UPDATE. Israeli raid on Gaza aid flotilla broke law - UN probe. 23 artikelen
Reageer (1)And everyone who defended Israel's actions, up to and including the President of the United States, is an accessory after the fact.
Email this link to everyone you know, because it's for damned sure that ABCNNBBCBS will never touch this. (WRH)
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That President Obama remained silent about this execution of an American citizen in cold blood by Israeli commandos in international waters telegraphs, very clearly, that it is perfectly acceptable to this President for Israelis to gun down innocent Americans with impunity whenever and wherever they like.
This is outrageous, and is a very clear demonstration that US citizens are completely expendable to this administration, as long as it is Israelis killing them. (WRH)
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Information Clearing House
Obama Administration Silent on IDF Murder of 19-Year-Old American
By Dave Lindorff and Linn Washington
28-9-2010
"Information Clearing House" -- Murder is murder, and terror is terror, you might think. But when terror is committed against an American citizen by the state of Israel the response from the US government is not protest, and it is surely not to demand justice, much less seek vengeance. It is silence.
In 1985, when terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Front, in an act of piracy on the high seas in the Mediterranean, took control of the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, and executed the Jewish American Leon Klinghoffer, shooting him in the forehead and then pushing the wheelchair-bound 69-year-old overboard, the US responded with dramatic action. To rescue the passengers, Italian negotiators had worked out a deal granting safe passage to Tunisia to the pirates, in return for the freeing of the ship and its other passengers. But President Ronald Reagan dispatched a US fighter plane to intercept the plane carrying the PLF pirates to safety, and forced it to land at a US airbase in Italy, where they were turned over to Italian authorities for prosecution.
Compare this to another more recent act of piracy, the violent assault and high-seas boarding of the Turkish cruise ship Mavi Marmara and a flotilla of smaller ships bound from Turkey to Gaza by troops from the Israeli Defense Force, who commandeered the vessels, killing eight Turkish and one young Turkish-American passenger. The US failed to condemn this latter act of piracy, and as for the American who was slain, 19-year old Furkan Dogan, there was not a word of protest.
Worse yet, we now learn only now that in July, two months after the May 31 IDF attack, the Turkish government supplied the Obama Administration with the result of the Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine's autopsy of young Dogan, which showed clearly that he had been murdered by two shots to the face fired by Israeli commandos at point blank range while he lay, gravely injured, on the deck of the ship.
Dogan's other wounds, according to the autopsy, included a shot to the back, leg and foot. He was said to have been writhing in a conscious or semi-consciousness state on the deck "for some time" when he was executed.
Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, says it sent the autopsy report to the US via the US Embassy in Turkey, as soon as it was completed, assuming the US would want to prosecute Israel for his death. Instead, the Obama administration and the US Justice Department sat on the information, saying nothing. A request for information from the Justice Department about the autopsy elicited only a brief "We have no comment for you," from DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd.
Meanwhile, while Israel has been claiming that its boarding party on the Mavi Marmara only used their guns and killed people after they were attacked by passengers and crew on the ship, the truth appears to be that they came aboard guns blazing, and intent on causing harm. A fact-finding mission of the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it has concluded that Dogan, for example, was not resisting the boarding, but rather, was filming it, using a small hand-held video camera from his position on the boat's top deck.
He would not be the only videographer or photographer shot. IDF troops made a concerted effort to stop all photographers and videographers from recording their actions, not only shooting at those who were filming them, but also confiscating or destroying hundreds of cameras, memory cards and other recording equipment.
Turkish medical examiners concluded that five others of the nine killed, in addition to Dogan, were slain execution-style by IDF troops in the assault on the Mavi Marmara.
Although the conclusions of the Human Rights Commissioner's report and of the Turkish medical examiners has been big news in Turkey for the past week, the US media has maintained a news blackout, even though one of the murdered victims was an American. It's a sad commentary on the extent to which the US corporate media have become propagandists for the US and Israeli governments.
The UN fact-finding mission, which interviewed 112 witnesses to the attack, was chaired by Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Q.C., retired judge of the International Criminal Court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago. Other members included Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C. of the United Kingdom, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, and Ms. Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, founding member of the board of directors of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific.
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Ha'aretz
UN panel: Israel suppressing footage of Gaza flotilla raid
Member of the UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission says Israel is trying maintain a monopoly over its version of the deadly May 31 events aboard the Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara.
28-9-2010
AP -- An expert panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla four months ago said Tuesday that Israel is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
The three independent, UN-appointed experts said Israeli soldiers confiscated photos and video material from more than two dozen journalists and others aboard the flotilla during the raid, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists.
"When the military took over the ships, they scrupulously confiscated all photographic material," said Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a former judge at the International Criminal Court who chaired the panel. "All cameras were seized, all cell phones were seized, all laptops were confiscated."
"From this one would conclude that part of the strategy, as we indicated in our report, was to control information and to have a monopoly on versions as to what existed," he said.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, rejected the charge, saying the report's authors had "no way of knowing what footage Israel has and therefore what - if anything - was suppressed."
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel from the start, arguing that the UN Human Rights Council which commissioned it was biased against Israel. Requests by the experts to visit Israel and interview Israeli officials were refused.
Palmor said Israel had returned all equipment and material that journalists on the boats had requested through the International Federation of Journalists, but acknowledged that most of the material had not been returned.
Questions about video footage shot during the raid have been central to the dispute over what happened on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, in which eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were shot and killed.
Israel used confiscated videos to justify why its troops opened fire after rappelling onto the deck, saying they came under attack by activists wielding clubs, axes and metal rods. The army says its soldiers were armed with non-lethal paintball guns as their primary weapons and only resorted to using their handguns after they were assaulted.
The activists said they were defending their ship after it was attacked by Israeli soldiers in international waters on its way to delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
"We interviewed persons who told us that they had taken certain footage which was not seen in any of the versions released by the Israeli authorities," said Hudson-Phillips. "We also got evidence from some persons that parts of the footage released they recognized as being very close, if not identical, to what they visualized as having taken."
"It appears as if some use in a selective way was made of information seized," he said at a news conference in Geneva, where the panel had presented its report to the 47-nation rights council.
The 56-page report, which concluded that the Israeli raid was clearly unlawful, was sharply criticized Tuesday by the United States, which expressed concern at its unbalanced language, tone and conclusions.
"We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt the direct Israeli-Palestinian talks now under way," said Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. ambassador at the council.
The experts refrained from making recommendations in their report. But former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, another member of the panel, told reporters that since the Mavi Marmara was sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, that country could technically ask prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to pursue any alleged crimes.
Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, downplayed the possibility of prosecution.
"If the Comoros wants to take us to court, they may do so, of course, he said. We don't fear such a procedure because we don't feel we have anything to hide or anything to fear from a fair and balanced court of law.".
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What Really Happened
DAY OF INFAMY - TREASON AND DISLOYALTY BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Back in 1941, there was this foreign nation, Japan, which was illegally occupying other peoples' lands in China and Indonesia.
There were Americans in close proximity to that foreign nation, in the then-territory of Hawaii, and even though the Americans had not actually done much of anything, that foreign nation decided it had the right to attack and kill Americans just on the off chance that somewhere down the road, they might be in inconvenience.
Thus came about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Now, just for a moment imagine that instead of declaring immediate war on those who attacked Americans, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had rushed over to the League of Nations to explain why Japan's attack on Americans was really no big deal, and that Japan had good reason to attack and kill Americans! Imagine if Roosevelt, instead of the "Day of Infamy" speech, had made countless excuses why Japan was perfectly right to attack and kill Americans. Imagine that the US Congress, instead of voting war against the nation that attacked Americans decided to punish those who criticized the nation that attacked Americans?
Quite an amazing fantasy isn't it? Yet this is exactly what we have seen the present government do over the last few months ever since Israels attack on the aid flotilla!
Israel, citing grounds of national security, occupies the lands of Palestine, just as Japan, citing national security, occupied China. The Americans in the aid flotilla had not actually done anything to threaten Israel, just like the Americans sitting in Pearl Harbor had done nothing to threaten Japan.
1941 Japan attacks Americans in the middle of an ocean and the US goes to war against Japan.
2010 Israel attacks Americans in the middle of a sea and the US Government protects the attacker.
In 1904, American businessman Ion Perdicaris was taken prisoner by Mulai Raisuli. Now, from Raisuli's point of view, he had good reason to take Perdicaris prisoner as Raisuli was fighting against foreign occupation of his homeland. Even Perdicaris conceded that Raisuli was acting from what Perdicaris considered justifiable motives.
But President Roosevelt did not view the affair from Raisuli's point of view. He viewed it from the point of view of a President of the United States. Under the slogan "Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!" Roosevelt sent 7 US Battleships with orders to destroy Morroco if Perdicaris was not released. Perdicaris was sent home.
Today is different. Today we have a President and a Congress that, even as the United States crumbles around them, are obsessively concerned with protecting Israel, no matter what it does. (bold H.)
Israel attacked foreign flagged ships in international waters (the very activity the 6th fleet is killing Somali coastal patrol crews for), hijacked a US-flagged ship, and kidnapped 12 Americans, shooting one of them in the head 4 times.
A real President, who remembers that his job is to take care of America and Americans, would not rush to the UN to protect the nation that just attacked Americans.
A real Congress, who remembers that their job is to take care of America and Americans, would not hand Israel a license to murder more Americans anywhere in the world Israel decides they are an inconvenience!
No government can serve two masters, and a government that serves Israel cannot serve the American people.
A friend to Israel is no friend of America.
America needs leaders who will put America first, second, and third.
UPDATE: The Turkish media is reporting that Israel will apologize for the attack on the Mavi Marmara and pay compensation for the familes of the slain Turkish aid workers. No apology is forthcoming for America or compensation for the Americans attacked by Israel in international waters.
Turkey stood up to Israel for the attack on their citizens in international workers, and by apologizing, Israel has essentially been forced to admit it acted wrongly in the attack on the aid flotilla.
The moment that happens, the bill passed by Congress supporting Israel's attack on Americans in international waters becomes a signed confession. Every member of Congress who voted for the bill, spoke out in support of Israel, indeed even the President who ordered the US ambassador to the United Nations to intervene at the UN and block an investigation, is now an admitted accessory after the fact in Israel's attack on a US-flagged ship and American citizens in international waters. Because Congress voted to commit this crime, add a conspiracy charge as well. Where is America's apology, President Pussy? When does Israel compensate the American activists for their lost equipment and for the death of that 19-year old kid from New York, shot in the head as he lay in the deck, members of Congress?
The government of Turkey has made laughing stocks out of all of you!
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Palestine Monitor
No One Was Safe
25-9-2010
"No one was safe", once Israeli soldiers began using live ammunition on board the Mavi Marmara, says an authoritative UN investigation team into the Israeli attacks on the Gaza aid flotilla. Their report is now going to be considered by the 57-member UN Human Rights Council next week that has the chance to finally ensure that Israel is held accountable for committing what the UNFFM found to be serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law including war crimes of wilful killing and torture.
The UNFFM found that Israeli military personnel used ‘incredible violence’ against civilians who the investigators describe as ‘persons genuinely committed to the spirit of humanitarianism’.
ENFORCEMENT IS ESSENTIAL - OTHERWISE ISRAEL WILL CONTINUE TO VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS WITH IMPUNITY
The British passengers who were on board the Gaza-bound aid flotilla have today welcomed the findings of a UN inquiry, which found a strong prima facie case of the commission of several war crimes. British passengers urge the UK government and Human Rights Council members to refer these war crimes allegations to the International Criminal Court.
The experts interviewed 112 witnesses in addition to receiving written representations by lawyers.[1] “All the passengers on board the ships comprising the flotilla who appeared before the Mission impressed the members as persons genuinely committed to the spirit of humanitarianism and imbued with a deep and genuine concern for the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza,” the report found.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unlawful, stated the report, as is the blockade and as was the interception of the flotilla. These findings underscore the legal arguments put forward by lawyers who have been working with the passengers since 31st May and who played a critical role in supporting the work of the UNFFM, supported in part by the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund.
The Mission recommends that the perpetrators of the attacks should be brought to justice. The Mission has indicated that these breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention could give rise to individual criminal responsibility.
British passenger Laura Stuart a 51 year old housewife from London responded by saying, Let’s hope this report can have some effect that might make Israelis think that they may in future be held accountable for their actions.
Daniel Machover, partner at London law firm Hickman and Rose, advising 29 of the 33 British passengers, said: “It is essential that the British Government now stops sitting on the fence and comes out very clearly in support of the protection and enforcement of human rights, including of their own nationals, several of whom were subject to some serious human rights violations and war crimes. That means the Government must refer the war crimes cases to the ICC without delay and must demand in clear terms that the Israeli authorities return every single item of property unlawfully seized from the British passengers, failing which the Government will take diplomatic measures and provide state funding for the passengers to bring civil and criminal claims in Israel.”
Mary Nazzal-Batayneh, Chairperson of the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund said, “This is a huge first step, however, we all still have a lot of work to do to make sure that these cases are pursued in court, securing genuine sanctions for the perpetrators and civil and criminal remedies for the survivors. As we all know, Israel has ignored UN criticism in the past and will continue to do so unless we take action to hold them genuinely to account. The nature of the attacks on the flotilla, against international passengers, creates unique legal opportunities to do so.”
The passengers and the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund have launched a fundraising campaign in order to ensure that cases are launched to to make the UN’s findings enforceable in international courts.
Notes [1] The UN FFM interviewed 112 witnesses. Some of their accounts are available at http://www.humanrightsfund.org/hrlaf-new...
ANNEX –KEY FINDINGS
The 56-page report forms a comprehensive indictment of Israeli actions, which includes these findings:
The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only totally disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It constituted “grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law”
‘Systematic humiliation and violent treatment of passengers’, and the ‘shocking’ and ‘gratuitous’ use of violence.’
No evidence that the passengers fired or had firearms (para 165)
No effort was made to minimise injuries at certain stages of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner. “It is difficult not to conclude that, once the order to use live fire had been given, no one was safe,” the report states. “It seems a matter of pure chance that there were not more fatalities as a result.” (para 169)
There was a “prevailing climate of fear of violence that had a dehumanizing effect on all those detained on board.” (para 178) Two passengers received wounds compatible with being shot at close range while lying on the ground (para 118) None of the four passengers who were killed in a separate incident - including a photographer - “posed any threat to the Israeli forces,” (para 120)
Force used by the Israeli soldiers in intercepting the Challenger I, the Sfendoni and the Eleftheri Mesogios was unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive and inappropriate and amounted to violations of the right to physical integrity (para 173)
The factual circumstances provide prima facie evidence that protected persons suffered violations of international humanitarian law including wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health within the terms of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions (para 182).
Passengers were “jeered at and taunted by the people on the quay,” in a way that passengers found to be “unsettling and humiliating.” (para 185)
Passengers were “beaten or physically abused for refusing to sign or for advising others not to sign,” papers at the airport.
Passengers were subjected to a series of meticulous searches, including strip searches with a number describing the process as being “deliberately degrading and humiliating, accompanied by taunts, provocative and insulting language and physical abuse.” (para 189). The wife of one of the deceased passengers was treated with complete insensitivity to her bereavement (para 194)
“Extreme and unprovoked” violence was perpetrated by uniformed Israeli personnel upon passengers at the airport, accounts of which were “so consistent and vivid as to be beyond question.” (para 202)
Unarmed passengers were baton charged at the airport, “In the foray,” the report states, “around 30 passengers were beaten to the ground, kicked and punched in a sustained attack by soldiers.”
A doctor clearly identified as such was kicked and punched (para 207) Israeli military and police personnel at the airport exhibited behaviour much of which “was surely criminal under domestic Israeli law.” (para 209)
The wounded were handcuffed to their beds using standard metal handcuffs and that sometimes their feed was shackled when they were held in Israeli hospitals.
The Israeli authorities confiscated a large amount of video and photographic footage and that this confiscation “represents a deliberate attempt by the Israeli authorities to suppress or destroy evidence, “ (paras 240-1)
Withholding and sometimes destroying private property of passengers “represents both a violation of rights related to property ownership and to the freedom of expression,” (para 245) In prison, passengers were subjected to “sleep deprivation and denial of access to a lawyer,” (para 251)
Acts of torture were committed by Israeli officials against passengers during their period of detention in Israel (para 219)
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Palestine Chronicle
Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla: A Revealing UN Rights Council Report
No request was made by the Israel Navy to inspect the cargo.
By Richard Lightbown
27-9-2010
Following Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May, the UN Human Rights Council elected to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law.
On 23 July the three-person Mission was appointed. It consisted of Chairman Karl Hudson-Phillips, retired Judge of the International Criminal Court and former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago; Sir Desmond de Silva, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Ms Mary Shanthi Dairiam, a specialist on international women’s rights. They were assisted by a large team including external specialists in forensic pathology, military issues, firearms, the law of the sea and international humanitarian law. The Mission began work in Geneva on 9 August and an advanced unedited edition of its report was published just over six weeks later on 22 September.
Israel’s response so far has been a 138 word statement declaring that Israel has always known how to investigate itself, praising the standards of the Turkel Committee, lambasting the Human Rights Council and declaring that it sees no reason to cooperate with the ‘commission’ whose report it will nonetheless read and study.
The Mission began by jettisoning the assumptions in its remit. Instead of assuming that criminal activity had taken place it began with the general consensus that there had been an interception by Israeli forces of a flotilla of ships carrying cargos of a humanitarian nature. It next had to consider its continued existence in the context of the establishment of a Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident by the UN Secretary General, (to the accompaniment of calls from the U.S. Administration and the government of Israel for the Mission to be disbanded). However since the UN Panel was only to review reports of investigations by the governments of Israel and Turkey in order to recommend ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future, the Mission considered its remit to be different and declined to give way to calls from vested interests. On 18 August the government of Israel stated in writing its position of non-recognition and non-cooperation with the Mission.
In its assessments the Mission gave particular weight to direct evidence from eye witnesses amongst the passengers and crew, forensic evidence and interviews with government officials. Because of the very limited and selective disclosure from the large amount of photographic evidence held by Israel, the Mission had felt obliged to treat with extreme caution material released by Israeli authorities which did not correspond with evidence of eyewitnesses.
For its data collection the Mission had held interviews in London, Geneva, Istanbul and Amman with 112 flotilla veterans (a sample of more than 15%). Further written statements were received from several persons through attorneys. It had travelled to Iskenderun to visit the three ships (Mavi Marmara, Defney Y and Gazze I) which had been released by Israel, where it would have been able to see at first hand the bullet holes that Israeli authorities had filled and painted over. Members had visited the Ataturk hospital in Ankara, where many of the injured where taken on their arrival in Turkey (and where some still remain in a critical condition). There had also been meetings with NGOs in Geneva, Istanbul and Amman. Despite the Israeli stance the Mission had been able to secure some of transcripts of evidence given to the Turkel inquiry, although transcripts of evidence given in closed session were unavailable to it.
Of the four inquiries into the raid, (the others are an internal IDF inquiry led by General Eiland; Israel’s own commission of inquiry, the Turkel Commission; and the UN Panel) this is the most experienced in international law, the most independent and the only one to personally interview any of the flotilla members. (One can assume than Eiland had access to information from Shin Bet interrogations conducted at Ashdod and elsewhere, and that possibly some of this may have filtered through to the other two inquiries.) This then is probably the most comprehensive and authoritative account we are likely to get on this infamous event, and unless and until there is any prosecution in an international court, its legal findings will remain those most acceptable to independent observers. For this alone we should be very grateful that the Mission stayed the course and completed its remit. Turkel and the UN Panel are yet to report their findings and it will be interesting to see how they respond, if at all, to this authoritative information that is now in the public domain.
After an introduction the report begins a background section with an overview of the restrictions on maritime access to the Gaza Strip, including the naval blockade, Israel’s claims of a legal basis for the blockade and with mention of the closed areas arbitrarily imposed by Israel on 28 May in advance of the arrival of the flotilla. (The Mission received testimony that these latter closure orders were not gazetted.)
It then moves on to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, referring to UN Security Council Resolutions 1850 and 1860; a United Nations joint statement of 31 May 2010; the statement by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations on 1 June 2010; the public statement issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on 14 June 2010; and the Human Rights Committee observations of July 2010. Particular attention is given to information on Gaza provided by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which described to the Mission:
• Deteriorating public services;
• Widespread poverty;
• Food insecurity;
• Greater than 40 percent unemployment;
• 80 percent aid dependence;
• A rise in the number of refugees experiencing abject poverty from 100,000 to 300,000 since the imposition of the blockade;
• 61 percent of households as being food insecure, with resulting concerns over mineral and vitamin deficiencies;
• The protracted energy crisis which causes scheduled power cuts of eight to twelve hours per day, with knock-on effects of partial food refrigeration;
• More than 40 percent water loss due to leakages;
• Eight million litres of untreated and partially treated sewage discharged per day;
• Only five to ten percent of extracted water considered potable because of sewage infiltration of the aquifer.
OCHA reported that despite Israel’s easing of restrictions announced on 20 June 2010, goods passing into Gaza during the week of 18 to 24 August 2010 amounted to only 37 percent of the weekly average of truckloads for the first five months of 2007. The Mission report also refers to the ICRC press release of 7 September 2010 highlighting the risk to people’s lives by the power cuts, citing dialysis patients.
(The Prime Minister of Israel, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, testified to the Turkel Commission on 9 August that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the blockade. It will be very interesting therefore to see how Turkel reports that situation.)
The section finishes with some data on recent hostilities in 2010 which record 120 rockets fired from Gaza (up until the end of July) killing one Vietnamese worker in Israel. During a similar period OCHA reported 27 Palestinian combatants killed and 24 injured, three Israeli soldiers killed and eight injured, while fourteen Palestinian civilians were killed and 154 injured. (These data do not mention the Maltese humanitarian worker injured this year by IDF fire in Gaza.)
In the section on applicable law and the blockade the Mission carefully reasons its way through the laws of armed conflict, while paying due regard to Article 51 of the UN Charter referring to self-defence. Having considered the severe humanitarian situation, the destruction of the economy and the prevention of reconstruction in Gaza it declared itself satisfied that the blockade was inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population. Therefore the interception could not be justified and was illegal. With regard to the right to visit and inspect, and to control destinations of neutral vessels it took the view that a right of interference with a third State’s freedom of navigation should not lightly be presumed. With regard to belligerent rights it considered there to be no imminent threat and therefore on this point also the intervention was illegal. In concluding it declared the enforcement of an illegal blockade to be both a violation of the laws of war and of the laws of neutrality giving rise to State responsibility.
Under International Humanitarian Law the Mission declared that the flotilla passengers (and presumably also the crew who were not mentioned here) were civilians and therefore should have been regarded as protected persons. The Mission was also of the view that International Human Rights Law applied to the conduct of the IDF on board the Mavi Marmara as well as to the ensuing conduct of the authorities. Non-derogable rights include the right to life, and the right not to be subjugated to torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Each State party is obliged to respect these rights even in this case where the event was not initially situated within the territory of the State party.
The main body of the report which deals with the raid and ensuing detention of passengers and crew, begins with a brief summation of the activities of the Free Gaza Movement. This is followed by a description of the composition of the flotilla and some comments on the preparations beginning with the commitment of all flotilla organizations to resist interception only by non-violent means, followed by reference to the stringent security employed to eliminate weapons on the ships. The report comments on the lack of consistency of the participating organizations in choosing prospective passengers.
Despite mentioning engine problems to the Challenger II and delays to the Rachel Corrie the report makes no reference to Israeli sabotage which is considered to have caused a broken steerage system on the former (along with a similar fault on Challenger I) which could have resulted in the wreck of both vessels. Sabotage to the propeller and exhaust of the Rachel Corrie is considered to have resulted in the need for £37,000 worth of repairs to the ship and delayed its passage towards Gaza.
The Mission considered the primary purpose of the flotilla to be political, mentioning in justification the rejection of the Irish Government’s proposal for the Rachel Corrie’s cargo to be transferred to Gaza via Ashdod, and the apparent lack of a clear logistical plan to unload the 10,000 tons of aid at the limited port facilities in Gaza. This conclusion is arrived at despite the testimony of two witnesses that IHH had been preparing cranes to off-load the cargo into smaller boats and the existence of a crane on the Eleftheri Mesogios. Nearly four months after the event the offer to unload all of the cargo of the Rachel Corrie at Ashdod for transhipment to Gaza in front of the world’s press while allowing the ship to depart seems a much better deal than having the ship illegally impounded at Haifa (including up until mid-July at least, all of its 3,500 tons of cement plus other construction materials). Five days after the murderous raid on the Mavi Marmara the Irish activists should not be blamed for mistrusting Israeli intentions and following their emotions. However the Mission does seem to have underestimated the resolve of the flotilla to get to Gaza and the initiative of the people there to find ways to unload the ships. Many individuals on the ships were carrying large sums of money because at the outset they had every expectation that because of the size of the fleet they would prevail and arrive in Gaza. Militants on the Mavi Marmara fought (and in some cases died) for the right of the ship to get to Gaza, not to achieve political fame. The Mission seems to be out of synch here in its understanding of activists who have at great personal cost put together this huge private aid package in defiance of one of the most influential states on the planet. That it gained worldwide attention was an obvious bonus, but it is an insult to the integrity of all of these people to in any way suggest that this was merely a publicity stunt.
Israeli plans for interception began to be formulated in mid-April. Passengers on the flotilla began to become aware of the full intentions on 30 May and plans to defend the ship began to be prepared at that time. The Mission reference to video evidence of a meeting of between 50 and 100 passengers on board the Mavi Marmara on 30 May presumably refers to a video first put out by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18 June. I had always assumed that this had in fact been filmed before the ship left Istanbul since the Yemeni MP Abdul-Khaliq Bin Shihon appears with his traditional Yemeni knife that has been used to such great effect in Israeli publicity. (He was later prevailed upon to pack it away in his luggage where it remained during the raid, but was later found when the soldiers searched all the baggage and has since featured prominently in all the photographs of so-called ‘weapons caches’.)
It is from this point on where the personal testimonies of the passengers give considerable detail to the account. Thus we learn that the disc cutter used to cut lengths of railings came from the ship’s workshop, which was not locked. (Israeli accounts have said it was brought on board at Istanbul.) The gas masks which have been graphically described as indicative of premeditated terrorism apparently were breathing apparatus that was part of the standard fire-fighting equipment of the ship. These desperate late efforts at defensive preparations on the night of the 30/31 May have convinced the Mission authors that no weapons had been brought on board the ship.
Prior to the raid the report notes that no request was made by the Israel Navy to inspect the cargo. Regarding the disputed racist audio recordings released by the Israel Navy, the Mission declares itself ‘not satisfied’ as to their authenticity.
The report found that the attack began shortly before 0430 hours by zodiacs approaching the Mavi Marmara from the stern firing smoke and stun grenades, tear-gas and paintballs. The Mission rejects claims that live ammunition was fired at all from the zodiacs, although significantly it has concluded that live ammunition was fired from the first helicopter onto the top deck prior to the descent of the soldiers. This removes all validity to claims of self-defence on the part of the commandos who can be regarded as the lethal aggressors. However the refutation of live fire from the zodiacs may still be an incorrect conclusion. Al Jazeera news producer Jamal Elshayyal has stated that tear gas and sound grenade fire from the sea became live fire moments after shooting occurred from the helicopter. It is difficult to reject the first hand testimony of such an experienced journalist and reasoning would corroborate his statement. Senior Israeli naval commanders, including Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom were present in a fast vessel alongside the ship. It seems reasonable to assume that live fire was not initiated without a direct order from one of these officers, probably Mr Marom himself. It would also seem a fair assumption that the same order would be given to the zodiacs at the same time, which would correspond precisely with the first-hand testimony of Mr Elshayyal.
Also of important significance is the report’s rejection of Israeli claims that passengers either used firearms or brought them aboard the ship. The Mission had sought medical records or other substantiating information regarding firearm injuries sustained by soldiers from the Israeli authorities but had received nothing in reply. Israeli accounts on this matter given at various public hearings had proved to be inconsistent and contradictory, resulting in their rejection.
The report’s observation that the majority of gunshot wounds received by passengers were to their upper torsos is an important corroboration for the complainants to the BBC Panorama programme which portrayed the IDF as having shown restraint during the course of the raid. The report also describes in some detail how 41 soldiers were landed from three helicopters onto the top deck in a fifteen minute period during which, after taking control of that deck, they effectively ran amok with a variety of sophisticated weaponry amongst the civilians on the outside decks of the ship. The lethal results of this turkey shoot as given in considerable detail. Details are also given of the wounding of Uður Suleyman Söylemez who remains in a coma in Ankara hospital. No information was given on a second casualty described by Greta Berlin on 13 July as also not being expected to live. There is much general detail on the subsequent maltreatment of passengers thirteen of whom received first degree burns from being forced to kneel in the sun, and at least 55 of whom suffered injuries from over tightened handcuffs. Similar abuse is recorded from three of the other ships. The report mentions that a man (actually Dr Paul Larudee) jumped from the Sfendoni into the sea where he was later picked up by another boat. It does not record the testimony of Dr Hasan Nowrah that having given the soldiers the run around, the 64-year-old Dr Larudee was punched twice, pushed underwater, punched again, pushed back under the water, finally dragged onto the zodiac, punched again and his head slammed onto the deck before his wrists and ankles were tied. (Dr Larudee’s courageous resistance on concomitant beatings continued throughout his detention.)
On the legal analysis of the interception the reports states:
“…lethal force was employed by the Israeli soldiers in a widespread and arbitrary manner which caused an unnecessarily large number of persons to be killed or seriously injured.”
It considered that such a well-trained force should have been able to secure the ship under the prevailing circumstances without the loss of life or serious injury to either passengers or soldiers.
(It might be appropriate however to consider just how good this allegedly elite force actually is. A number of witnesses and reports have commented on the fear that was apparent amongst the young soldiers. In the words of Laura Stuart, which seem appropriate to a number of examples during the raid, it showed that:
‘if you take the gun from an Israeli soldier, he is just a coward hiding behind the gun’.
Joe Meadors in concurrence said,
“They’re purported to be the best in the world but when you go up against them they’re just a bunch of rag-tag people who think they can do no wrong.)”
The reality of the barbaric behaviour of this ‘rag-tag bunch of people’ is scattered through the report:
• no effort was made to minimise injuries at certain stages of the operation(paragraph 169);
• the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner (paragraph 169);
• the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution (paragraph 170);
• It is apparent that a number of the passengers on the top deck were subjected to further mistreatment while lying injured (paragraph 171);
• The Mission is satisfied that much of the force used by the Israeli soldiers …was unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive and inappropriate (paragraph 172);
• During the period of detention… the passengers were subjected to treatment that was cruel and inhuman in nature… (paragraph 178).
(One word has been avoided throughout the report, which would cover many cases of deliberate infliction of pain and injury. For example where over tightened handcuffs were deliberately further tightened, or where police cadets who had brutally dragged a detainee down an escalator promptly indulged in swapping high fives. The word that covers enjoyment of cruelty to others is ‘sadistic’, and its use would not have been inappropriate in this report.)
The detention at Ashdod is considered by the Mission to be prima facie unlawful since there was no legal basis for the passengers and crew to have been transported there. Amongst the widespread gratuitous brutality and illegality discovered by the Mission it had found evidence of:
• torture,
• unacceptable behaviour towards women,
• breaches of the Third Geneva Convention,
• grave violations of the required protection afforded to detainees,
• breaches of Codes of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials,
• breaches of other detention rights,
• misinformation with regard to deportation papers,
• denial of legal counsel,
• denial of contact with families,
• denial of prompt medical attention.
The widespread theft of property and assets was considered contrary amongst other legislation to Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 97 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. No details were given on the seizure and continuing illegal holding of four of the ships (along with Spirit of Humanity which was seized in 2008). However considerable detail was given of the extensive and widespread theft and vandalism to ship’s equipment which had occurred to the Mavi Marmara while it was held in Israeli control.
Commenting on accountability the Mission, perhaps naively, noted:
“It is hoped that on this occasion the Israeli authorities and those concerned will carry out prompt, independent and impartial judicial investigations of violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
In its concluding section the report refers to totally unnecessary and incredible violence and unacceptable level of brutality. Restricted by time constraints the Mission was unable to compile a comprehensive list of offences, but it considered that there is clear evidence to support prosecution for:
• wilful killing;
• torture or inhuman treatment;
• wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.
This is an important report that has been prepared by people who believe in justice and human rights, against the wishes of people who indulge in the widespread denial of those same virtues. It is to be hoped that perhaps one day the international community of nations will find the integrity to support the prosecution called for here.
- Richard Lightbown has researched a review of media sources on the flotilla raid and a critique of BBC Panorama’s programme ‘Death in the Med’.
Source
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UN
UN RIGHTS PROBE INTO GAZA FLOTILLA INCIDENT REBUKES ISRAEL FOR ‘UNNECESSARY’ VIOLENCE
27-9-2010
Israel demonstrated “totally unnecessary violence” during its interception of the Gaza-bound flotilla on 31 May, the head of the fact-finding mission appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council said today.
Nine civilians lost their lives and several more were seriously injured in the incident against the flotilla of aid ships that departed from Turkey and were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been the subject of an Israeli blockade since 2007.
The mission – which is distinct from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s four-member panel of inquiry into the same incident – found that the conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the passengers on the flotilla was “disproportionate and excessive,” its chairperson, Justice Karl Hudson-Phillips, told the Geneva-based Council.
“They demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary violence,” he added, as he presented the findings contained in the mission’s 56-page report, which also found that serious violations of both humanitarian and human rights law occurred during and after the incident.
The report, which was made public last week, presents a factual description of the events leading up to the interception of each of the six ships in the flotilla as well as a seventh ship intercepted on 6 June, the deaths of nine passengers and wounding of many others, and the detention of passengers in Israel and their deportation.
It states that no arms or weapons of an offensive nature were taken on board any of the vessels of the flotilla except for a few catapults, according to Justice Hudson-Phillips. When it appeared that Israeli forces intended to board one of the ships, the Mavi Marmara, a very small group of the passengers armed themselves with pieces of wood and iron cut from the ship’s railings.
There was no evidence that any gunfire was directed from the Mavi Marmara towards the boats bearing Israeli soldiers, he added. However, both live ammunition and non-lethal fire were used from helicopters while the soldiers were descending to the ship’s deck.
“The Israeli soldiers used live ammunition on the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, killing nine and injuring over 50 with live bullets; six of the deceased were the victims of summary executions, two of whom were shot after they were severely injured and could not defend themselves,” said the chair.
The mission, which interviewed more than 100 witnesses in Geneva, London, Istanbul and Amman during the course of its work, also found that once the Israeli forces took complete control of the Mavi Marmara, passengers with few exceptions were kept handcuffed and kneeling for hours.
“Passengers were assaulted by being kicked and gun-butted. Passengers on three of the other vessels were also subjected to unnecessary violence by Israeli forces as they took control,” stated the chair.
Justice Hudson-Phillips said that when they finally disembarked at the port of Ashdod, attempts were made to get them to sign confessions that they had entered Israel illegally – some of those who refused to sign or give their fingerprints were further beaten.
“The treatment on shore was a continuation of the treatment onboard ship after the military had taken control,” he reported, adding that, at the end of the ordeal, passengers had to endure further violence including beatings prior to deportation at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
In addition to Justice Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the mission comprised Sir Desmond de Silva, Queen’s Counsel, who was chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, human rights expert of Malaysia and former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Sep 27 2010 4:10PM
Source
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Truthout
UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan
by Gareth Porter
Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was aboard the Mavi Marmara when he was killed by Israeli commandos. (Photo: freegazaorg; Edited: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)
27-9-2010
The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style at point blank range by Israeli commandos, and that five other passengers were killed in similar circumstances.
The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.
The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.
The forensic evidence that establishes that fact is "tattooing around the wound in his face," indicating that the shot was "delivered at point blank range" The report describes the forensic evidence as showing that "the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back."
Based on both "forensic and firearm evidence," the fact-finding panel concluded that Dogan's killing and that of five Turkish citizens by the Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmari May 31 "can be characterized as extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions." (See Report [.pdf] Page 38, Section 170)
The report confirmed what the Obama administration already knew from the autopsy report on Dogan, but the administration has remained silent about the killing of Dogan, which could be an extremely difficult political problem for the administration in its relations with Israel.
The Turkish government gave the autopsy report on Dogan to the US Embassy in July and it was then passed on to the Department of Justice, according to a US government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the administration's policy of silence on the matter. The source said the purpose of obtaining the report was to determine whether an investigation of the killing by the Justice Department (DOJ) was appropriate.
Asked by this writer whether the DOJ had received the autopsy report on Dogan, DOJ spokesperson Laura Sweeney refused to comment.
The administration has not volunteered any comment on the fact-finding mission report and was not asked to do so by any news organization. Although the report's revelations and conclusions about the killing of Dogan and the five other victims were widely reported in the Turkish media last week, not a single story on the report has appeared in US news media.
The administration has made it clear through its inaction and its explicit public posture that it has no intention of pressing the issue of the murder of a US citizen in cold blood by Israeli commandos.
On June 13, two weeks after the Mavi Marmara attack, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying that Israel "should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security" and that Israel's military justice system "meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation."
Another passenger whom forensic evidence shows was killed execution-style, according to the OHCHR report, is Ibrahim Bilgen, a 60-year-old Turkish citizen. Bilgen is believed by forensics experts to have been shot initially from the helicopter above the Mavi Marmara and then shot in the side of the head while lying seriously wounded.
The fact-finding mission was given forensic evidence that, after the initial shot in chest from above, Bilgen was shot in the head with a "soft baton round at such close proximity that an entire bean bag and its wadding penetrated the skull and lodged in the chest from above," the mission concluded.
"Soft baton rounds" are supposed to be fired for nonlethal purposes at a distance and aimed only at the stomach, but are lethal when fired at the head, especially from close range.
The forensic evidence cited by the fact-finding mission on the killing of Dogan and five other passengers came from both the autopsy reports and pathology reports done by forensic personnel in Turkey and from interviews with those who wrote the reports. Experts in forensic pathology and firearms assisted the mission in interpreting that forensic evidence.
The account, provided by the OHCHR of the events on board the Mavi Marmara on its way to help break the economic siege of Gaza May 31 of this year, refutes the version of events aggressively pushed by the Israeli military and supports the testimony of passengers on board.
The report suggests that, from the beginning, Israeli policy viewed the Gaza flotilla as an opportunity to use lethal force against pro-Hamas activists. It quotes testimony by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak before the Israeli government's Turkel Committee that specific orders were given by the Israeli government "to continue intelligence tracking of the flotilla organizers with an emphasis on the possibility that amongst the passengers in the flotilla there were terror elements who would attempt to harm Israeli forces."
The idea that the passenger list would be seeded with terrorists determined to attack Israeli defense forces appears to have been a ploy to justify treating the operation as likely to require the use of military force against the passengers.
When details of the Israeli plan to forcibly take over the ships in the flotilla were published in the Israeli press on May 30, the passengers on board the Mavi Marmara realized that the Israelis might use deadly force against them. Some leaders of the IHH (the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid), which had purchased the ships for the mission, were advocating defending the boat against the Israeli boarding attempt, whereas other passengers advocated nonviolence only.
That led to efforts to create improvised weapons from railings and other equipment on the Mavi Marmara. However, the commission concluded that there was no evidence of any firearms having being taken aboard the ship, as charged by Israel.
The report notes that the Israeli military never communicated a request by radio to inspect the cargo on board any of the ships, apparently contradicting the official justification given by the Israeli government for the military attack on the Mavi Marmara and other ships of preventing any military contraband from reaching Gaza.
According to the OHCHR report, Israeli Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi testified to the Turkel Committee August 11 that the initial rules of engagement for the operation prohibited live fire except in life-threatening situations, but that that they were later modified to target protesters "deemed to be violent" in response to the resistance by passengers.
That decision apparently followed the passengers' successful repulsion of an Israeli effort to board the ship from Zodiac boats.
The report confirms that, from the beginning of the operation, passengers were fired on by helicopters flying above the Mavi Marmara to drop commandos on the deck.
Contrary to Israeli claims that one or more Israeli troops were wounded by firearms, the report says no medical evidence of a gunshot wound to an Israeli soldier was found.
The OHCHR report confirms accounts from passengers on the Mavi Marmara that defenders subdued roughly ten Israeli commandos, took their weapons from them and threw them in the sea, except for one weapon hidden as evidence. The Israeli soldiers were briefly sequestered below and some were treated for wounds before being released by the defenders.
The OHCHR fact-finding mission will certainly be the most objective, thorough and in-depth inquiry into the events on board the Mavi Marmara and other ships in the flotilla of the four that have been announced.
The fact-finding mission was chaired by Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Q.C., retired judge of the International Criminal Court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago, and included Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C. of the United Kingdom, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and Ms. Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, founding member of the board of directors of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific.
The mission interviewed 112 eyewitnesses to the Israeli attack in London, Geneva, Istanbul and Amman, Jordan. The Israeli government refused to cooperate with the fact-finding mission by making personnel involved in both planning and carrying out the attack available to be interviewed.
The Turkish governments announced its own investigation of the Israeli attack on August 10. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the formation of a "Panel of Inquiry" on August 2, but its mandate was much more narrowly defined. It was given the mission to "receive and review the reports of the national investigations with the view to recommending ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future."
Source
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Israel Lobby
VN concludeert: Israël kan en moet vervolgd worden
De VN-commissie voor de Mensenrechten veroordeelde gisteren in niet mis te verstane woorden de Israëlische aanval op het Free Gaza hulpkonvooi en meent dat Israël kan en moet vervolgd worden. En opeens is het doodstil in Den Haag.
"The fact-finding mission concluded that a series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation."
"Principally, the action of the IDF in intercepting the Mavi Marmara in the circumstances and for the reasons given on the high sea was clearly unlawful. Specifically, the action cannot be justified in the circumstances even under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter."
"There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention".
Binnen 24 uur na de aanval op het hulpkonvooi wist onze minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Maxime Verhagen, na instructies van de Israëlische ambassadeur, te melden dat 'Israël moest ingrijpen', en dat Israël 'het recht' had om de schepen te enteren. Deze uitspraken waren helemaal nergens op gebaseerd, omdat nog niemand wist wat zich precies had afgespeeld. Maar Verhagen's reflex om Israël tegen welke kritiek dan ook te beschermen is altijd sterker gebleken dan welk feit dan ook. Voor de vorm voegde Verhagen er aan toe dat er wel een officieel en gedegen onderzoek moest komen. Dat kwam er, dus applaus van Verhagen? integendeel, hij was er ineens op tegen. Waarom? Omdat Verhagen consequent tegen elk onderzoek naar de handelingen van Israël is dat niet door Israël zelf wordt uitgevoerd.
Ik heb nog nooit een politicus meegemaakt die naar eigen zeggen de mensenrechten tot speerpunt van zijn beleid heeft gemaakt, die zo intensief mensenrechtenschendingen verdedigt. Maar zelfs de zogenaamde critici van Israël in ons parlement, dus ook in de zogeheten oppositie, durven het beleid van Verhagen niet in twijfel te trekken. Want zo zit onze parlementaire democratie in elkaar: politieke macht gaat voor mensenrechten en internationaal recht. Uitingen van compassie voor het Palestijnse volk vormen slechts een moreel vernisje over een zwart gat waarin moraliteit en internationale solidariteit totaal ontbreekt, en politieke macht de enige drijfveer is.
Samenvatting uitspraak VN-commissie Mensenrechten:
• de actie was 'volkomen onnodig'
• de actie was 'ongelooflijk gewelddadig'
• de actie was disproportioneel
• de actie was onwettig
• er zijn duidelijke bewijzen van "wilful killing"
• er zijn duidelijke bewijzen van "torture or inhuman treatment"
• er zijn duidelijke bewijzen van "wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health"
• in beslag genomen goederen moeten nog steeds worden teruggegeven
• de slachtoffers moeten gecompenseerd worden
•de stigmatisering van de slachtoffers moet stoppen
• veiligheid was geen rechtvaardiging
• Israel schond de mensenrechten
• Israël schond het internationaal recht
• de blokkade van Gaza is onwettig ('collectieve straf')
• Israël kan en moet vervolgd worden
De laatste zinnen in het rapport:
"The Mission sincerely hopes that no impediment will be put in the way of those who suffered loss as a result of the unlawful actions of the Israeli military to be compensated adequately and promptly. It is hoped that there will be swift action by the Government of Israel. This will go a long way to reversing the regrettable reputation which that country has for impunity and intransigence in international affairs. It will also assist those who genuinely sympathise with their situation to support them without being stigmatised."
Op daadwerkelijke veroordeling en vervolging van Israël hoeven we niet te rekenen want Israël is voor de meeste zogenoemde democratische Westerse regeringen nog steeds de heiligste schurkenstaat in het Midden Oosten die al zijn misdaden ongestrafd mag blijven plegen.
Bron
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Daily Kos
Willful Killing – The UNHRC Gaza Flotilla Report
by InAntalya
23-9-2010
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released its report on the Israeli boarding and seizure of the vessels which participated in the Gaza Aid Flotilla on May 31, 2010.
The report is 56 pages long and has 4 annexes. It finds that the Israeli blockade of Gaza is illegal, that the boarding and seizure of the vessels was illegal, that the detention of the passengers was illegal, that Israel tortured the passengers, that the confiscation of the passengers’ possessions was illegal and that the nine passengers who died were willfully killed.
Those are the two words which cause me the most pain – willful killing. As many of you know I watched the Mavi Marmara depart from Antalya on its way to Gaza. I saw the people on it. I have also become friends with Ahmet Dogan, the father of Furkan Dogan who was so horribly killed by the IDF commandos on the Mavi Marmara. (bold H.)
Furkan was on the top open deck of the Mavi Marmara when the first Israeli helicopter arrived. He was holding a video camera and filming the helicopter. He was shot twice in the leg by IDF commandos before any commandos fast-roped down from the helicopter.
If you look at the famous, but short, video which shows Israeli commandos fast-roping down from the first helicopter, you can see a glimpse of him and another passenger lying on the deck.
Furkan was later shot three more times by IDF commandos, including once in the face at point blank range, and killed. The other passenger who was with him was also later shot in the face at point blank range but he survived.
I have talked to Furkan’s father and he is happy that an international body has recognized that his son was cruelly and wrongfully killed. He is looking forward to the UN Security Council report and he believes it will reinforce the UNHRC’s report.
I will be visiting Furkan’s grave next week.
---
The members of the panel are:
Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Q.C., retired Judge of the International Criminal
Court and former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, (Chairman)
Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C. of the United Kingdom, former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone
Ms. Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, founding member of the Board of Directors of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific and former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Source
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Sabah
Guilty As Charged: UN Report on Gaza Flotilla Massacre
by Stephen Lendman
On September 22, Reuters headlined the news, saying:
"UN Experts Condemn Israel Attack on Gaza Flotilla"
25-9-2010
It explained that the UN Human Rights Council's (HRC) "panel of international experts" concluded what was obvious on day one – that Israel's international water attack "was unlawful and resulted in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law…."
A one paragraph AP report said the same thing. America's leading paper, The New York Times (always pro-Israeli), published the above two accounts, not its own, ducking its responsibility to do in detail.
In contrast, Israeli papers covered it prominently, including Haaretz headlining, "UN Human Rights Council: Israel flotilla raid broke international law," saying:
"The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate."
Israel's response was unsurprising, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor saying:
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself."
True on the last point, but it never does nor will it. False on the others. As honest observers know, Israel is a lawless, undemocratic, pariah state believing in Jewish exclusivity above all other religions. As a result, its 1,548,000 Israeli Arabs (as of spring 2010) have no rights. In addition, the four million + in Gaza and the West Bank (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics mid-2010 figures) have been persecuted under military occupation for over 43 years, living in constant terror.
Balad Party MK Hanin Zuabi, on board the Mavi Marmara mother ship, praised the HRC's report, saying "the criminals who ordered and carried out the raid should be brought to justice." More on Israeli retribution against her below.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said "Now it's required to be a mechanism in order to translate this report into action and to bring occupation commanders to trial for the crimes they committed." Indeed so, but no measures whatever have been proposed or implemented.
Source
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de Koele Analyticus
VN: twee van de gedoden op de Mavi Marmara schoten … film en foto’s
25-9-2010
Deze week verscheen een
VN-rapport over de Israëlische aanval op de Mavi Marmara. Het
blijkt dat Israël buitenproportioneel geweld gebruikte en dat
veel van de gedoden geen enkele bedreiging vormden voor de
Israëlische soldaten.
Tijdens de eerste fase van de aanval, de verovering van het bovenste dek, vielen vier doden. Het rapport schrijft hierover:
“Tenminste één van de gedoden was bezig met een videocamera en was niet betrokken bij enig geweld tegen de soldaten.” (§ 117)
“Israëlische soldaten gingen door met schieten op passagiers die al verwond waren, met scherp, met zgn. ‘bean bags’ en met plastic kogels. Forensische analyse laat zien dat twee van de passagiers die op het bovenste dek werden gedood verwondingen hadden die overeenkomen met schoten van vlak bij terwijl men op de grond ligt: Furkan Dogan kreeg een kogel in het gezicht en Ibrahim Bilgen kreeg een fatale wond van een ‘bean bag’ die van zo dicht bij zijn hoofd werd afgeschoten dat delen zoals watten zijn schedel penetreerden en in zijn hersens terecht kwamen.” (§ 118)
geen van de passagiers
[op het ondergelegen dek]
vormde enig gevaar
Nadat het bovenste dek veroverd was volgde de verovering van het ondergelegen dek. Daarbij vielen nog eens vier doden, waarover het rapport schrijft:
“Geen van de vier passagiers die gedood werden, inclusief een fotograaf die foto’s aan het nemen was … vormde enig gevaar voor de Israëlische strijdmacht. Er werd flink met scherp geschoten door Israëlische soldaten op het bovenste dek en een aantal passagiers werd verwond of gedood terwijl ze probeerden door een deur te vluchten of anderen daarbij te helpen.” (§ 120)
Een negende passagier werd door een patrijspoort doodgeschoten. (§ 122)
wat Israël onder “zelfverdediging”
verstaat lijkt meer op executie
Alhoewel het VN-rapport het steeds neutraal over “doden” heeft, lijkt het mij duidelijk dat wat Israël onder “zelfverdediging” verstaat meer op executie lijkt.
------------------------Mondoweiss
UN: Two men killed on ‘Mavi Marmara’ were holding cameras when they were shot
by Philip Weiss
25-9-2010
We've failed to post anything on the United Nations Human Rights Council's report issued three days ago on the Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla last May that found that Israel had committed grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law. But big deal we're late--the mainstream media have largely ignored the report.
I have to read the report through. But here's the UN link. I see that the report describes the operation as disproportionate, with "unnecessary and incredible" violence, and "an unacceptable level of brutality."
And glancing at the narrative, the report finds that two of the 9 men killed in the raid, including American Furkan Dogan, were holding cameras and using them to film the Israeli invaders when they were shot. Additionally-- despite the sticks and catapults that some passengers used on the commandos-- the four people killed on the lower, bridge deck were not posing any physical threat to the raiders, who were then on the top deck, and in fact were trying to get out of the way.
Also notice the description of Gaza conditions as an unacceptable disgrace in the 21st century and the poetical language about Jewish victimhood (as I read it anyway) near the end-- Jews must find the strength to pluck from their memory rooted sorrows. Excerpts:
The Mission does not find it plausible that soldiers were holding their weapons and firing as they descended on the rope [from the helicopter]. However, it has concluded that live ammunition was used from the helicopter onto the top deck prior to the descent of the soldiers.... Further, the Mission finds that the Israeli accounts so inconsistent and contradictory with regard to evidence of alleged firearms injuries to Israeli soldiers that it has to reject it..
At least one of those killed [on the top deck, American Furkan Dogan] was using a video camera and not involved in any of the fighting with the soldiers....
Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition both from the top deck at passengers on the bridge deck below and after they had moved down to the bridge deck. At least four passengers were killed,73 and at least nine injured (five with firearms injuries) during this phase. None of the four passengers who were killed, including a photographer who at the time of being shot was engaged in taking photographs [Cevdet Kiliclar] and was shot by an Israeli soldier positioned on the top deck above, posed any threat to the Israeli forces. There was considerable live fire from Israeli soldiers on the top deck and a number of passengers were injured or killed whilst trying to take refuge inside the door or assisting other to do so...
The Mission is not alone in finding that a deplorable situation exists in Gaza. It has been characterized as ‘unsustainable’. This is totally intolerable and unacceptable in the 21st Century. It is amazing that anyone could characterise the condition of the people there as satisfying the most basic of acceptable standards. The parties and the international community are urged to find the solution that will address all legitimate security concern of
both Israel and the people of Palestine both of whom are equally entitled to “their place under the heavens”. The apparent dichotomy in this case between the competing right of security and the right to a decent living can only be resolved if old antagonisms are subordinated to a sense of justice and fair play. One has to find the strength to pluck from the memory rooted sorrows and to move on....
It is hoped that there will be swift action by the Government of Israel. This will go a long way to reversing the regrettable reputation which that country has for impunity and intransigence in international affairs.
Source
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Free Gaza
PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - PALESTINE LEGAL AID FUND
NO ONE WAS SAFE: UN INQUIRY INTO ISRAEL’S FLOTILLA RAID
23-9-2010
No one was safe,’ once Israeli soldiers began using live ammunition on board the Mavi Marmara, says an authoritative UN investigation team into the Israeli attacks on the Gaza aid flotilla.
Their report is now going to be considered by the 57-member UN Human Rights Council next week that has the chance to finally ensure that Israel is held accountable for committing what the UNFFM found to be serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law including war crimes of wilful killing and torture.
The UNFFM found that Israeli military personnel used ‘incredible violence’ against civilians who the investigators describe as ‘persons genuinely committed to the spirit of humanitarianism’.
ENFORCEMENT IS ESSENTIAL - OTHERWISE ISRAEL WILL CONTINUE TO VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS WITH IMPUNITY
The British passengers who were on board the Gaza-bound aid flotilla have today welcomed the findings of a UN inquiry, which found a strong prima facie case of the commission of several war crimes.
British passengers urge the UK government and Human Rights Council members to refer these war crimes allegations to the International Criminal Court.
The experts interviewed 112 witnesses in addition to receiving written representations by lawyers.[1] “All the passengers on board the ships comprising the flotilla who appeared before the Mission impressed the members as persons genuinely committed to the spirit of humanitarianism and imbued with a deep and genuine concern for the welfare of the inhabitants of Gaza,” the report found.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unlawful, stated the report, as is the blockade and as was the interception of the flotilla. These findings underscore the legal arguments put forward by lawyers who have been working with the passengers since 31st May and who played a critical role in supporting the work of the UNFFM, supported in part by the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund.
The Mission recommends that the perpetrators of the attacks should be brought to justice. The Mission has indicated that these breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention could give rise to individual criminal responsibility.
British passenger Laura Stuart a 51 year old housewife from London responded by saying, Let's hope this report can have some effect that might make Israelis think that they may in future be held accountable for their actions.
Daniel Machover, partner at London law firm Hickman and Rose, advising 29 of the 33 British passengers, said: “It is essential that the British Government now stops sitting on the fence and comes out very clearly in support of the protection and enforcement of human rights, including of their own nationals, several of whom were subject to some serious human rights violations and war crimes. That means the Government must refer the war crimes cases to the ICC without delay and must demand in clear terms that the Israeli authorities return every single item of property unlawfully seized from the British passengers, failing which the Government will take diplomatic measures and provide state funding for the passengers to bring civil and criminal claims in Israel.”
Mary Nazzal-Batayneh, Chairperson of the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund said, “This is a huge first step, however, we all still have a lot of work to do to make sure that these cases are pursued in court, securing genuine sanctions for the perpetrators and civil and criminal remedies for the survivors. As we all know, Israel has ignored UN criticism in the past and will continue to do so unless we take action to hold them genuinely to account. The nature of the attacks on the flotilla, against international passengers, creates unique legal opportunities to do so.”
The passengers and the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund have launched a fundraising campaign in order to ensure that cases are launched to to make the UN’s findings enforceable in international courts.
For more information please contact:
Rifat Audeh, HRLAF, flotilla passenger (Amman) Tel: + 962 (0)7888 28 344
Rochelle Harris, HRLAF (London) Tel: +44(0)7785 116672, Rochelle@humanrightsfund.org
Daniel Machover, Hickman And Rose, Mobile: +44 (0) 7773 3410 96, DMachover@hickmanandrose.co.uk
Selma Dabbagh, Hickman and Rose, Tel: +44 20 770 25 331, Mobile: +44 (0) 793 227 5154, sdabbagh@hickmanandrose.co.uk
Notes
[1] The UN FFM interviewed 112 witnesses. Some of their accounts are available at http://www.humanrightsfund.org/hrlaf-news.html
ANNEX –KEY FINDINGS
The 56-page report forms a comprehensive indictment of Israeli actions, which includes these findings:
* The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only totally disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It constituted “grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law”
* ‘Systematic humiliation and violent treatment of passengers’, and the ‘shocking’ and ‘gratuitous’ use of violence.
* No evidence that the passengers fired or had firearms (para 165)
* No effort was made to minimise injuries at certain stages of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner. “It is difficult not to conclude that, once the order to use live fire had been given, no one was safe,” the report states. “It seems a matter of pure chance that there were not more fatalities as a result.” (para 169)
* There was a “prevailing climate of fear of violence that had a dehumanizing effect on all those detained on board.” (para 178)
* Two passengers received wounds compatible with being shot at close range while lying on the ground (para 118)
* None of the four passengers who were killed in a separate incident - including a photographer - “posed any threat to the Israeli forces,” (para 120)
* Force used by the Israeli soldiers in intercepting the Challenger I, the Sfendoni and the Eleftheri Mesogios was unnecessary, disproportionate, excessive and inappropriate and amounted to violations of the right to physical integrity (para 173)
* The factual circumstances provide prima facie evidence that protected persons suffered violations of international humanitarian law including wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health within the terms of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions (para 182).
* Passengers were “jeered at and taunted by the people on the quay,” in a way that passengers found to be “unsettling and humiliating.” (para 185)
* Passengers were “beaten or physically abused for refusing to sign or for advising others not to sign,” papers at the airport.
* Passengers were subjected to a series of meticulous searches, including strip searches with a number describing the process as being “deliberately degrading and humiliating, accompanied by taunts, provocative and insulting language and physical abuse.” (para 189).
* The wife of one of the deceased passengers was treated with complete insensitivity to her bereavement (para 194)
* “Extreme and unprovoked” violence was perpetrated by uniformed Israeli personnel upon passengers at the airport, accounts of which were “so consistent and vivid as to be beyond question.” (para 202)
* Unarmed passengers were baton charged at the airport, “In the foray,” the report states, “around 30 passengers were beaten to the ground, kicked and punched in a sustained attack by soldiers.”
* A doctor clearly identified as such was kicked and punched (para 207)
* Israeli military and police personnel at the airport exhibited behaviour much of which “was surely criminal under domestic Israeli law.” (para 209)
* The wounded were handcuffed to their beds using standard metal handcuffs and that sometimes their feed was shackled when they were held in Israeli hospitals.
* The Israeli authorities confiscated a large amount of video and photographic footage and that this confiscation “represents a deliberate attempt by the Israeli authorities to suppress or destroy evidence, “ (paras 240-1)
* Withholding and sometimes destroying private property of passengers “represents both a violation of rights related to property ownership and to the freedom of expression,” (para 245)
* In prison, passengers were subjected to “sleep deprivation and denial of access to a lawyer,” (para 251)·
* Acts of torture were committed by Israeli officials against passengers during their period of detention in Israel (para 219)
Source
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al Jazeera
'Israel flotilla raid was unlawful'
UN Gaza aid probe says the raid of Israeli forces on flotilla was in violation of international law.
Nine activists were killed in the Gaza flotilla raid for which Israel may be prosecuted. [GALLO/GETTY]
23-9-2010
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission has accused Israeli forces of violating international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The three UN-appointed human rights experts said in a report released on Wednesday that Israeli forces showed "incredible violence" during and after their raid on the aid flotilla that left eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American killed.
The UN probe said there was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" against Israel for "wilful killing" and torture committed when its troops stormed the aid flotilla last May.
Israel's military response to the flotilla "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality" and violated international law "including international humanitarian and human rights law." The three-member panel said.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence."
The report is scheduled to be debated by the Human Rights Council on Monday.
The report also rejected Israel's stance that its forces acted in self-defence when they raided the flotilla, arguing that even those who did not attempt to stop Israeli soldiers from boarding the aid ships "received injuries, including fatal injuries."
"It is apparent that no effort was made to minimise injuries at certain states of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner. The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution."
Israel's reaction
Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided."
"The report... is as biased and as one sided as the body that has produced it," the statement said.
"Israel... is of the opinion that the flotilla incident is amply and sufficiently investigated as it is. All additional dealing with this issue is superfluous and unproductive."
Israel insisted that it acted in line with international law, arguing that it had the right to retaliate against ships attempting to breach its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip.
However, the panel said that since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid, for this reason alone, Israel's blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law.
Hamas welcomed the report and told Al Jazeera that the findings show that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories violates human rights.
"More should now be done, the commander who led the raid should be taken to International Criminal Court." Hamas said.
The fact-finding mission, chaired by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, had travelled to Turkey, Jordan and Britain to interview witnesses and officials for the probe.
Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, as Malaysian human rights expert, are the other members of the panel.
Source
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UNHRC investigation Perspective
By Dr. Musa. A. Keilani
24-9-2010
IT was only expected that an investigation conducted by the UN Human Rights Council has found that Israel's response to the international effort to defy its siege of the Gaza Strip was "disproportionate and brutal" and violated international law. The investigators also found "clear evidence to support prosecution" against Israel for "willful killing" and torture.
Those who are familiar with Israeli practices would have known that the Israeli commandos who boarded the Turkish vessel Navi Marmara on May 31 would have held all aboard the ship in contempt and seen them as enemies of the state of Israel. Therefore, they did not have to think twice before opening fire at the pro-Palestinian activists and killing nine of them. As far as the Israelis were concerned, the pro-Palestinian activists asked for it and got what they deserved. That is the Israeli mindset.
The UNHRC investigation, conducted by three human rights experts, found Israeli forces used "incredible violence" when they raided the Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Israel did not co-operate with the investigation. It promised to co-operate with a separate inquiry panel set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, but reports indicate that it is insisting on its own terms and conditions for the investigation.
The UNHRC mission met witnesses and government officials in Turkey and Jordan. Israel did not grant the team permission to enter territories under its control.
Beyond the raid itself, the report drawn up by the three-member panel says that Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there.
There is no ambiguity in the report.
"There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health," says the report.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence," it says.
Regardless of the Israeli rejection of the report as "biased, politicized and extremist," the fact remains that it is an emphatic indictment against Israel.
Of course we cannot expect any prosecution of Israel since the geopolitical elements at play would not allow that to happen.
The raid on the flotilla violated international law. The Israelis acted like Somali pirates, when they attacked the flotilla of six ships in international waters. Those aboard the vessels had every reason to defend themselves and resist the invaders. They posed no threat to anyone. A few of the Israeli commandos suffered injuries; the story would have been different had the activists aboard been carrying weapons as Israel initially claimed.
The Israeli government also claimed the Navi Marmara was secretly full of Al Qaeda fighters who were heavily armed, although though no one from the ship was detained as an extremist and no weapons were found.
The Israeli also doctored radio communications in order to show that those aboard the ship had aggressive anti-Jewish designs.
There is little doubt that the Israeli commando raid was an act of state terrorism, but we do not see any indication that Israel would be hauled up before the international community to pay the price for its violations of every known law related to conduct on high seas.
Israel's allies appear to have implicitly accepted the Israeli portrayal of the raid. It was as if the Israeli commandos had every justification to board the vessel and take control of it after overpowering those aboard who were armed. The Israeli commandos feared being "lynched," said Israel. Imagine a scenario where unarmed civilians "lynching" heavily armed and trained commandos.
Well, it is all under the water now. The international community now wants to see action being taken against Israel, be it only symbolic because of the protective umbrella that the US offers its "strategic ally" in the Middle East.
There is little doubt that the separate UN investigation ordered by Ban will also come up with findings similar to those the UNHRC. And Israel will reject the findings and produce the conclusions of an investigation it conducted with token foreign presence.
Israel is refusing even to offer an apology to Turkey, which suffered the most physical damage from the raid. Turkey is leading the effort from the front to punish Israel, a one-time close ally whose actions only undermined Turkey's standing in the Muslim World. But that is not enough. Heavy international pressure has to be brought to bear upon Israel and that needs an international resolve not to allow it to get away with murder in the high seas.
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Maroc.nl
VN: aanval hulpkonvooi door Israël was onwettig
24-9-2010In mei 2010 toog een hulpkonvooi naar Gaza dat te kampen heeft met een economische blokkade van Israël. Bij de actie kwamen 9 Turkse activisten om door Israëlisch vuur en raakten anderen ernstig gewond. De 3 experts aangewezen door de VN-commissie voor Mensenrechten, zijn tot de conclusie gekomen dat deze actie 'volkomen onnodig en ongelooflijk gewelddadig' was.
De acties van Israël waren disproportioneel en kunnen niet gerechtvaardigd worden op veiligheidsgronden noch op elk andere grond, oordeelt het VN-panel hard. Door de acties heeft Israël de mensenrechten en het internationaal recht geschonden.
Weliswaar heeft Israël het recht om zijn veiligheid te waarborgen en is het afschieten van raketten door Hamas eveneens een breuk op de mensenrechten, maar de blokkade van Gaza is op zich al onwettig, stellen de onderzoekers. De blokkade gaat uit van een collectieve straf dat alle burgers raakt en duurt al vanaf 2007. Het VN-panel roept Israël op om na te gaan wie de fatale schoten heeft gelost en hen te vervolgen.
Voorzitter van het VN-panel was rechter Judge K. Hudson-Phillips, voormalig rechter bij het Internationaal Gerechtshoof in Den Haag. De panelleden interviewden meer dan 100 getuigen in Londen, Amman, Istanbul en Geneve.
Israël wilde niet meewerken aan het onderzoek en verricht zelf een onderzoek. Israel deed bij monde van Yigal Palmor, de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, het onderzoeksresultaat af als partijdig.
Bron: Wereldjournalisten / Beeld: redactie Maroc.NL
Bron
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DesertPeace
ISRAEL RESPONDS TO THE UN’s ‘GUILTY VERDICT’
23-9-2010
Murder apparently is not an act of extremism, neither is piracy….. but condemning them is…..
Cutting off an entire area from the outside world and denying the residents basic human needs is not an act of extremism ….. but attempting to end this blockade is…..
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded late Wednesday by saying the Human Rights Council had a biased, politicized and extremist approach.
Israel has maintained that its soldiers acted in self-defense when they shot and killed eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31. Israel Defense Forces released footage showing its troops coming under attack as they tried to board the boat.
Did anyone expect a different reaction to the Human Rights Council’s report on the Flottila raid?
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel, preferring instead to work with a separate UN group under New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident but has yet to publish its findings
“Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
“That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following Operation Cast Lead, launched to protect the inhabitants of southern Israel from rockets and terror attacks carried out by Hamas from Gaza,” said the statement.
Full text (unedited) of the UN Report can be found HERE
The paragraphs in parenthesis were taken from THIS AP Report
Source
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Christian Science Monitor
UN's Gaza flotilla probe finds Israeli soldiers committed 'willful killing'
Israel rejected the UN Gaza flotilla probe's findings as 'biased.' In Turkey, most politicians welcomed the news and praised the panel's objectivity.
23-9-2010
A United Nations Human Rights Council investigation concluded that the Israeli military broke international laws during a raid on a Turkish ship that was part of an aid flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
The council’s report, announced Wednesday, was met positively by Turkey but dismissed by Israel as “biased." The report is separate from a UN flotilla inquiry backed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, which includes both an Israeli and a Turkish representative and is seen as carrying more weight than the UNHRC's investigation – but has not yet concluded its work.
In a 56-page report (pdf), the UNHCR's three-member panel wrote that Israeli commandos had committed war crimes during their May 31 raid of the aid ship the MV Mavi Marmara that left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead. Although Israel contends that its soldiers acted in self-defense, the council found that their response was “disproportionate” and that soldiers exercised an “unacceptable level of brutality.”
“There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,” wrote the report's authors.
The council also found that Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “unlawful” because of the humanitarian crisis, reports the BBC.
FIVE biggest Israeli settlements
The three-member council consisted of Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a retired judge of the International Criminal Court; Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, a former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
In Turkey, where relations with Israel have been immensely tense following the raid, most politicians welcomed the news and praised the objectivity of the panel. Turkey is Israel’s only Muslim ally and it has demanded that Israel officially apologize, compensate the victims’ families, and lift the blockade on Gaza, reports Press TV.
“We appreciate [the report]…. It meets our expectations. I hope the Israeli side will ... from now on act within international law," said Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister. “Our aim is not to cause any political crisis, but to make sure that everyone respects international law and that no country sees itself above the law.”
Israel, which refused to work with the UNHCR investigators, rejected the findings and accused the council of a “biased, politicized, and extremist approach,” reports Israel’s Haaretz. The council, whose members are elected to three-year terms, has drawn criticism beyond Israel for including countries with dubious human rights records such as Cuba and Kyrgyzstan.
Israeli officials contend that their soldiers came under attack when they boarded the boat and had to defend themselves. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the UNHCR already blamed Israel before the investigation, so the results were “no surprise.”
“Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in an official statement on Wednesday night. “That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following Operation Cast Lead, launched to protect the inhabitants of southern Israel from rockets and terror attacks carried out by Hamas from Gaza.”
The Foreign Ministry statement added that though they would “read and study” the UNHCR report, they would abide by their own investigation currently being carried out by the Turkel commission with independent, international observers.
Days after the lethal raid on the Turkish-led "Freedom Flotilla," The Christian Science Monitor reported how international law was being wielded as a means of either justifying the operation or calling it outright piracy.
On one side, a Turkish draft resolution at the UN Security Council described the attack as a violation of international law. On the other, Israel’s Foreign Ministry insisted that international maritime law prohibited boats from entering an area subject to a maritime blockade and that vessels attempting to violate this may be captured or even attacked.
Not all Israelis have criticized the report, however. Haneen Zoabi, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset who was on board the MV Mavi Marmara during the raid, has praised the results of the latest inquiry. She is encouraging the government to act upon the findings and press charges against the Israelis responsible for the raid.
“We must not settle for declarations of condemnation but we must work to put the criminals to justice, those who ordered and those who carried out the orders,” she was quoted saying in The Jerusalem Post.
IN PICTURES: The Gaza flotilla and the aftermath of the Israeli naval raid
Source
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the Guardian
Gaza flotilla attack: UN report condemns Israeli 'brutality'
UN Human Rights Council accuses Israel of a 'disproportionate' response to Gaza blockade-breakers, nine of whom died
By Haroon Siddique
An Israeli army military vessel enters Ashdod An Israeli army military vessel enters the port of Ashdod in May amid reports of deaths on the blockade-breaking flotilla. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
22-9-2010
A UN-appointed panel said today that Israeli forces violated international law, "including international humanitarian and human rights law", during and after their lethal attack on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in May.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission judged Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory to be "unlawful" because there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza at the time.
The panel's report, published today, described Israel's military response to the flotilla as "disproportionate" and said it "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
Eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were killed in the raid, which prompted international criticism of both the attack and Israel's policy of blockading the Gaza Strip. Israel has since eased its embargo, although still refuses to allow full imports and exports and the free movement of people.
Israel says the soldiers acted in self-defence. But the mission criticised the Israeli government for failing to co-operate with its inquiry. "Regrettably to date, no information has been given to the mission by or on behalf of the government of Israel," it said.
The panel was led by Karl Hudson-Phillips, a retired judge of the international criminal court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago.
The report said: "The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."
The panel concluded that there was "clear evidence" of wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health – all crimes under the Geneva Convention.
The panel expressed the hope that there would be "swift action" by the Israeli government to help victims achieve effective remedies. "The mission sincerely hopes that no impediment will be put in the way of those who suffered loss as a result of the unlawful actions of the Israeli military to be compensated adequately and promptly," it said. It described the blockade of Gaza as "totally intolerable and unacceptable in the 21st century".
The Israeli government has fiercely resisted demands for an independent international inquiry into the flotilla attacks, establishing three internal investigations to avert pressure from the UN, Europe and Turkey.
Source
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Abu Pessoptimist
VN-panel: Israelische aanval op Free Gaza Flotilla was onwettig
Een panel van de VN-Mensenrechtencommissie heeft vastgesteld dat Israel met zijn aanval op het Free Gaza Flotilla in mei het internationale recht heeft geschonden.
Bij de aanval werden negen mensen aan boord van het Tukse schip Mavi Marmara gedood. Het panel bestaande uit de vroegere VN-vervolger van mensenrechtenschendingen Desmond de Silva, rechter e Karl T. Hudson-Phillips uit Trinidad en de Maleisische voorvechtster van vrouwenrechten Mary Shanthi Dairiam kwam ook tot de conclusie dat de blokkade van Gaza onwettig is.Isarel wijst de conclusies van de hand.
Voor meer: zie mijn Engelstalige blog.
Bron
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My Catbird Seat
UN REPORT: Israel flotilla raid ‘broke law’
23-9-2010
How could it be otherwise? Piracy is still an offence as is pre-meditated murder, both of which were committed in this instance.
What is disgraceful is that such a horrific international crime has been turned into yet another fiasco when swift and decisive action should have been taken from the very beginning – a naval escort provided for the flotilla to complete its journey to Gaza, and the killers responsible arrested under international warrants and brought to trial outside of Israel. That is all.
I don’t know why we have to go through this after every atrocity carried out by this vile entity. The very idea of there being justification for this massacre is disgusting, Even setting up tribunals and the like has turned this into something it is not, giving credence of any kind to a terrorist state.
And regardless of how many tribunals come to the only conclusion they can, what will happen? Nothing.
Angie Tibbs
Journalist
CANADA
(UKPA) — Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year, a report by three UN-appointed human rights experts said.
The UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) fact-finding mission concluded that Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
The entire report can be seen HERE in PDF form…
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by saying the Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, had a “biased, politicised and extremist approach”.
The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, praised the report and called for those involved in the raid to be punished.
The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including wilful killing and torture, and claims there is “clear evidence to support prosecutions”.
“A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation,” the experts found.
Examining the circumstances of the raid, the panel concluded that a humanitarian crisis existed in Gaza on the day of the incident in Gaza and “for this reason alone the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law”.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas militants violently seized control of the coastal territory from the moderate Palestinian Fatah party in 2007. Israel allows humanitarian aid and goods into Gaza via land crossings after inspection for weapons.
“The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel toward the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality,” the report said.
It described the Israeli raid on May 31, in which eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara were shot and killed, as “clearly unlawful”.
Related articles
* Flotilla Raid Illegal, UN Panel Finds
New York Times
* UN experts condemn Israel attack on Gaza flotilla
Financial Times
Source
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RTT News
UN Panel: Israel's Raid On Aid Flotilla Violated International Law
22-9-2010
(RTTNews) - Israel recently bowed to international pressure over the deadly raid, and eased its three-year land blockade of the Gaza strip.
The Jewish nation (NO! 20% is discriminated Palestinian H.) , however, is still continuing with its naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, insisting that it will continue to ban or restrict shipments of materials that could have military uses.
Israel had imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas, a radical (No see here. Itallic H.) Islamist group, came to power in June 2007, ousting the secularist Fatah party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas. Israel and the West consider Hamas a terrorist organization over its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
Egypt too followed suit and closed the Rafah border crossing, the only one of its kind from Gaza that bypasses Israel. Egypt, however, opens the crossing occasionally to let in emergency supplies and for emergency medical requirements.
In addition to the Human Rights Council inquiry, the United Nations has also launched a separate investigation into the aid flotilla raid. The inquiry began on 10th August, with the panel expected to submit its first progress report later this month.
The four-member UN panel has former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer as its chairman and outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as its vice-chairman. The remaining two members are representatives of Israel and Turkey.
Source
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BBC
23-9-2010
Israel's military broke international laws during a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a UN Human Rights Council investigation says.
Its report said the action by commandos, which left nine dead, was "disproportionate" and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
It said there was clear evidence to support prosecutions against Israel for "wilful killing".
Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided."
It insists its soldiers acted in self-defence during the 31 May raid.
Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed and many others injured after Israeli commandoes boarded the six-ship convoy as it tried to breach an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
The convoy's passengers were detained and later deported by Israel.
There was widespread international criticism of Israel's actions, which severely strained relations with its long-time Muslim ally, Turkey.
'Biased'
In a 56-page report, the UN panel of three international lawyers said: "There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health".
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"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence."
The Convention is an international treaty governing the protection of civilians in times of war.
The UN fact-finding mission also said the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory was "unlawful" because of a humanitarian crisis there.
The panel had interviewed more than 100 witnesses in Britain, Jordan, Switzerland Turkey, but not in Israel.
Before the report was released, Israel dismissed the Human Rights Council as being biased, politicised and extremist.
After the findings were published, it said the report was "as biased and as one-sided as the body that has produced it".
"Israel... is of the opinion that the flotilla incident is amply and sufficiently investigated as it is," said the Israeli foreign ministry in a statement.
"All additional dealing with this issue is superfluous and unproductive."
The Israeli government has begun its own independent inquiry into the flotilla raid, the Turkel Commission. It has two foreign observers, but critics say its remit is too narrow.
There is also a separate UN inquiry - ordered by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - into the raid. Israel has said it will co-operate with the investigation.
Report in full
Source
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DesertPeace
22-9-2010
UN report unedited just out, Israel found guilty of breaking international law on flotilla and blockade is illegal due to humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
BUT…. don’t hold your breath, Israel has ignored EVERY UN Resolution condemning their crimes…. why would this one be treated differently?
Report of the international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance
The entire report can be seen HERE in PDF form…
Bottom line is……
277. A distinction is made between activities taken to alleviate crises and action to address the causes creating the crisis. The latter action is characterized as political action and therefore inappropriate for groups that wish to be classified as humanitarian. This point is made because of the evidence that while some of the passengers were solely interested in delivering supplies to the people in Gaza, for others the main purpose was raising awareness of the blockade with a view to its removal, as the only way to solve the crisis.
An examination should be made to clearly define humanitarianism as distinct from humanitarian action so that there can be an agreed form of intervention and jurisdiction when humanitarian crises occur.
278. The Mission sincerely hopes that no impediment will be put in the way of those who suffered loss as a result of the unlawful actions of the Israeli military to be compensated adequately and promptly. It is hoped that there will be swift action by the Government of Israel. This will go a long way to reversing the regrettable reputation which that country has for impunity and intransigence in international affairs. It will also assist those who genuinely sympathise with their situation to support them without being stigmatised.
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Reactie van Dietrich | datum: 2010-09-30 23:06:45 |
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Onderzoeksmissie naar incident met Freedom Flotilla presenteert rapport aan UNHRC
http://www.dewereldmorgen.be/blog/damhert/2010/09/29/onderzoeksmissie-naar-incident-met-freedom-flotilla-presenteert-rapport-aan- |
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