'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.

'Iran fully ready to break Gaza siege'

Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159612.html


Following the delivery of Iran's humanitarian aid and relief to Gaza, Tehran declares its preparation to help bring an end to the siege of the impoverished coastal sliver.

“The Iranian nation and government are fully prepared to break [the Israeli] blockade on the Gaza Strip as they demonstrated a good presence in the humanitarian aid convoy recently dispatched to Gaza,” said Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi in a meeting with the political leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Gaza, Saleh Zeidan, on Monday.

During the meeting, Roknabadi reiterated Iran's principal position in defending the people of Palestine, stressing on national unity among Palestinians and the continuation of resistance against the Israeli occupation.

A number of Iranian activists accompanied Asia's first humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza in December through the Rafah border crossing, carrying medical supplies and foodstuff for the Gazans.

Now that the enemies of Islam are in a weak position, Palestinian nation and the Muslim world must become more united to achieve their holy goals, Roknabadi added.

Zeidan, for his part, expressed his appreciation for the Islamic Republic's all-out support for the Palestinians, saying that Gaza remains under an Israeli siege and in spite of claims regarding easing of the siege, pressure on Palestinians continue to mount day by day as the international community maintains its silence toward persisting Israeli crimes.

“The Israeli regime is preparing the grounds to stage an attack on this region [Gaza] through magnifying the Gaza threat. But the people continue to confront them and remain committed to Palestinian ideals and resistance against occupiers,” Zeidan further explained.

Some 40 percent of the 1.5 million impoverished population of Gaza remain jobless after the Israeli regime imposed the siege on the sliver in June 2007.

The embargo persists while Gaza is still recovering from the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli offensive on the territory which claimed the lives of over 1,400 Palestinians and inflicted an estimated damage of over $1.6 billion on the enclave's economy.

The United Nations recently expressed concern that more than 80 percent of Gazans depend on relief supplies for survival.

Prospects for war have grown: Assad

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133569§ionid=351020206



Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the current tension between Israel and Turkey has increased the possibility of war in the region.

Assad cautioned on Monday that if "relations between Israel and Turkey are not renewed, it will be very difficult for Turkey to continue its role in the [peace] negotiations," the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported. "The chances of peace grow slim, and the prospect of war grows," he noted.

In 2008, Turkey mediated four rounds of indirect talks between Damascus and Tel Aviv. The talks stalled following the December 2008-January 2009 war on Gaza, which left over 1,400 Palestinians dead and inflicted more than $1.6 billion in damage on Gaza's economy.

Assad added that "Turkey knows the ins and outs of the Middle East," and "there was never such a significant factor as Turkey for peace talks, and the stability of the region."

Ankara's relations with Tel Aviv hit an all-time after the attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, which left nine Turkish citizens on board the M.V. Mavi Marmara dead.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that Ankara would sever all ties with Israel if Tel Aviv did not offer a formal apology over the attack.

However, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted that Tel Aviv would not apologize.

Iran urges Islamic action on Gaza siege

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=132887§ionid=351020101



Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has called on parliaments of Islamic countries to join hands in defending the rights of the Palestinian nation.

“The Palestinian issue, in particular the besieged people of Gaza, is among the critical issues in the Islamic world, which needs to be examined,” IRNA quoted Larijani as saying in a meeting with Pakistani, Saudi, Lebanese and Bahraini parliament speakers on Wednesday night.

The Iranian official further added that the Islamic world especially the parliaments of Islamic countries were required to fulfill their duties to the Palestinian nation.

Larijani's remarks came on the sidelines of an Islamic inter-parliamentary summit in Syria, Damascus.

The Israeli assault on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the blockade of the Gaza Strip were high on the agenda of the talks.

The summit in Damascus ended on Wednesday with a final statement calling for an end to the three-year siege of Gaza, which has deprived 1.5 million residents of food, fuel, and other necessities.

Assad, Lula slam Israel Gaza policy

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia on June 30, 2010


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=132882§ionid=351020206



Brazil and Syria have condemned Israel's deadly attack on an aid convoy heading for the Gaza Strip, giving their full support to the formation of a Palestinian state.

On May 31, Israeli navy commandos stormed the blockade-busting Freedom Flotilla in international waters and killed nine civilians onboard the Turkish-flagged aid fleet.

"Blockades do not contribute to peace," said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Lula on Wednesday during his meeting with visiting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

"The incident with the humanitarian fleet which was attacked in international waters showed that it's long overdue that the blockade of Gaza is lifted," Haaretz quoted him as saying.

The Syrian president, who was on his first-ever Latin American tour, also criticized Israel for frequently posing new hurdles in the way to a Middle East peace agreement.

Lula also backed the return of the Golan Heights to Syria, which has been occupied by Israel since after the six-day war of 1967, stressed that Damascus should be included in any peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians.

On Sunday, Assad told the Brazilian newspaper Estado de S. Paulo that he would discuss the possibility of Brazil helping to convene Arab and Israeli leaders to talk and diffuse tensions arising from Tel Aviv's Gaza policy.

Beirut warns Israel against ship attack

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131544§ionid=351020203



As a Lebanese aid convoy is preparing to set sail for the Gaza Strip, Beirut says Tel Aviv would be held accountable for any attack against the vessel.

In a letter to the United Nations on Tuesday, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said "Israel will be held fully responsible for any attack on Lebanon," AFP reported.

Lebanon "cannot prohibit a ship from leaving its ports if its cargo, passengers and destination all comply with Lebanese law."

The letter came after the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations sent a letter to the UN, threatening that it would use "all necessary means" to stop the Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Earlier on Monday, Lebanese authorities granted permission for one of the two ships, the Julia, to sail to Cyprus and then to Gaza. With Lebanon and Israel technically still at war, the ship cannot directly sail for the Gaza Strip.

The aid mission comes as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned earlier that Lebanon would be responsible for any confrontation with vessels sailing to Gaza from its shores.

The ships, which have been organized by the Free Palestine Movement, would be carrying humanitarian supplies for the besieged people of Gaza.

The pro-Palestinian campaigners planned the mission after Israeli commandos stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aid convoy on May 31, killing at least several civilian activists and injuring dozens of others in international waters.

Israel to block Iran aid ships to Gaza

Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has warned Iran and Lebanon over their Gaza-bound aid ships


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131633§ionid=351020101



With new international missions underway to deliver aid to Gaza, Israel says it will seek ways to block Iranian and Lebanese aid shipments to the besieged strip, referring to them as 'flow of arms.'

"We have the right to inspect and prevent the flow of arms into Gaza," Israel's Ynet news website quoted Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as saying on Tuesday.

"We can't let Gaza become an Iranian port," he added.

The remarks come as Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced plans to send two Iranian aid ships carrying humanitarian relief and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip.

Mehmanparast also said arrangements were being negotiated with the Egyptian government to facilitate the delivery of the shipments to the impoverished people of Gaza.

“We consider Egyptian efforts in opening an aid-delivery route a correct approach,” the Iranian spokesman said, adding that such measures that will help the delivery of aid supplies would be “appreciated by nations.”

Earlier on Monday, Iran's Red Crescent said two shipments of relief goods and relief workers were due be sent for a 14-day journey to the coastal region by the end of the week.

The Iranian ships will follow a Lebanese aid vessel, the Julia, which is scheduled to set sail for Gaza through Cyprus. With Lebanon and Israel technically still at war, the ship cannot directly sail for the Gaza Strip.

Ashkenazi went on to warn against Lebanon's aid mission, saying that "If a flotilla comes from Lebanon we will deal with it. If they are peaceful we will deal with it peacefully, if not we will deal with it as we need to."

The pro-Palestinian campaign by Iran and Lebanon comes after Israeli commandos stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aid convoy on May 31, killing at least 9 civilian activists and injuring dozens of others in international waters.

Iran awaiting Egyptian Gaza aid route

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=131475§ionid=351020101



Iran says it has prepared ships containing humanitarian and medical aid for Gaza and is awaiting an Egyptian response for a route to deliver the aid.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a Tuesday press briefing that Iran has made contacts with the Egyptian government on arrangements to facilitate the delivery of the shipments to the impoverished people of Gaza and that any Egyptian efforts in opening a delivery route would be “appreciated by nations.”

“We consider Egyptian efforts in opening an aid-delivery route a correct approach,” said Mehmanparast. He expressed optimism that Egypt would reflect on the “historic role” they can play in making the aid delivery to the people of Gaza happen, and keep in mind the expectation that nations have from them in this regard.

The Iranian official also elaborated on Tehran's decision to refuse entry to two inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying that if any IAEA inspectors are in violation of their assigned duties, member countries have the right to object and demand new inspectors.

He added that Iran considers relaying inaccurate information or making data available to irrelevant individuals by the agency's inspectors as violation of their duties.

Mehmanparast also declared that Iran plans to transmit protest letters to the 12 members of the UN Security Council that recently voted for the anti-Iran sanctions resolution. He noted that the letters will go out soon.

The spokesman also referred to recent propaganda efforts by the US administration to avert a gas pipeline deal between Iran and Pakistan, stressing that energy cooperation between nations have extensive aspects and go far beyond being affected by propaganda campaigns.

Responding to a question regarding Iran's declared readiness in helping to contain the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Mehmanparast said the inability of the US government to effectively deal with the crisis is quite significant. He then noted that since the crisis is an environmental and humanitarian one, it encourages the involvement of all nations to resolve it.

Church Concerned Over Gaza Dire Situation

Source: PressTV

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Patriarch Fouad Twal, has voiced concerns over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"How can one celebrate while Palestinians are still struggling with a devastating blockade one year after Israel's onslaught on Gaza?" Twal said while addressing the Midnight Mass at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Thursday.

Twal went on to complain that people have no freedom to move around freely and travel or to reunite with their families, alluding to the Israeli policy of restricting Palestinian residents by building separation walls and erecting a large number of checkpoints throughout the West Bank.

Bethlehem is surrounded by Israel's separation wall on three sides.

He further pointed out that the Palestinians are tired of such a situation.

He made the remarks as thousands of Christians gathered to celebrate Christmas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, where the birth place of Jesus Christ is taken to be.

The Christmas celebration was aimed at challenging the Israeli movement restrictions at a time when Gazan worshippers were banned from attending the ceremonies.

Despite the stringent Israeli security measures, Bethlehem hotels reported full occupancy for the first time in months.

Christmas celebrations began at noon on Thursday, marking Christmas Eve with the annual procession led by Twal.

In December 2008, Tel Aviv launched a three-week all-out military offensive against Gaza, killing at least 1,400 people, including a large number of women and children, and leaving thousands more injured.

The Gaza Strip has been in a state of calamity ever since, with thousands of people still homeless due to the long-imposed Israeli siege on the Palestinian sliver.