"Gaza Island"

[mawilson 2,133]

Henry Siegman agrees that Israel has never wanted "peace;" it wants "land":

The two are not mutually exclusive. One can want both peace and land.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

The two are not mutually exclusive. One can want both peace and land.

Piece of land, gotcha.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Piece of land, gotcha.

Of course. Leave your piece of land peaceably, and we won't have to take it away from you.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Of course. Leave your piece of land peaceably, and we won't have to take it away from you.

QFT

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Spokeswoman for protest ship says it will reach Gaza soon

Link One ship on the way

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Spokeswoman for protest ship says it will reach Gaza soon

Link One ship on the way

Yes... this is one of the French boats, the Dignite al Karama, which had been anchored in Crete for the last week or so, awaiting the rest of the flotilla.

According to Ha'aretz, there are a total of 16 people on board, including 3 crew members and 3 journalists (reportedly from Ha'aretz and al Jazeera.) The 10 activists include six French nationals, one Tunisian, one Greek, one Swede, and a Canadian.

Everyone is asking if Amira Haas is onboard... have not been able to confirm that yet.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

The Dignite al Karama is reportedly approaching Gaza. Local time is now 3:20am.... similar to the time that the Israelis attacked last year's flotilla.... there should be an update soon.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Firedoglake reported that a French Navy vessel was close to the location of the Dignite. It also reported that Amira Hass is onboard.

http://firedoglake.com/2011/07/17/french-boat-dignite-al-karama-aiming-for-gaza-tonight/

[ready4ONE 5,400]

They didn't make it...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli navy Tuesday seized a French yacht carrying pro-Palestinian activists heading for the blockaded Gaza Strip and forced it to go to Israel's Ashdod port, a military spokeswoman said.

"I can confirm that the yacht has been boarded and that everything went smoothly, there were no casualties," the spokeswoman said after marines boarded the "Dignite-Al-Karama" yacht in the eastern Mediterranean.

Chief military spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai said the passengers were transferred from the yacht to one of the warships sent to intercept it and were en route to Ashdod.

The 17-passenger yacht had declared an Egyptian port as its destination when it left Greek waters Sunday, but sailed toward the Palestinian enclave, aiming to arrive Tuesday.

It had planned to sail to Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza as part of a flotilla carrying activists and aid, but other vessels were prevented from sailing after docking in Greece. Activists accused the Greek government of intervening on Israel's side.

"In accordance with government directives, after all diplomatic channels had been exhausted and continuous calls to the vessel had been ignored, IDF (marines) boarded the Al-Karama in an effort to stop it from breaking the maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip," a military statement said.

Boarding was necessary because those on the yacht refused to obey instructions to go to Ashdod, the statement said.

The passengers would be questioned by police and some may face deportation when they arrive a Ashdod, some 20 kms (12 miles) northeast of the Gaza Strip, it said.

At least two of the passengers on board were of Israeli origin: one activist Dror Feiler, and Haaretz newspaper reporter Amira Hass.

Hamas condemned the seizure with spokesman Ismail Rudwan describing it as "piracy, a war crime and a violation of the principles of human rights."

Israel, whose marines killed nine Turkish activists when violence erupted as they stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla in the Mediterranean last year, had vowed to stop any new attempt to breach a naval blockade it deems necessary to prevent arms from reaching Gaza.

Palestinians and their supporters consider the Gaza blockade illegal and say it stunts the economic development of the territory, most of whose 1.5 million residents rely on aid to survive.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Louise Ireland)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE76I18G20110719?irpc=932

[mawilson 2,133]

The Dignite al Karama is reportedly approaching Gaza. Local time is now 3:20am.... similar to the time that the Israelis attacked last year's flotilla.... there should be an update soon.

The Israelis did not attack the flotilla last year. They were attacked by the terrorists on board.

Repeating a lie over and over again does not make it true.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

The Israelis did not attack the flotilla last year. They were attacked by the terrorists on board.

Repeating a lie over and over again does not make it true.

Yet the Israelis still have their spokesman try it time after time. Brave Israeli Commados stormed a Turkish vessel last year and disarmed 9 terrorists who were carrying invisible weapons to Gaza. 9 terrorists were killed as well as the truth.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I am glad no one was injured.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I am glad no one was injured.

We can all be glad of that!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

The Israelis did not attack the flotilla last year. They were attacked by the terrorists on board.

Repeating a lie over and over again does not make it true.

Your posts are simply recitations of IDF and Israeli government press releases and talking points, and thus have little relation to fact.

The blockade is considered a violation of international law by the international community, based on internationally-recognized legal convention. The U.N., the Red Cross, and the European Parliament are among those who have condemned Israel's blockade as illegal. Look it up.

Even the U.S. State Department (although "officially" supporting Israel's every move) said the situation the blockade had created in Gaza was "unacceptable and unsustainable," and has advised Israel to back off. Look it up.

Now, if you want to prove your point, go find some international legal bodies that agree the blockade is legal. (Alan Dershowitz doesn't meet the criteria.)

What's funniest of all - Israel's own officials have admitted that the blockade's purpose is not military, but political - to collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza. This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

And even if the blockade was legit, attacks on humanitarian and other non-military vessels are illegal under international law regarding blockades.

All anyone has to do is just look at Israel's behavior. It confiscated all the evidence from the Mavi Marmara and the other ships - seizing the cameras, photos, videos and other recordings that documented what actually happened - and continues to refuse to allow international investigators to examine it.

Instead, Israel has released its own selective and very short video and audio clips, without context and sometimes altered to obscure vital evidence (such as "time stamps" on video.) In legal terms, this is called tampering with the evidence. Some of these items were so crudely edited that one has to ask - what the hell was the IDF thinking when they released this stuff ?

See here where someone from the IDF inserted the ridiculous "Auschwitz" line (which, as Max Blumenthal noted, "sounded like an impersonation of an Arab by a mentally challenged pre-adolescent"):

First clip, released by the IDF on May 31, 2010:

Then four days later on June 4, 2010, the IDF released this second clip, which had been "enhanced" with one of those David Letterman-style "writer's embellishments":

Not only are the IDF and Israeli government officials a pack of lying liars, they're not even good at it.

The fallout from the policies Israel insists on continuing in Gaza - the Cast Lead assault, the blockade, the Mavi Marmara fiasco - has only hurt Israel's image, and given the Palestinians a big boost.

Of course the Israeli government now realizes this, and that's why it spent a ton of time and money to try to make a better PR picture this time. The IDF even offered water and fruit to the passengers on the Dignite, and had official military photographers on hand to capture the warm and fuzzy images:

The masked men extended their hands and said calming things like "hold my hand; here, let me move your bag for you." We had hardly gotten onto the rubber boat, which had Border Police markings, when we were given water. The masked soldiers on the other boats were busy taking pictures of each humanitarian act.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/sailing-on-a-bucket-surrounded-by-commandos-1.374116

I am glad no one was injured.

+1 Me too.

[mawilson 2,133]

All anyone has to do is just look at Israel's behavior. It confiscated all the evidence from the Mavi Marmara and the other ships - seizing the cameras, photos, videos and other recordings that documented what actually happened - and continues to refuse to allow international investigators to examine it.

Be that as it may - legal issues notwithstanding - I just don't see the IDF shooting "innocent" unarmed passengers, unless their lives were threatened.