Oil Spill World blasts Israel for murder of Gaza aid workers
2010 2010-06Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
The words are the paper's own, from its digital file; the division into articles was made by machine, so a box or caption can end up inside the article next to it.
Scan page 1
By THE EDITORS In the pre-dawn hours of May 31, Israeli commandos deliberately murdered at least 16 and perhaps as many as 29 members of the Free Gaza Flotilla who were bringing aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The bulk of the deaths and injuries occurred on the largest ship, the Turkish-registered Mavi Marmara. Firing (with bullets paid for by U.S. tax dollars) began even before the commandos boarded the ships, and continued once these new pirates of the Mediterranean rappelled down from helicopters.
The overwhelming majority of the activists offered no resistance, yet were the targets of indiscriminate fire. Fifty to 60 were wounded badly enough to be put in hospital. Survivors among the over 700 flotilla participants from over 40 countries were detained in Israeli prisons, and all access to them by family, lawyers, and the media was barred.
On board the Mavi Marmara were hundreds of Turks organized by the Turkish charity IHH. Their involvement—and verbal expressions of support before and after the attack from the Turkish government—has had all the more impact given that Turkey has been one of Washington’s staunchest allies in the Middle East, and has been on good diplomatic terms with Israel.
Every aspect of this operation was illegal under international law, starting from the fact that the blockade of Gaza itself is illegal. The 14 Zionist ships that carried the commandos attacked the flotilla in international waters more than 60 miles off the coast of Gaza.
Most importantly, the attack was part of a train of violent incidents since before Israel’s founding designed to steal and hold on to land, and to terrorize, and if need be kill, those who resist.
A small minority of the activists, especially from among the Turks, tried to defend themselves and their fellow passengers (who included a mother with a oneyear-old baby, and an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor). The only tools of self-defense available to them were kitchen knives and wooden sticks. Numerous international legal experts have stated unequivocally that they were entirely within their rights to do so against a vioProtests against Israeli murders of Gaza volunteers: (left) Washington, June 1; (rt.) Los Angeles, May 31.
lent, illegal boarding operation. Their resistance, however hopeless given the relationship of forces, inspired millions around the world.
Regardless of how many activists exercised their right to self-defense, the raid as a whole was carefully planned, and its operational details approved by Israel’s political leadership, who knew that by beginning with (continued on page 3, in “Action Proposal for United Antiwar Conference”)