Turkish Court Indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in Murders on Gaza Flotilla

Actual Video on board Mavi Marmara

Source Video: Cultures of Resistance.org

Article By: Col. Ann Wright

Original Source: War is a Crime

Source: Global Research

On the Second Anniversary of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Turkish Court Indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in Murders of Nine Passengers

Two years ago I was a passenger on the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla which was sailing to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. I watched from a small boat called the Challenger 1, as a much larger boat, the Mavi Marmara, with almost 600 passengers, was brutally attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commandos. 30 minutes later, our boat was attacked.

Using snipers from helicopters Israeli commandos shot many of the passengers on the exposed top deck of the ship. Other commandos in boats fired live ammunition, as well as percussion grenades, into all levels of the ship. As commandos repelled down from helicopters and boarded the ship, they executed at point blank range 5 passengers, including a 19 year old American citizen Furkan Dogan, whose body had five bullets including one to the back of his head. 9 persons, 8 Turkish citizens and one American citizen, were murdered and 50 others were wounded. One severely wounded Turkish man later died after being in a coma for many months.

Each of the six ships in the flotilla was attacked by IDF commandos. Passengers on the ships were shot with tasers and beaten by commandos. Potentially lethal paintballs were shot into the faces of passengers narrowly missing eyes and soft parts of the skull.

IDF commandos took the computers, cameras, identification and credit cards and several hundred thousands of dollars in cash from the passengers. IDF commandos sold many of the stolen computers. Very few of the items taken by the IDF have been returned to passengers.

The Mavi Marmara was returned to Turkey with a new coat of paint to cover the blood stains of those wounded and killed. The other five ships are still held by the Israeli government in the port of Haifa.

Turkish Court Indictment of Senior Israeli Military Officials

On May 28, 2012, almost two years after the Israeli attack, a court in Istanbul, Turkey, voted unanimously to approve an indictment against Israel's former military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as for Eliezer Marom, Amos Yadlin, and Avishai Levi, the former heads of the Israeli Navy, Air Force Intelligence, and Military Intelligence. If convicted, each faces nine consecutive life terms in prison for "inciting to kill monstrously, and by torturing." http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkish-court-charges-senior-idf-officials-over-gaza-flotilla-deaths-1.432983#article_comments

The indictment also charged several unidentified soldiers who shot passengers. The charges against members of the Israeli military include commandeering vehicles, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, persecution and causing damage to the ship.

The indictment specifies 490 victims and complainants, among them 189 who were injured during the raid. The indictment rejected Israeli claims that Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara acted in self-defense, saying that Israeli commandos used disproportional force by firing with heavy weapons and automatic rifles on passengers who only carried "plastic flag masts, spoons, and forks." The indictment stated that some of the victims were shot dead from close range and from the back.

2011 Gaza Flotilla and Freedom Waves

Despite the lethal Israeli attack a year earlier, in 2011, international citizen activists prepared ten ships to sail to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. The Israeli and US governments pressured the Greek government to prevent the sailing of 8 of the ships that were in Greece. Three ships from the 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla eventually challenged the Israeli blockade. One ship that had sailed from France in July, 2011 and two others (one from the Irish campaign and one from the Canadian/Australian campaign) that sailed from Turkey in November, 2011 were intercepted by the Israeli navy, the boats confiscated and the passengers deported from Israel.

Next Challenge to the Israeli Blockade-Gaza’s Ark

Committed to continue to bring international attention to the continuing brutal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, international activists are working with the sailing and boating community of Gaza to prepare a ship to sail FROM Gaza carrying Gazan exports goods that will have been purchased by the international community. The boat will be called “Gaza’s Ark” and will provide job skills and employment for workers on the boat as well as a market for the beautiful crafts of Gaza. http://www.tahrir.ca/en/gazaark

About the Author: Ann Wright spent 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a US diplomat for 16 years and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She travelled to Gaza three times in 2009, helped organize the 2009 Gaza Freedom March and was a passenger on the 2010 and 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotillas. She was an organizer for the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope and is an organizer for the US campaign for Gaza’s Ark.

To DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO :

http://tc.indymedia.org/files/flotilla-footage/index.html

On the night of Sunday, May 30, showing a terrifying disregard for human life, Israeli naval forces surrounded and boarded ships sailing to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. On the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos opened fire on civilian passengers, killing at least 9 passengers and wounding dozens more. Others are still missing. The final death toll is yet to be determined. Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee was aboard the besieged ship and has since returned home safely.

Despite the Israeli government's thorough efforts to confiscate all footage taken during the attack, Iara Lee was able to retain some of her recordings. Above is raw footage from the moments leading up to and during the Israeli commandos' assault on the Mavi Marmara.

Visit http://www.culturesofresistance.org/gaza-blockade to learn more.

The President's kill list

Source: Press TV (US Desk)
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/244340.html

What is wrong with the President sitting in a room, looking at lists and portraits of people-a Somali man, a seventeen-year-old girl, an American citizen-and deciding whom to kill? That, according to long and troubling articles in both the Times and Newsweek, is a job Barack Obama has assigned himself. His aides, notably John Brennan, his counter-terrorism adviser, portray it as a matter of taking responsibility-if we are going to assassinate someone, or call in a drone strike to take out a camp in Yemen, the President should make the call-as if our only alternative were some sort of rogue operation, with generals or C.I.A. agents shooting at will. But responsibility involves accountability, which is something, in this case, that appears to be badly lacking. Obama has not taken on a burden, but instead has given the Presidency a novel power.

The "kill list" story is a reminder of how much language matters, and how dangerous it is when the plain meaning of a word is ignored. Each might include a mini-glossary: "baseball cards," for the PowerPoint slides with the biographies and faces of targets; "Terror Tuesday," meetings where targets are sorted out; "nominations" for death-marked finalists; "personality strikes" that aimed to kill a person, and "signature strikes" that went after a group of people whose names one didn't know because of the way they seemed, from pictures in the sky, to be acting. (From the Times piece, written by Jo Becker and Scott Shane: "The joke was that when the C.I.A. sees 'three guys doing jumping jacks,' the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp, said one senior official.") Signature strikes were also known as TADS, for terrorist-attack-disruption strikes, or just as "crowd kills." Both articles explore Obama's halting efforts to confine signature strikes to Pakistan, rather than Yemen and Somalia, and how he ultimately didn't, really. This is the kind of attack that, in one incident mentioned by Daniel Klaidman in his Newsweek piece, led to "persuasive" reports of dozens of women and children dying. A lawyer who saw that on "Kill TV," the feed that let the military and lawyers watch strikes, said later, "If I were Catholic, I’d have to go to confession."

More disturbing than childish names for brutal things are the absurd meanings ascribed to more sober terms. The key ones are "civilians and combatants," and "due process."

How do you minimize civilian casualties in a conflict? Ask a military planner or human-rights organization or just a sensible person and each might come up with a list of tactics, plans, litmus tests. And there were apparently elements of that in the White House's conversations. But ask a sophist or, as it happens, the C.I.A., and you might get this suggestion: change the definition. As the Times described it, Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.

In other words, if we thought that you were someone we should kill, and we did kill you, and you look to be the right age to be cast as an extra in a spy movie, you were guilty. Does that mean that, if a house is hit and the bodies of a father, mother, teen-age boy, and middle-school-aged girl are found entangled with each other, two are combatants and two are civilians?

These words are important because of the argument that we have to act to protect ourselves: there is a terrorist on a screen; hit him now. But how are we deciding who a terrorist is? In some cases, we don’t even know the names of people we're killing, in countries where we are not actually at war. In others, we do know their names, and don't care who dies with them. (In one strike, in which the identity of the man was known, according to the Times, Obama made a deliberate decision to kill his wife and in-laws along with him).

The method we have built, over a couple of hundred years, for sorting out questions of guilt and innocence and probable cause, is due process. And that may be the most degraded phrase of all.

The Obama Administration has sought and killed American citizens, notably Anwar al-Awlaki. As the Times noted, "The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel prepared a lengthy memo justifying that extraordinary step, asserting that while the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process applied, it could be satisfied by internal deliberations in the executive branch." In other words, it's due process if the President thinks about it. One wonders how low the standard for "internal deliberations" are-if it might be enough if Obama mulled it over while walking his dog. And if an American whom the President decides is a threat can be assassinated in Yemen, where Awlaki was hit, why not in London, or Toronto, or Los Angeles? (Awlaki's teen-age son, an American citizen who had not been accused of anything, died in a separate strike).

These are not far-fetched concerns. The Times quoted Michael Hayden, who served as the director of the C.I.A. under George Bush:

"This program rests on the personal legitimacy of the president, and that's not sustainable," Mr. Hayden said. "I have lived the life of someone taking action on the basis of secret O.L.C. memos, and it ain't a good life. Democracies do not make war on the basis of legal memos locked in a D.O.J. safe."

As Jane Mayer has written in The New Yorker, drone strikes, as opposed to ground troops, bring with them a comforting illusion of distance. Picturing Obama going through the lists in a bright office in Washington shows where that daydream leads, and how deceptive it can be. A drone-based conflict may, in the short run, keep some troops from harm, but it may also take the debate about war and peace out of the public sphere and into what is, in political terms, a much darker space.

Brennan and other officials interviewed by the Times and Newsweek said that Obama had enormous faith in himself. It would be more responsible, though, if he had less-if he thought that he was no better than any other President we've had or ever will. The point isn't just the task, or burden, he takes on, but the machine he has built for his successors to use.

Perhaps, just to suggest a range, he could picture each of the Republican contenders from this past season being walked through the process, told how it works, shown some of those video clips with tiny people and big explosions, and taking it for a test drive. Never mind whether Obama, in particular, sighs or loses sleep or tosses a coin when he chooses a target: What would it mean for a bad, or craven, or simply carelessly accommodating President to do so? In the end we are not really being asked to trust Obama, or his niceness, but the office of the Presidency. Do we?

Israel PM orders navy to stop aid flotilla

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186486.html

Israel's security cabinet has ordered the navy to use all possible means to prevent the incoming international aid flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip.

After two days of closed-doors meetings, the ministers committee on security affairs on Monday voted in favor of the navy plans to stop the convoy of vessels known as Freedom Flotilla II from breaching the Israeli-imposed naval blockade on the Palestinian territory, giving the army authority to use “all necessary means” during the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The statement also said that the cabinet has also ordered Israeli troops to operate with "maximal restraint and avoid clashes with activists on board the vessels."

Israeli officials say navy commandos have revised their tactics in the wake of the May 31, 2010 attack, which killed nine Turkish activists on board the leading ship, Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara, and drew international condemnation.

Israeli ministers also said that Tel Aviv and Egyptian authorities have reached an understanding on the issue of aid convoy and that ships participating in the pro-Palestinian flotilla will be directed to the Israeli port of Ashdod or Egypt's El-Arish port to unload their cargo. After inspections the cargo will be transferred overland to Gaza.

The cabinet has also ordered the Foreign Ministry to continue its diplomatic efforts to prevent the flotilla from setting sail to Gaza.

Meanwhile, organizers of Freedom Flotilla II said on Monday that Tel Aviv is pressuring Greece to halt the ships' departure. Greece is being used as a departure point with around seven of the vessels already docked in various Greek ports. The vessels would meet in international waters south of Cyprus before heading to Gaza.

The fleet, with around 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries on board of some 10 ships, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday in a bid to break Israel's five-year blockade on the coastal territory which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians.

Organizers say the convoy will carry medicine, a fully-equipped ambulance and cement.

Protesters stage sit-in on Golan Heights

Pro-Palestinians protesters take cover from Israeli forces shooting near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Sunday, June 5, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183370.html

Thousands of Syrian and Palestinian protesters are staging an open-ended sit-in in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after Israeli forces killed dozens along the Syrian border.

Israeli forces opened fire on Sunday as pro-Palestinian protesters from Syria approached the occupied territories, killing at least 23 people, including a woman and a child, and injuring 350 others, according to the Syrian TV.

The killing spree came after hundreds of protesters flocked to the Golan border to mark the 44th anniversary of the 'Naksa Day' marking Israel's seizure of their lands in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six Day War of 1967.

Meanwhile, the TV reports stated that thousands of people are heading to the Quneitra border area to take part in an open-ended sit-in on Syrian Golan Heights.

Israeli troops have been beefed up near Syria and Lebanon as well as in al-Quds. Thousands of Israeli security forces were also on high alert on 'Naksa Day' to counter possible unrest.

The events came exactly three weeks after tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Syria, marked Nakba (catastrophe) Day on May 15.

On May 15, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who marched to the border areas with Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.

Israel kills 20 as Syrians march on Golan

Israeli forces opened fire on pro-Palestinian protesters on Golan Heights border on Sunday, June 5, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183271.html

Israeli forces kill at least 20 people and injure nearly 325 others near Syria's Golan Heights, attacking the protesters, who were marking the anniversary of occupation of Arab lands by Tel Aviv.

Israeli forces have opened fire on protesters inside Syria as they were approaching the occupied territories on Sunday. According to the Syrian TV, a child is among those killed by the Israeli gunfire.

The demonstrators have announced that they plan to stage a sit-in along the border in protest at the Israeli occupation and atrocities.

The state-run television also said three of the wounded where in critical condition from Sunday's shooting.

The television showed footage of Israeli soldiers on top of a tank opening fire on the protesters. Israeli troops have been beefed up near Syria and Lebanon as well as in Jerusalem al-Quds.

The protesters flocked to Golan border on Naksa Day to mark the 44th anniversary of the beginning of Israel's 1967 Six-Day War against Arabs. Israel declared northern Golan a closed military zone.

Thousands of Israeli security forces were also on high alert on 'Naksa Day', fearing possible unrest.

Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli troops in the Qalandiya village near the city of Ramallah in central West Bank.Live footage broadcast on Syrian TV and Al-Jazeera also showed heavy gunfire along the Golan Heights border and protesters carrying wounded people away.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967, along with the Palestinian territories of West Bank, East al-Quds and Gaza Strip.

The events came exactly three weeks after tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Syria, marked Nakba (catastrophe) Day on May 15.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military killed two protesters, including one Palestinian teenager, and injuring at least 65 others on the Nakba Day.

Also on May 15, one person was also killed and at least 150 hurt in the Qalandiya on the same day.

Anti-state protests persist in Saudi Arabia

Saudi protesters have condemned the deployment of Saudi troops in Bahrain

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174659.html

Saudi anti-government protesters have once again taken to the streets east of the country, condemning the kingdom's military intervention in Bahrain.

Expressing solidarity with anti-government protesters in Bahrain, demonstrators in the city of Qatif called for the immediate withdrawal of Saudi troops from the neighboring country.

Saudi Arabia deployed 1,000 troops to Bahrain in efforts to help the ruling despotic family in its brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

Muslims around the world have denounced the Saudi-led crackdown on anti-government protesters in Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain comes despite the conventions of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council that ban any interference in the internal affairs of a regional country.

Saudi Arabia's oil-producing east has been the scene of anti-government protests over the past weeks.

Last month, a Saudi-based human rights group said that authorities have arrested 100 protesters for taking part in or organizing anti-government demonstrations.

Human Rights First Society (HRFS) also revealed that some of the detainees were subject to torture both physically and mentally.

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki refused to comment on the report.

Saudi Arabia's large but minority Shia population complain of wide discrimination against them, insisting that they are treated as second-class citizens and have to struggle to obtain senior-level jobs as well as benefits commonly available to other citizens.

The government of Saudi Arabia denies such charges.

In Saudi Arabia, protest rallies and any public displays of dissent are considered illegal. Senior Wahhabi clerics in the kingdom have also censured opposition demonstrations as "un-Islamic."

Poll: Saudi Kingdom will collapse

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172707.html

A Press TV survey reveals that almost half of the public think the brutal crackdown and tight security measures in Saudi Arabia will not safeguard the Kingdom against collapse.

According to the public opinion poll, some 51.6 percent of people think that crackdown will result in a massive bloodshed and the collapse of the Saudi kingdom.

The poll indicates that 13.04 percent of people believe that the issue will only result in massive bloodshed, while another 18 percent said the strict security measures will just not be enough to save the kingdom from falling.

An estimated 17.36 percent of the voters went for the choice that said the crackdown will eventually discourage the public in its revolutionary drive.

The survey also found that the voters from the United States topped the list of participants by 26.3 percent of the votes, while 11.4 percent were from the United Kingdom.

Voters from Canada made 6.3 percent, along with Australians and the Dutch, with 2.6 and 1.6 percent respectively.

Some 51.8 percent of the votes were also from other countries.

The poll was conducted while hundreds of people have recently protested peacefully in Saudi Arabia, calling on the country's military to end its incursion into Bahrain.

Moreover, hundreds of anti-government Saudi protesters took to the streets in Qatif and surrounding villages in eastern Saudi Arabia on March 25, demanding the immediate release of what they called forgotten political prisoners. The protesters said the prisoners were being held unjustly and without trial, some as long as 16 years.

Demonstrators also called for political freedoms and an end to sectarian discrimination by the Wahhabi monarchy.

Mubarak charged with killing Egyptians

Former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171471.html

An Egyptian committee tasked with investigating the violence during the recent revolution has charged former ruler Hosni Mubarak for the murder of protesters.

The committee says Mubarak, as the head of the government at the time, was responsible for the death of the protesters in January, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

It has submitted its charges to the Public Prosecutor's office.

The committee earlier accused former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli of ordering police to open fire at demonstrators.

Adli is charged with the responsibility for the withdrawal of policemen from the streets after January 28 in order to spread chaos and cause a security vacuum.

More than 380 people died and thousands were injured in the protests leading up to the revolution in February.

On Sunday, Egyptians overwhelmingly voted in favor of constitutional amendments in a historic referendum weeks after Mubarak handed over power to Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Egypt has been ruled by men of military backgrounds since 1952.

The military council has promised a swift transition to civilian rule.

However, critics are skeptical about a rapid transition towards democracy and civilian rule and maintain that demonstrations will continue until all their demands are met.

They say all political prisoners must be released and an investigation launched into the conduct of officials responsible for the violence used against civilians.

Saudi or Israeli, which regime is worse?

Saudi forces in Bahrain

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170360.html

Political observers have compared the crimes committed by Saudi Arabia to those of Israel amid Riyadh's military invasion of Bahrain to help quell the anti-government protests.

On March 14, Saudi Arabia dispatched troops to Bahrain to crush Bahraini protesters who have been demanding the downfall of the al-Khalifa dynasty in the small Persian Gulf kingdom.

The move has prompted political observers to look back at the crimes of the Saudi regime throughout history and pose the question, “How different are the Saudi and Israeli regimes?”

Israel invaded Palestine and changed its name to “Israel,” and the Saudi dynasty invaded Hijaz and put its family name on the territory, calling it “Saudi Arabia.”

Israeli regime invaded Lebanon and Gaza under the pretext of establishing security; Saudis launched an onslaught on Bahraini civilians to prevent anti-government protests from spreading to their territory.

Israel violated international rules of engagement and used non-conventional weapons against the Lebanese and Gazans; Saudis used live ammunition and nerve gas in their attacks on defenseless Bahraini protesters.

Israel targeted residential areas, hospitals and schools during its assaults; Saudis hit ambulances and raided hospitals in crisis-hit Bahrain.

Israel resorts to kidnapping, bombing and other terrorist operations in other countries to maintain its hegemony; Saudis have set up al-Qaeda to continue their dominance and sent terrorist groups to Iraq to massacre innocent people in the war-ravaged country.

Now the question remains: “Between Israeli and Saudi regimes, which one is more criminal and which one enjoys more US support?”

Iran terror attack claims 39 lives

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155541.html


At least 39 mourners commemorating the martyrdom of the third Shia Imam have been killed in a terror attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Chabahar.

According to medics, at least 39 people, including women and children, have been killed and many more wounded in the attack which occurred at the Imam Hussein mosque in Chabahar on Wednesday when Iranians were attending the religious Tasua ceremony.

An official from the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Mahmoud Mozaffar, said over 50 people have also been injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, Chabahar governor Ali Bateni said, "The main perpetrator of the terrorist attack which has killed and wounded a number of Iranians has been arrested."

"There were two terrorists who have been identified by police but they exploded one of their vests before any move," he told IRNA.

The official said a second attacker was spotted and arrested before detonating his explosives.

He rejected reports that said there were three terrorists and two blasts and noted that investigations are underway to determine the exact number of the killed and wounded.

Officials say they have been receiving bomb threats over the past three days.

UN wants Hezbollah intel. on Hariri case

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138342§ionid=351020203


The UN tribunal probing the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri has called on Hezbollah to submit all information it has in a bid to assist the inquiry.

The request came after Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah presented new indications of Israeli involvement in the killing of Hariri in a massive car bomb explosion in 2005.

The evidence included footage from Israeli spy drones of routes used by Hariri and recorded confessions by Israeli spies substantiating that the assassination of Hariri was carried out on orders from Tel Aviv.

Nasrallah says the Lebanese Defense Ministry reports also show Israeli surveillance planes and warplanes flew over the area where Hariri was assassinated on the day of his murder.

"In line with its mandate, the Office of the Prosecutor has requested the Lebanese authorities to provide all the information in possession of (Hezbollah) Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah," the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon said in a statement on Wednesday.

"This request includes the video material that was shown on television during the press conference, as well any other material that would be of assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor in unveiling the truth," the statement added.

Chief prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has promised the court will assess the information thoroughly.

Israeli troops kill Gazan protester

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124771§ionid=351020202



Israeli soldiers have shot and killed a 20-year old Palestinian during a protest in the besieged Gaza Strip, along the heavily-guarded border with Israel.

Ahmed Salim was shot on Wednesday morning as dozens of Palestinians held a peaceful demonstration against a decision by Israel to build a buffer zone in the area.

Israeli soldiers opened fire on protesters to disperse the crowd which was estimated at a few hundreds.

"Ahmed was shot in the abdomen and moved to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. He, however, died in the afternoon due to bullet injuries he had suffered,” the head of Gaza's emergency services Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters.

Gazans have held numerous demonstrations in recent weeks against a newly-declared 300-meter no-go zone. Tel Aviv claims that the buffer zone is being constructed to prevent Palestinian resistance fighters from launching homemade rockets at Israel.

Palestinians maintain that the aim of the peaceful protests is to halt the establishment of the zone since it prevents them from reaching their farmland.

After China, US presses UAE to limit Iran trade

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122324§ionid=351020104


While continuing to pressure Russia and China to follow its lead in imposing a new round of sanctions against Iran, the US tries to cajole Dubai into limiting its trade relations with Tehran.

Over the past few months, the Obama Administration has made systematic efforts to woo Dubai to toe Washington's anti-Iran line and persuade the business-savvy Muslim Emiratis into restricting their centuries-old trade with Iran.

To that end, high-ranking US officials have regularly flown over to Dubai in recent months and have held private meetings with high-ranking officials of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Stuart Levey, the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told The Times on Friday that he has so far flown to Dubai about 12 times in a bid to warn UAE officials of the consequences of their strong economic relations with Iranians.

"The UAE is really grappling with the issue," Levy claimed. "The Emirates are aware of the reputational risks with dealing with Iran, and they take those risks seriously."

"To the extent that normal consumer goods are getting into Iran, that does not undermine the overall policy," Levy explained.

In an effort to harm Iran's economy since a popular revolution deposed the pro-US dictatorship of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US has not only imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran, but it has sought to browbeat other states to follow suit, mostly to no avail. In the case of UAE, despite US pressure, the volume of trade between Iran and UAE has risen greatly over the past few years.

Dubai, which is reportedly home to around 500,000 Iranians, is widely considered to be one of Iran's largest trading partners in the region.

Embassy officials in Abu Dhabi estimate that trade between Iran and Dubai topped $15 billion (55.09 billion UAE dirhams) in 2009.

While Levy made his latest comments, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, the head of Iran's Presidential Office, was visiting the UAE, according to the official Iranian IRNA news agency.

Rahim-Mashaei called for the further expansion of Iran-UAE trade ties, stressing that “both countries have a lot to offer as key players in the region's economy.”

UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for his part, said both Iran and the Emirates have mutual interest in trade and should thus work closer to promote cooperation in different levels.

Rahim-Mashaei made the remarks while offering the Iranian people's deep condolences to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the death of his brother Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The late Sheikh Ahmed who headed the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world - was killed in an apparent aviation incident on March 26. The full circumstances of his death have yet to be established.

Dubai calls for Netanyahu prosecution over terror

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119693&sectionid=351020202

Dubai police say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be prosecuted should it be determined that the regime had been behind the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

The emirates' police Chief Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said Sunday that the world will "witness significant steps in the prosecution of criminals" who masterminded the assassination of al-Mabhouh in his hotel room last month.

The general said the investigation is internationally underway to identify the criminals who were behind the operation.

Khalfan assured that the Israeli prime minister and Mossad Chief Meir Dagan "will be together at the head of an international wanted list" should it be determined that the regime was behind the terror operation.

He had formerly said that Dubai police were in possession of dozens of items of incriminating evidence against the terror squad which attest to Mossad's involvement in the operation.

The police released photos and information of 26 suspects in the terror, most of them European passport holders, saying they were Mossad agents carrying fake documents.

Israeli and European media last week reported that Netanyahu had authorized the assassination of the Hamas commander in a meeting with Mossad's chief in early January in Tel Aviv.

What the Gaza war meant for Israel

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/gazaoneyearon/2010/2010/01/201011392050370701.html

By: Orly Halpern

Omri Buson says his "blood boils" every time he hears about the negotiations between Hamas and Israel over the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

From his point of view, Israel should have never ended last year's military offensive on Gaza without Shalit's return.

"We needed to hurt them and not have mercy ... to destroy every house till [we] found that soldier," says Buson, who dropped out of law school to open clothing shops in Jerusalem.


He admits that his views have become "very extreme in the last year because of the war".


But he is not alone. Israeli Knesset members have expressed similar views.

Operation devastation

The Israeli military offensive named Operation Defensive Shield killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, more than 1,000 of them civilians, including 400 children.

Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.

Its declared goals were to 'Bring Gilad Home' and to stop Qassam rocket attacks on Israel. It ended after 22 days due to international pressure on Israel.

Despite the high number of civilian Palestinian casualties, most Israelis consider the operation a success because, although Shalit did not 'come home', the rockets stopped.

War against protests

Now, one year since Operation Cast Lead, not only have the so-called red lines for what you can do to your enemy moved dangerously forward, but so have the lines of what the government can do its own people.

Israeli polls and surveys reveal that Israeli society and government are less tolerant than ever of views that oppose the government stance, which is held by the mainstream.

Last month the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) revealed an alarming trend in its annual survey on the protection of human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories - the conditioning of rights.

"The realisation of the entire spectrum of rights is now more than ever dependent on what we say or believe, what ethnic group we belong to, how much money we have, and more," says the ACRI.

"We have the freedom to express ourselves and demonstrate - only if we don't say anything displeasing; we have the right to equal treatment and opportunities - only if we are "loyal" to the state."

In the streets, the Israeli security forces are waging a war against protests by Jewish left wing and human rights activists, who non-violently protest against Israel's separation barrier or against Jewish settlers taking over Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

Many have been arrested and some were attacked by the security forces.


However, right-wingers protesting against the government's decision to temporarily freeze building in settlements are accorded much more leniency by Israeli law enforcement agencies.

During Operation Cast Lead about 800 Israeli citizens, most of them Arab, were arrested, with criminal charges brought against most of them.

In a recent editorial, the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz called the arrests "an evil omen regarding the state's attitude toward protesters" and said that as a result, "concern is growing over Israel's image as a free and democratic country".

'Moral bankruptcy'

The infringement on the rights of Jewish Israelis comes as no surprise to Neve Gordon, an Israeli political science professor at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev.

"The war itself revealed the moral bankruptcy of Israel because if we look back we see the vast majority killed were citizens including hundreds of children," said Gordon, who has been under attack for his criticism of Israel and most recently for his call for an international boycott on his country until it ends the occupation of the Palestinian Territories.


"I don't think it's good for the morality of the country to kill children."

Buson disagrees: "If it were up to me I would close the water and electricity [to Gaza] until they return Gilad. Let them starve and die."

He says he opposes a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. "I'd rather Shalit die there than do a deal with Hamas.


"It's not about one soldier's life. It's about deterrence. They need to understand with whom they are dealing. Our deterrence was damaged after the second Lebanon war. Now we got it back."

'Lesson through force'

Indeed many Israelis were more concerned about 'teaching the other side a lesson' by using overwhelming force, than with the hundreds of dead civilians and the devastating destruction of infrastructure.

For the Israeli political leadership, military and much of the Israeli public, the Gaza war, as Israelis refer to it, was about scaring the other side into submission, so that it will not dare to hurt Israel again. And, many believe, that was what Israel succeeded in doing.


Yehuda Shaul, the co-director of Breaking the Silence, the Israeli human rights organisation that collects the testimonies of soldiers about abuses committed while serving in the Occupied Territories, says: "What I find most disturbing is that the military and most Israelis perceive [the war on Gaza] as a great success. They don't recognise the price tag."


"And the fact that the military sees it as a great success means that the second round will be similar," Shaul adds.


Shaul's organisation was attacked by the office of the Israeli military spokesperson, but he nevertheless hopes that some Israelis recognise the gravity of their actions.

He points to the poll by Tel Aviv University's War and Peace Index.


When testimonies from soldiers were published soon after the war, few Israelis believed them, according to the index. But when Breaking the Silence published its report of chilling testimonies in July, the War and Peace Index found that the numbers who believed the testimonies rose from about 20 per cent to 43 per cent.

'Cast Lead II'

Still, the overwhelming majority of Israelis (76 per cent) saw no need to reinvestigate the operation in light of the testimonies. The pollsters believe that because of the prevailing view that the campaign was moderately or very successful (79 per cent), "the Israeli Jewish public is reluctant to deal with the question of its moral and human cost".

Some Israelis who supported the war see it very differently.


Marek Glezerman, the director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Rabin Medical Center, says: "I thought it should be a short operation to stop the rockets."


"But it turned it to be a full blown war without concern for the other side and that leaves a very bad feeling," adds the doctor who is a friend and colleague of the Gaza doctor Ezzedin Abouelaish.

Glezerman believes that the quiet from the Gaza Strip is temporary: "The violence will come back. But at what price? It has not brought us closer to peace."


Meanwhile, some Israelis are talking about when Operation Cast Lead II will begin.

Bomb explosion injures three in south Lebanon

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116040§ionid=351020203


Three people, including two children waiting for their school bus, have been injured in a bomb blast that struck Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon.

Naharnet news website cited unnamed security officials in reporting that that blast took place at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday at the entrance to a three-storey building.

The security sources identified one of the tenants in the building as Mohammed Zreik, believed to be a Hezbollah official.

Two of Zreik's children — Hasan, 7 and Diala, 11 — were among the wounded. The third casualty was identified as Zainab Hazimeh, 15, Naharnet added.

The elder of the two youngsters injured lost a leg in the blast while the other suffered slight wounds to his face, AFP later reported, quoting hospital officials in the nearby town of Nabatiyeh.

It was not immediately clear whether the owner of the building, identified as Hussein Saeed Hamdan, was the target of the bombing or if he was in the building when the bomb went off.

Kfar Fila is a village located 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the port city of Sidon, and is viewed as one of the bases for the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement.

Larijani slams US for terror of Iranian scientist

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116048§ionid=351020101


After Iran accused the US and Israel of involvement in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear physics scientist, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani moves to deplore the terrorist act.

"We had received information a few days before the incident that intelligence services of the Zionist regime [Israel] intend to carry out terrorist acts in Tehran in cooperation with the CIA," Larijani said on Wednesday.

He pointed to the US failed efforts concerning Iran's nuclear drive and said the United States adopted the carrot and stick approach and issued resolutions to meet the demands of Israel.

"After the failure of all its hostile policies, it currently resorts to the physical elimination of Iranian nuclear scientists," he said.

He underlined that such terrorist acts would bear no fruits, saying, "The Iranian nation will firmly protect nuclear achievements of the country."

On Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry accused the US and Israel of having played a role in the assassination of Professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, who was killed by a booby-trapped motorbike blast.

"Primary investigations into the assassination revealed signs of the involvement of the Zionist regime [Israel], the US and their allies in Iran," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said.

However, the US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner moved Tuesday to dismiss any links to the bomb attack in the Iranian capital and said, "Charges of US involvement are absurd."

The Iran Royal Association, an obscure monarchist group that seeks to reestablish the Pahlavi reign in Iran, announced in a statement that its "Tondar Commandos" were behind the assassination of Ali-Mohammadi.

The group, headed by Foroud Fouladvand, also claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing in the southern city of Shiraz back in April 2008, in which 13 people were killed and hundreds were wounded.

Larijani criticized the group's statement and said the claims were a deliberate cover-up of Washington's involvement in the incident.

"This dark point will be recorded in the history of US crimes against the Iranian nation. It is not clear whether this adventurism will have an appropriate ending for the US," the speaker said.

Vermont Candidate Pledges to Prosecute Bush

Charlotte Dennett, who entered the race for Vermont Attorney General this week, readily admits that it will be an uphill battle. But the Vermont Progressive Party’s candidate does have one thing going for her – an issue with the potential to mobilize voters upset about the Iraq War. At her first press conference, sitting next to renowned prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi, she pledged to prosecute George W. Bush for murder if elected and appoint Bugliosi as a special prosecutor to take on the job.

Bugliosi had come to Vermont specifically to back Dennett’s bid against incumbent Attorney General William Sorrell, who has held the job since 1997. “There is no better state to bring this forward,” Dennett said, pointing to the fact that Vermont has lost more soldiers per capita than any other state during the war and that voters at 36 Town Meetings have called for Bush’s impeachment.

“No man is above the law,” Bugliosi argued, explaining that a state Attorney General can prosecute Bush for conspiracy to commit murder after he leaves office. The key is to establish “overt acts” that prove there was a conspiracy to mislead the country into war, he said. Bugliosi pointed specifically to Bush’s frequent public statements, which were broadcast nationally, and the recruitment of Vermonters to fight in Iraq. “Any Attorney General can do this,” he said.

Dennett, who has been practicing law since 1997, is also an investigative journalist. "When I read Mr. Bugliosi’s meticulously-argued case," she has explained, "it struck a chord with me as a Vermonter and an American citizen.”

Bugliosi has won 105 out of 106 felony jury trials and is best known for prosecuting Charles Manson. Yet his most recent book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, has proven highly controversial. Mainstream media outlets have declined to review it or interview him, Bugliosi noted. Asked what explains the reaction, he speculated that the Right Wing in the US has frightened many people into silence. Thus, “the establishment has decided Bush should not be held accountable,” he said.

In recent days, there have been renewed calls to go after the president. For example, Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott has announced that he wants to see Bush impeached, whether or not he’s still in office. He has joined a call from Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to launch impeachment proceedings, and has cited Bugliosi’s book as part of the reason for his decision.

Although pleased that McDermott is calling for impeachment, Bugliosi thinks congressional action doesn't go far enough. "Impeachment alone would be a joke for anyone interested in justice," he says. His recommendation is that a state official – Dennett, for example, if she is elected – should prosecute Bush for murder in the deaths of American soldiers fighting in Iraq.

On the campaign trail, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden recently said that an Obama/Biden Administration would pursue criminal charges against Bush over the treatment of captured terrorists held at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. “If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued,” Biden pledged at a Florida campaign stop.

Earlier this year, Barack Obama took a similar position, stating that he would look at whether Bush violated laws. But fearing that such a position could undermine their chances of victory, Biden subsequently softened his position, telling the Philadelphia Daily News that he didn’t want the start of an Obama/Biden term to look like a “witch hunt.”

At this point, Dennett’s chances of victory aren’t strong. Although Vermont Progressives have elected representatives to the state legislature, no candidate has yet come close to winning a statewide race. Anthony Pollina, the Progressive standard bearer who ran for governor in 2000 and received 24.8 percent of the vote in a 2002 race for Lt. Governor, decided this summer to run for governor as an Independent in hopes of broadening his base.

Sorrell, a Democrat, has enjoyed bi-partisan support, and received enough write-in votes in Vermont’s recent primary to appear on the November ballot as both the Democratic and Republican candidate. Nevertheless, a strong turnout for Dennett would send the message that the idea of prosecuting Bush is something to seriously consider.

In 2007, Vermont's State Senate passed a resolution calling on the US Congress to impeach Bush over his handling of the war. But House Speaker Gaye Symington, a Democrat who is currently running for governor against Republican incumbent James Douglas, argued at the time that the move wasn’t appropriate prior to a Congressional investigation. During the House proceedings, about 400 Vermonters from 102 communities showed up at the State House but the resolution was defeated. Vermont's congressional delegation has shown little interest in the idea.

The question raised by Dennett’s promise to pursue prosecution of Bush is whether anger about the war – and how the public and Congress were misled – are enough to create a competitive race against a successful incumbent. Vermonters don’t register by party, and identification as Democrats and Republicans is weaker than in most states. But it remains to be seen if the race can become an unofficial referendum. In essence, a strong turnout for Dennett would mean that Vermont voters want to take the lead in turning a former president into a criminal defendant.
If nothing else, the campaign could produce a great bumper sticker: Prosecute Bush. Elect Dennett.
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Posted on Maverick Media: http://muckraker-gg.blogspot.com/

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