The Israeli lies combined with media blackout on
anything
but their own version were apparently prepared long in advance of their
planned
massacre. Claiming they found weapons but all they could show is
kitchen
knives and construction tools (wrenches, water pipes etc). All
cargo was
listed on the ships’ manifesto that the Israeli ‘intelligence’ agencies
could
easily acquire and were freely available and meticulously documented by
the
organizers. The Israeli spin machine also claimed they were first
trying
to use non-lethal weapons including, and this is no joke, paint ball
guns
(funny that we did not see evidence of passengers with painted shirts
but only
blood soaked shirts). The respected media watch group FAIR detailed how
some Western
media (mis)reported of the attack on the
humanitarian
aid ships ‘Reporting Israeli Assault Through Israel's Eyes: Attack on
humanitarian flotilla prompts little media skepticism’
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4081
Reporters Without Borders urges the Israeli
authorities to
release a list of the journalists who were arrested during yesterday’s
raid on
the humanitarian flotilla and to say where they are being held.
There
were at least 15 foreign journalists travelling with the flotilla who
still
cannot be reached directly. These are the names of the journalists
known to
have been aboard the flotilla: http://en.rsf.org/israel-israeli-military-prevents-media-31-05-2010,37630.html
Some Western Media did a balanced job. Here
is
Democracy Now with excellent coverage http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/1/global_condemnation_of_israeli_armed_attack
And while some western media dutifully reported
Israeli
government words of being sorry for the deaths and their verbal attack
on the
ships’ passengers (calling them terrorists or terrorist sympathizers),
no media
reported on Israeli fascists celebrating the massacre in front of
the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a3_1275348204
And also a video at Ben Gurion
University and other universities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB9GYd3jq_E
(According to the person who sent this ‘It is
important to
mention that in principle all political activity on this campus is
forbidden,
and that leftist activists demonstrating outside of the campus during
the war
on Gaza last year were arrested. This demonstration was held with
collaboration
of the University authorities and contrary to these same authorities
regulations.”)
Most abducted passengers will be released and
deported but
four have been brought before ‘judges’ and will be tried by the
apartheid
state: Lubna Masarwa
(Free
Gaza Movement board director), Sheikh Raed
Salah
(leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel/1948
Palestine), Mohammed Zeidan (Director of International Advocacy Program
for the
Arab Association for Human Rights), and Hamed abu Dabis
(human rights advocate from Lebanon). It is to try to scare
others in the
future. But the Rachel Corrie ship
is already
on its way to Gaza from Ireland in defiance of the Israeli terror
tactics and
plans for new fleets are already being implemented.
Unfortunately, the US
administration took the decision yet again to shield Israel from
International
law and make a mockery of the UN by refusing to demand a lifting of the
siege (contrary
to position of all other countries). So much for the change that those
who voted
for Obama had expected.
Caoimhe Butterly
recorded a message before she was kidnapped. She is still
unaccounted for
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ofcowardicedignityandsolidarity/
Survivors of the massacre who are released tell
their
stories
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/gaza-flotilla-raid-gunfire-ship-blood
Sample Videos from demonstrations little reported
in supine
western media:
Bethlehem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOnsBKZknrc
New York http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BMxw1LnT50
San Francisco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ijKBugff8
Gaza aid flotilla: Israeli sabotage suspected
Israel's military may have sabotaged two boats
carrying Free
Gaza activists after both malfunctioned at the same time in the same
way prior
to the raid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/israel-gaza-flotilla-sabotage-suspected
The Elders group of past and present world
leaders,
including former South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop
Desmond
Tutu, on Monday condemned as “completely inexcusable” the deadly
Israeli attack
on a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article442925.ece
Meanwhile the colonization activities in the
occupied West
Bank continue fast and furious. Bulldozers are tearing up the
land all
around us. Our friends at the Tent of Nations had demolition
orders
served for the few structures and renovated caves they maintain on the
farm
that also acts as a peace center (see http://www.tentofnations.org
). Our friends in Wad Rahhal are
threatened
with total eviction (if you are in Palestine, join us for a
demonstration this
Friday at 12:30 PM). The stories are endless in the land of
apartheid. But resistance from brave souls continue (and our
hearts and
minds are with our friend Emily, a US visual art student who was
targeted by
the Israeli fascist forces and lost her left eye).
ACTIONS
Petition: call for independent investigation,
accountability, and lifting the siege on Gaza
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_flotilla/98.php?CLICKTF
Translate you anger into action. Other ways
to help:
http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=345
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit
Universities
Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between
People, http://www.pcr.ps