[A-List] Fwd: Fwd: Report: At least 10 activists killed as Israel Navy opens fire on Gaza aid flotilla

[Suzanne de Kuyper]

An interesting conversation, ending with "Who cares?"  Humanity seems
to be in the balance and losing.  But, as someone wrote, it only takes
a very few to save what is left of our humanity to be able to pass it
on.   If Greece and Turkey are examples, there are a lot of us.
Suzanne


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Todd Boyle <toddfboyle at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 1:17 AM
Subject: Re: [A-List] Fwd: Report: At least 10 activists killed as
Israel Navy opens fire on Gaza aid flotilla
To: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk at gmail.com>


Who cares.  10 white people got killed.  Tragic on an individual and
personal level.  But as a "senior citizen" I know only too well, we
all die some day and there is a *huge* overpopulation.   of which, the
most damaging are the white people of europe and north america...

There is not a damn thing anybody can do about the Israelis.    There
are tens, scores, of other more promising paths of activism which
would *actually change the world* and nobody ever talks about on this
list.   Things like building our own P2P internet, building our own
media, building our own methods of doing business (from discovery
negotiation offer acceptance commitment thru fulfillment stages-- all
well-p[erfected by the corporations and we should USE it
http://www.rosehill.net/ledgerism/arapcloud.htm and stuff like that,

Todd


At 12:00 AM 5/31/2010, you wrote:

If the world reacts normally, all the countries appalled by Israeli
gunfire on the Gaza Aid ships, Israeli embassies will be closed in all
Muslim countries and in those friendly to Islam such as China, Russia.
  U.S.A. NATO iron rules and firepower may scare some countries, but
Israel will be seen proven as criminally insane by most.  Suzanne


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sid Shniad <shniad at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 31, 2010 at 7:31 AM
Subject: Report: At least 10 activists killed as Israel Navy opens
fire on Gaza aid flotilla
To:


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-at-least-10-activists-killed-as-israel-navy-opens-fire-on-gaza-aid-flotilla-1.293089

Haaretz

                    31.05.10

Report: At least 10 activists killed as Israel Navy opens fire on Gaza
aid flotilla

Over 60 pro-Palestinian campaigners wounded after aid convoy sailing
for Gaza Strip ignored Israel's order to turn back, Turkish news
reports. IDF confirms two commandos also wounded.

By Anshel Pfeffer, Avi Issacharoff, The Associated Press and Reuters

Israel Navy troops opened fire on pro-Palestinian activists aboard a
six-ship aid flotilla sailing for the Gaza Strip, killing at least 10
and wounding several others after the convoy ignored orders to turn
back, Turkey's NTV reported early Monday.

NTV said between 10 and 15 people were killed, with over 60 wounded.

The IDF also confirmed that two navy commandos had been wounded in
fight, which apparently broke out after activists tried to sieze their
weapons.

According to the army, commandos who stormed the Turkish ferry
Marmara, the largest vessel in the convoy, encountered violent
resistance by activists armed with sticks and knives.

Earlier Monday, Al Jazeera reported that the Gaza aid flotilla had
changed course to avoid a confrontation with Israeli warships.

The Israeli naval vessels reportedly made contact earlier with the
six-ship flotilla, which is carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid
and supplies to Gaza.

The Israeli navy was operating under the assumption that the activists
manning the boats would not heed their calls to turn around, and
Israeli troops were prepared to board the ships and steer them away
from the Gaza shores and toward the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

Huwaida Arraf, one of the flotilla organizers, said the six-ship
flotilla began the journey from international waters off the coast of
Cyprus Sunday afternoon after two days of delays. According to
organizers, the flotilla was expected to reach Gaza, about 250 miles
(400 kilometers) away, on Monday afternoon, and two more ships would
follow in a second wave.

The flotilla was fully prepared for the different scenarios that might
arise, and organizers were hopeful that Israeli authorities would do
what's right and not stop the convoy, one of the organizers said.

"We fully intend to go to Gaza regardless of any intimidation or
threats of violence against us," Arraf said. "They are going to have
to forcefully stop us."

After nightfall, three Israeli navy missile boats left their base in
Haifa, steaming out to sea to confront the activists' ships.

Two hours later, Israel Radio broadcast a recording of one of the
missile boats warning the flotilla not to approach Gaza.

"If you ignore this order and enter the blockaded area, the Israeli
navy will be forced to take all the necessary measures in order to
enforce this blockade," the radio message continued.

The flotilla, which includes three cargo ships and three passenger
ships, is trying to draw attention to Israel's three-year blockade of
the Gaza Strip. The boats are carrying items that Israel bars from
reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.

The activists said they also were carrying hundreds of
electric-powered wheelchairs, prefabricated homes and water purifiers.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that after a
security check, permitted humanitarian aid confiscated from the boats
will be transferred to Gaza through authorized channels. However,
Israel would not transfer items it has banned from Gaza under its
blockade rules. Palmor said that for example, cement would be allowed
only if it is tied to a specific project.

This is the ninth time that the Free Gaza movement has tried to ship
in humanitarian aid to Gaza since August 2008.

Israel has let ships through five times, but has blocked them from
entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against
Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009. The flotilla bound for Gaza is
the largest to date.

Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists are on the boats, including 1976
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern
Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor.

The mission has experienced repeated delays, both due to mechanical
problems and a decision by Cyprus to bar any boat from sailing from
its shore to Gaza. The ban forced a group of European lawmakers to
depart from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern part of the island
late Saturday.

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade on Gaza after Hamas militants
violently seized control of the seaside territory in June 2007.

Israel says the measures are needed to prevent Hamas, which has fired
thousands of rockets at Israel, from building up its arsenal. But
United Nations officials and international aid groups say the blockade
has been counterproductive, failing to weaken the Islamic militant
group while devastating the local economy.

Israel rejects claims of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying it
allows more than enough food and medicine into the territory. The
Israelis also point to the bustling smuggling industry along Gaza's
southern border with Egypt, which has managed to bring consumer goods,
gasoline and livestock into the seaside strip.

Israel has condemned the flotilla as a provocation and vowed to block
it from reaching Gaza.

Israeli military officials said they hope to resolve the situation
peacefully but are prepared for all scenarios. Naval commandos have
been training for days in anticipation of the standoff. Military
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under official
guidelines, said the forces would likely take over the boats under the
cover of darkness.

Palmor said foreigners on the ships would be sent back to their
countries. Activists who did not willingly agree to be deported would
be detained. A special detention facility has been set up in Ashdod.