Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

Any idea how difficult it is to search a ship at sea haystack?

Stupid question really, of course not

So Turkey doesn't view Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Where does Turkey's treatment of the Kurds fit in all this? Another reason why Turkey, sadly, doesn't yet belong in the EU.

ptholden

In a statement, the White House reiterated its belief that the blockade of Gaza was "unsustainable".

Some of the ships involved were quite small and easy to search. Other countries have managed to stop and search.

In May 1948, during a military intervention, launched and maintained in defiance of Security Council resolutions for a cease-fire, Egypt established a general blockade against Israel and began to visit and search ships of all nations passing through the Suez Canal. The Egyptian Government established a long list of items including ships, important categories of goods, and particularly petroleum, as subject to seizure as "contraband" if found destined for Israel. Vessels transporting or suspected of transporting such goods were detained for visit and search.

The basic legislation under which the Egyptian authorities obstruct free navigation in the Suez Canal is to be found in the decree of 6 February 1950, the Arabic text of which was published in the Egyptian Official Journal (No. 36) dated 8 April 1950. Article I reads:

"The searching of ships for purposes of seizing war contraband shall take place in accordance with provisions hereunder."

Article III provides:

"Force may at all times be used against any ship attempting to avoid the search. Where necessary by firing so as to force it to stop and submit to the search. Where the search subsequently reveals that the ship is not carrying any contraband, it shall be permitted to continue its voyage. "

OR

The US Secretary of Defence, Mr Robert McNamara, said in Washington last night that armed boarding parties would be ready to search about 25 Russian cargo ships moving towards Cuba when the US partial blockade of Cuba comes into effect at 3pm (BST) today. The proclamation giving effect to the blockade was signed by President Kennedy last night.

The testimony from Israeli soldiers admitting to acts that can be described as war crimes indicates that they were forced to commit these acts. Many of the soldiers knew that what they were doing was wrong and they were not happy to be forced to behave that way. Many of them said that they would resist being involved in future incursions into Gaza because of the brutality that they had displayed.

It is is instructive to remember that the defence of 'only following orders' did not cut much ice in a previous conflict,

Take a look at Saturday's Guardian.

Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range

Exclusive: Nine Turkish men on board Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times, autopsy results reveal.

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

He calculated that during the bloodiest part of the assault, Israeli commandos shot one person every minute. One man was fatally shot in the back of the head just two feet in front him and another was shot once between the eyes. He added that as well as the fatally wounded, 48 others were suffering from gunshot wounds and six activists remained missing, suggesting the death toll may increase.

The new information about the manner and intensity of the killings undermines Israel's insistence that its soldiers opened fire only in self defence and in response to attacks by the activists.

"Given the very disturbing evidence which contradicts the line from the Israeli media and suggests that Israelis have been very selective in the way they have addressed this, there is now an overwhelming need for an international inquiry," said Andrew Slaughter MP, a member of the all party group on Britain and Palestine.

The blockade may have been brocken from the Egyptian side.

05/06/2010 - 10:08 AM

Egyptian MP Dr. Hazem Farouk has announced that a land convoy would head to Gaza on Monday loaded with construction material in implementation of the Arab League resolution and in harmony with Egyptian authorities' indefinite opening of the Rafah crossing.

Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians hit the streets of various cities on Friday. They called for trying the Israeli war criminals, breaking the siege on Gaza, and retaining the Rafah crossing open on permanent basis.

haystackPLEASE dont tell me you believe this back of the head propaganda?


The Gaza flotilla stunt is just the latest effort in an ongoing campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state with the aid of distorted, negative media coverage. As you know, violent anti-Israel activists attempted to break Israel's legal blockade of Gaza, defying orders to turn back. Prepared with weapons and gas masks, they attacked Israeli soldiers seeking to redirect their vessel to the port of Ashdod.

Those waging a PR war against the Jewish state frequently use outright lies to make their case. The misinformation then spreads globally when anti-Israel detractors post distorted, false comments on Web site forums, blogs and news sites using any news article as a pretext to malign Israel and its policies. Unfortunately, such comments do influence readers and public discourse and contribute to the decline of Israel's reputation internationally.

If it was not so sad it would be laughable.

YUff,

I quite agree with you.

The Israeli commandos and soldiers were fleeing from from the Armada. up the ropes into the rescuing Israeli helicopters.


All the bullets were being fired from invisible guns and arms of the Palestinians and the action took place thirty miles inside Israel.

The action was seen in the centre of Jerusalem by crowds of onlookers and independent witnesses.


Nobody was kill and I can't see what the fuss is all about.

Bloody Arabs are rising up again, We must put them back in their place and kick them out off our land.

They have a very nice ghetto of their own. We made it for them.

They have nothing to grumble about, we remember we feed them Bs at least twice a week.







Have a nice day.

It is interesting that the autopsy reports in the Guardian tally with accounts from people on board the ship. The close range bullets to the head match accounts that one of the commandos dropped a hit list of activists to be disposed of. The six missing activists match accounts that the commandos shot and threw overboard wounded activists. Put it another way, I certainly don't believe Israel's account.

The Turkish PM claims that Hamas (the democartically elected government of Gaza) are freedom fighters and not terrorists. This sound very similar to the fact that the Israel government is dominated by very right politicians who have had among their number many terrorists who Israel used to claim were freedom fighters and who committed many terrorist outrages such as the bombing of the King David Hotel. There doesn't seem much to distinguish one from the other except a different time frame. I seem to remember the Israeli 'freedom fighters' trying to delegitimize the British rule in Palestine at the time and killing many British people. It all looks exactly the same.

personally, i don't believe any of the stories emanating from this bunch of mad dogs ...... none of them will be telling the whole truth, but that should come as no surprise ..... a few tankloads of phosgene gas should sort them all out once and for all

Marmara

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=MB-Mk4bFz-U

Blockade is illegal. International waters. But when would that worry the jews of Israel.

Lets see how brave they are when Turkey go to the blockade fully armed, and tooled up with Turkish war ships in convoy, bet the jews are not as quick to try to board navy ships, unlike civilian boats with peaceful punters on.

.

Clubman3509
You are being racist again. This has nothing to with any of the people involved being Jews. It has to do with the ultra right wing government of Israel, their policies and their supporters in the population.

Fahel

Thanks for posting that video up. There sure were an awful lot of cameras on that ship. And the cameras caught a hell of a lot of violence. It looks truly awful.

Clearly, at some stage, Israel's marines must have taken the aggressive - else we wouldn't have seen the outcome that followed. But I can't see any israeli aggression on the video you posted - which is odd given the number of cameras used and the length of the video. Sure, I see a few soldiers being clubbed, and one being stabbed - but why aren't the soldiers fighting back? Where's the video of that? Or did they start fighting back later?

Maybe I missed it. You tube gives a timer at the bottom of the video - perhaps you can let us know at what times on the timer we see Israeli aggression?

mnamreh - absolutely .... fully tooled turkish navy should be a bit of a laugh too ..... would prob scare austrian navy shitless

"Some of the ships involved were quite small and easy to search. Other countries have managed to stop and search."

Really? You can back this assertion up from personal experience, or just something you have read?

Of course the oil that used to be smuggled out of Iraq in small Dhows pre Op Telic was easily found. Err, quite the contrary. Surprising the lengths some will go to in order to smuggle oil, contraband or even dare I say weapons?

Try not to stray into areas of which you have absolutely no knowledge.

Cynic,

Didn't realise that you are Austrian!

The oil smuggled ouit of Iraq could have been stopped. It seemed at the time that there was not the will to do it. A case of people turning a blind eye. why could Israel have not searched the ship stopped today. It was a fairly small ship and it was in calm waters. They could then have let it continue. The real reason is that they want the blockade to exist for all the damage it does. It is also easier to demand that no ships pass instead of searching them.

But it looks like all the hard work by Israel in maintining the blockade will come to nothing as the Egyptians have opened up the Rafah crossing on a permanent basis.

05/06/2010 - 05:26 PM

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip is illegal and should be lifted, and renewed her call for an investigation into the massacre committed by Israel last Monday against international sympathizers on board the Freedom Flotilla vessels, upon which dozens were left dead and wounded .

Pillay said at a news conference on Saturday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where she is taking part in a fact-finding mission for human rights, "International humanitarian law prohibits starvation of civilians as a war tactic, and prohibits the imposition of collective punishment against civilians," reminding the UN Security Coucnil member states that the siege on Gaza is illegal and should be ended.

When asked if the Security Council is obliged to refer the situation in Gaza to the International Criminal Court, Pillay, a former judge of the International Criminal Court, noted that "the Council imposed sanctions in the past and referred the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan to the International Criminal Court."