exiting Gaza. As such, we must continue to challenge this blockade," he added.

The vessels will carry humanitarian aid, medical equipment, school supplies and construction materials, including up to 700 tons of cement, said Hussein Oruc, a senior member of the Turkish Islamist charity the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), adding that the ships would meet in international waters south of Cyprus before heading to Gaza.

The activists made the remarks during a gathering on board the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara to mark the first anniversary of the deadly ending to the ship's first mission to break Gaza's blockade.

At least nine Turkish activists were killed and many others wounded after Israeli commandos attacked the aid flotilla in international waters on May 31 last year.

Hundreds of Palestinians also gathered at the port in Gaza city on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla.

The activists have also called on government to ensure that the deadly incident would not happen again.

IHH has said it expects the convoy to be at least twice as big as the previous one.

Israeli military officials, however, have confirmed that preparations are under way to stop any new flotilla.

Stop the suffering in Gaza: UN official

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180459.html

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos has censured Israel for causing "unnecessary suffering" in the Gaza Strip and called for an end to blockade.

Amos said that the blockade of Gaza has resulted in a "stifling of economic activity and a serious decline in education, healthcare, water and sanitation services," Xinhua quoted her as saying on Tuesday.

"Consequently 1.1 million Gazans are dependent on food aid due to the blockade," she added.

"The civilians have been hit hardest by the impact of the policy of restrictions and have had to endure unnecessary humanitarian suffering," Amos said.

She also called for "an end to the man-made and protracted humanitarian situation through a lifting of the blockade on Gaza."

The UN under-secretary-general made the remarks after concluding a four-day visit to the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after democratically-elected Hamas lawmakers took over the administration of the territory.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory.

'Iran's response to Israeli raid severe'

Rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Majlis, Kazem Jalali

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179300.html

A senior Iranian lawmaker has vowed that Iran will deliver a “severe and crushing response" to Israel should the Tel Aviv regime attempts to attack the Islamic Republic.

Rapporteur of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament (Majlis), Kazem Jalali, told Fars News Agency on Tuesday that there will be no way for the Zionist regime [of Israel] to escape if it commits the slightest aggression against the Iranian soil.

“Zionists themselves know well that Iran's reaction will be unpredictable and strongly harsh," he pointed out.

Amid a standoff over Iran's nuclear program, both Tel Aviv and Washington have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear work may consist of a covert military agenda.

Earlier in the month, a source close to prominent Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's group said Israeli jet fighters had conducted drills at a military base in Iraq in order to strike targets inside Iran, Press TV reported.

According to the report, a considerable number of Israeli warplanes, including F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, and KC-10 jet fighters, were seen at Al Asad Airbase -- the second largest United States military airbase in Iraq located in Al Anbar Province.

The warplanes reportedly carried out their week-long exercises at nights. The drills were said to be aimed at preparing to strike Iran's air defense systems, disrupt Iranian radars and attack targets deep inside the country.

Based on the report, Iraqi officials had not been notified about the drills conducted in collaboration with the US military.

Iran says its nuclear program is completely peaceful and within the framework of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.

Iranian officials have warned that any act of aggression by the US and Israel against Iran's nuclear facilities would be firmly responded to and could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.


 

'Hamas, Fatah to stand firm on unity'

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180332.html

Hamas' Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad says major Palestinian factions will hold firm in implementing their recent unity agreement.

“We will try to seriously implement the agreement. We are facing a lot of challenges and obstacles but I think there is a strong will inside Hamas and inside Fatah in order to go forward and to implement, honestly, the agreement of reconciliation,” Hamad told Press TV.

He was making a reference to the April 27 agreement between the two Palestinian main factions, Hamas and Fatah, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections.

To that end, Hamad said, Hamas and Fatah “will form committees regarding the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), security and other issues.”

The senior Hamas official expressed optimism that “in the future we will see more unity between Palestinian factions in order to work together against the [Israeli] occupation.”

Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which rules the West Bank, have been at odds since the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Differences between the rival groups peaked in June 2007 when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a bid to "foil a coup plot" by some Fatah elements.

Fatah in response sacked the Hamas government and set up a parallel cabinet in Ramallah.

Israel fires warning shots at aid ship

A Gaza-bound aid ship (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180131.html

Israeli naval forces have fired warning shots at a Malaysian aid ship headed to the Gaza Strip as it was approaching the shore.

The ship's Malaysian organizer said the Israeli forces made them withdraw to Egyptian waters, AFP reported Monday.

"The MV Finch, carrying sewage pipes to Gaza, had warning shots fired at it by Israeli forces in the Palestinian security zone this morning at 0654 Jordan time (0354 GMT)," said Shamsul Azhar, a member of the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

"Currently the ship has been forced to anchor in Egyptian waters, 30 nautical miles from Gaza," he further explained.

A Malaysian journalist on board said Israeli naval ships stopped the vessel with a volley of gunfire.

"The Israeli naval vessel fired a warning shot at us upon approaching and asked us to leave the waters but the ship's captain refused and the Israelis fired again, circling the MV Finch before firing twice more," Alang Bendahara went on to say.

Bendahara also added that on board the vessel there were seven Malaysians, two Irish, two Indians and a Canadian, including anti-war activists and journalists.

The Free Gaza Movement, a coalition of human rights activists and pro-Palestinian groups, announced early April that a flotilla, comprising about 15 ships with activists from 25 countries on board, would set sail to Gaza in May on the first anniversary of the Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound Turkish ship.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish nationals aboard the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara, and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

Officials at the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, which was also involved in the 2010 Freedom Flotilla journey, said the MV Finch is not part of an international aid flotilla which plans to set sail for the Gaza Strip in June.

Around 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement, and the rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

'3rd Intifada, Israel's fade-out'

Palestinians commemorate the launch of the Second Intifada in al-Jalil (Galilee), October 1, 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179499.html

An Iranian pro-Palestine group has envisioned the prospects of the Third Intifada and the disappearance of Israel on the occasion of the Islamic awakening and the 63rd anniversary of Palestine's occupation.

The Iranian Society of the Supporters of the Freedom of the Noble al-Quds noted in its special message dated May 15, 2010 [the anniversary of the occupation] that, after many years, the trend of the events and developments on the arena of the international and regional relations made the Muslim Ummah (nations) aware of the fact that one of the greatest obstacles in the way of Palestine's freedom is the rule of the rulers who are dependent on and the puppets of the camp of the international Zionism in the Muslim countries from the Arab Middle East to North Africa.

In this regard, the fall of the United States and Israel-dependent monarchy in Iran and the victory of the Islamic Revolution constituted the turning point in the history of the region and the world.

The international imperialist establishment's Jewish and Masonry planners and policymakers devised and implemented all kinds of schemes against Iran's Muslim nation and the nascent Islamic establishment to prevent the spread of the Islamic Revolution's strong ripples.

Despite the measures, it is said in the message, besides the wisdom, courage, brilliance and foresighted management of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the unity and sacrifice of the people of the cherished Iran, the divine tradition was determined in such a way that, not only does the divine offering in our trust remain safe and secure from the time's conspiratorial incidents, but also the brightness of the beautiful dawn shines upon the Muslim nations and the world from the horizon of Jamaran (the home area of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini).

It was no more than a few months following the victory of the Islamic movement in Iran, when Ayatollah Khomeini called the Islamic awakening key to the problems of the Muslims and the world and said, “Muslims must awake. Today is not a time for each Muslim to lead a special existence in some corner. This cannot be. At a time like this, when the policy of the superpowers is to devour every part of the world, Muslims must awake...I do not have a hope in most of the governments, but the nations must awake and come under the banner of Islam and the rule of the Qur'an.”

His Excellency would invariably and through separate messages describe return to Islam the only solution to the issues of the Muslim world and encourage the world's Muslims to form Hezbollah resistance nuclei and considered support for the Islamic struggle of the Muslims part of the Islamic establishment's strategy in Iran.

It was so that, barely a decade following the victory of the Islamic Revolution and a few months after the message, in 1987, for the first time in the history of the occupation, the Palestinians launched bloody uprisings throughout the occupied land, causing the land to tremble under the feet of the occupiers and letting the Jewish occupiers and their international and regional backers and allies taste the bitter taste of Israel's fragility and vulnerability for the first time.

Following this, Imam Khomeini said in a message, “The uprising of the Palestinian people is not a spontaneous incident. Does the world imagine who have written this epic and what goals the Palestinian nation relies on that makes them resist the violent strikes by the Zionists (Israelis) so fearlessly and with bare hands?...There is no doubt that this is the sound of Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great) -- this is the same outcry of nations that made the Shah in Iran and the usurpers in al-Quds hopeless.”

In their statement, the Society of the Supporters of the Freedom of the Noble al-Quds has further emphasized that the people's Intifada in Palestine very well revealed that the nascent tree of Islamic awakening in the land of Muslims has blossomed and soon its flowers will perfume the whole Muslim world.

While the movement of Islamic awakening was in blossom, the Islamic Revolution in Iran introduced a new discourse into the culture and political literature of the region and the world.

Reviving religious identity, trusting in religion and religious democracy, launching a quest for justice, independence, self-esteem, self-reliance and the possibility of progress in different fields of economy, science and technology, tearing bonds of dependence and slavery, resentment for the enemy, bravery and resistance against expansionist powers, shattering the image of the world's colonial establishment and shaking the basis of Zionism and the West's liberal democracy... have all been part of the pure Islamic discourse and a gift from the Muslim people of Iran for their brothers and sisters all over Muslim territories.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Seyyed Ali Khamenei noted, “The Islamic Revolution in Iran is like a pure tree the fruits of its 32-year-long resistance continue to live in the form of the nation's majesty, the Islamic establishment's political success, progress and innovations in various areas of science and economy and not bowing to oppressor powers; and [the revolution] has now turned into a model for the nations in the region.”

“Today the new Muslim generation ranging from Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, the UAE and Kuwait to Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and others, in one voice and with the same slogan are calling for respect,… freedom, independence and their Islamic majesty.”

The statement by the society further emphasized that nowadays all Muslims have come to understand the fact that the fate of all puppet rulers in Muslim nations, from Arab states in the Middle East to the Horn of Africa, is tied with that of the “Zionist empire” and the Israeli regime as their operational headquarters in Palestinian territories.

The pervasive and integrated uprisings of Muslim nations have not only brushed away the Israelis' dream of occupying lands from the Nile to the Euphrates, Mecca and Medina in Hejaz, but have upset their hopes of establishing a universal Jewish government.

Undoubtedly, it is the same strategic developments that have terrified the world's colonial and Zionist establishment in a way that they have asked some puppet kings and dictators in the region to quell protests in other countries, such as Bahrain and Yemen, through invasions and military offensives and the massacre of their people.

Today, the fate of Palestine, Palestinians and the cause of librating East al-Quds [Jerusalem] and the oppressed, besieged people of Palestine is tied to the liberation of other Muslim territories from the grip of oppressive rulers and allies of the Zionists.

Liberation and independence of every part of the Islamic land from the domination of these rulers is a step toward the liberation of Palestine.

The great, unprecedented and historic movement of the Palestinians, i.e. the integrated and steady departure of millions of Palestinians from across the world toward their homeland in the occupied territories and the launch of the third Intifada on may 15, on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of that territory by Jewish occupiers and [on the occasion of] the reconciliation of the two major Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah and their determined resolution to pursue the goal of liberating their homeland and the consequences of this event on Palestinians, especially in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are only to be analyzed and studied from this point of view.

This society views the 63rd year of the occupation of Palestine as a turning point and another starting point in line with the wave of Islamic awakening from the Middle East to the Horn of Africa and even the heart of Europe, and has quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as saying, “This wave of Islamic awakening will sure advance to the heart of Europe, and European nations will rise against their politicians and rulers who have surrendered them completely to the cultural and economic policies of the US and Zionists.”

Thus the raging waves of the Islamic awakening movement will result in the disgrace of Israel, and the downfall and destruction of Zionists and their allies in the Muslim world, and the freedom of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Palestinians.

'Hamas-Fatah deal to end divisions'

Palestinians celebrate the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah in the streets of the West Bank city of Hebron on May 6, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179438.html

Nearly most Palestinians believe that Hamas-Fatah unity deal will heal the divisions among Palestinians, a new survey has revealed.

According to a survey conducted by the Qatar-based Aljazeera channel, 69 percent of respondent assume that the deal would end years of rifts among Palestinians while 31 percent believe in the opposite.

A total of 20,821 people took part in the survey.

The two key Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, signed a unity deal last week that calls for the formation of a joint interim government and the holding of presidential and legislative elections within a year.

The deal, however, does not rule on issues such as whether to recognize and negotiate with the Israeli regime.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which rules the West Bank, have been at odds since the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Differences between the rival groups peaked in June 2007 when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a bid to "foil a coup plot" by some Fatah elements.

Fatah in response sacked the Hamas government and set up a parallel cabinet in Ramallah.