At roughly 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning Israeli navy and air force troops intercepted a convoy of six ships that attempted to deliver 10,000 tons of aid to the besieged Gaza strip. The convoy, known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was inspected by several governments and was a highly publicized action. Israeli officials warned the ships they will not be allowed to reach Gaza’s shores, when the ships attempted to do so in order to break the siege on Gaza, the Israeli army attacked them, leaving 20 international activists dead and dozens injured. Hundreds are currently in Israeli jails. The Real News’ Lia Tarachansky investigates what Israeli officials and Israeli media have been reporting about this attack.
(Via The Real News Network)
On Monday, Israeli commandos boarded ships in the “Freedom Flotilla” attempting to bring humanitarian aid to residents of still-blockaded Gaza. The aggressive response by Israel turned deadly, with at least nine activists killed. The international community has reacted with shock and outrage; protests have erupted around the world outside Israeli embassies, with protesters even teargassed in Paris. Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a long awaited meeting surrounding peace talks with President Obama and headed back to Israel to do damage control, and Turkey, from where the flotilla departed, has recalled its ambassador and issued a travel warning to its citizens.
Huwaida Arraf was on one of the ships; she joins us via phone from Ramallah, along with Norman Finkelstein, to tell us what happened to her and offer some analysis on the situation.
(Via GRITtv)
Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country’s siege on Gaza. More than 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday. The Israeli Army Radio had earlier said that up to 16 people had been killed. With world wide condemnations after Israeli commando operation, is Israel already paying too high a price for enforcing the siege? What are the likely ramifications of this incident?
(Via Al Jazeera)
Cartoonist-reporter Joe Sacco, presents a sweeping, original investigation of a forgotten crime in Rafah, a town in the Gaza Strip that has been a notorious flashpoint for conflicts. His book Footnotes in Gaza, is a graphic of a 1956 incident that left 111 Palestinians dead, shot by Israeli soldiers—seen from different perspectives. Leonard Lopate speaks to Joe Sacco.
This program was produced by WNYC for January 20, 2010.
For more information, visit:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate
Footnotes In Gaza excerpt on Mondoweiss
Justice Richard Goldstone and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold engaged in a pointed, searching discussion of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Gaza on Nov. 5, 2009 before a rapt audience of Brandeis University students, faculty, members of the general public, and international media.
It was the first time that Goldstone, whose name has become synonymous with the U.N. Human Rights Council’s fact-finding report on the conflict, engaged in a public forum with a senior Israeli political figure over widespread criticism of the report among supporters of Israel.
This program was produced by Brandeis University for November 5, 2009.
NOTE: Downloading has been disabled for this video. Please visit the Brandeis NOW website at the address below to view the program in its entirety.
For more information, visit:
http://brandeis.edu/now/2009/november/gazaforumcoverage.html
The Goldstone Report at the UN Human Rights Council site
Alex recounts the experience of being on the Spirit of Humanity and being held in immigration detention centers in Israel. The boat was seized as it entered Gazan territorial waters.
This program was produced for July 7, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://freegaza.org