Fatima Mohammadi, aboard the Mavi Marmara, describes first hand her accounts of the initial approach of the IDF and later the use of such excessive violence that resulted in loss of life. She points out that there were already two casualties on the boat before the commandos boarded the boat. As the Mavi Marmara announced over and over that there were wounded people on board, the IDF ignored this and did not respond but continued to use force and fire on the crew members. The devastation and horror described is a full on military assault carried out on humanitarian workers.
“Israel is not just sending a clear message that we don’t want you back and we don’t want you to run another convoy, but this is an intensely strategic way of keeping anybody out of Gaza to see that over the past year and a half since the massacre, and especially since the siege began, that this society and the economy and the people and the livelihood of the people there are in such a poor state that Israel does not want anybody else to see it and they need to maintain that power and that control over this entire area to not allow for change to happen and this convoy challenged that.”
(Via Cultures of Resistance )
Edward Peck is the former chief of mission in Iraq and served as deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan administration. Peck was on board one of the ships in the Gaza convoy that was attacked by Israeli forces.
(Via Free Speech Radio News)
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)
A report back and critical look at Gaza, one year after the invasion. Noam Chomsky is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a world renowned linguists, philosopher, cognitive scientist and political activist. Here, Chomsky speaks about the strategic isolation of Gaza from the rest of the Palestinian territories, the continued US/Israeli crimes, the corrupt Israeli prison system, the Israeli decision to choose expansion over security and many other US backed Israeli atrocities committed with complete impunity and in violation of international law. This event was sponsored by The Newton Dialogue on Peace and War, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, CodePink, Greater Boston, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, and others. Prasannan Parthasarthi was moderator.
This program was produced on December 8, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://chomsky.info/
Norman Finkelstein was interviewed on Danish TV by Adam Holm.
This program was produced for November 13, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com
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
Joe O’Brien of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), following his return from the Middle East, relates Michael FitzGerald an account of his observations while there and offers his recommendations for a just and peaceful resolution to the long-standing problems of the region.
This program was produced by Near 90 fm for September 10, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://near.ie/
http://eappi.org
First, IMEMC’s current weekly report of current events. Then, Amy Goodman’s interview of Professor Norman Finkelstein. Finkelstein is one of today’s clearest voices about Israeli war crimes, which is not heard in mainstream media. He points out the obvious and normally overlooked fact that the massacre of Gaza was not part of any war. Gaza has no soldiers, only victims, some of whom are labeled as “militants.”
This program was produced by This Week in Palestine for September 19, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://truthandjusticeradio.org
http://normanfinkelstein.com
As Israel refused this week to stop settlement activity in the West Bank, its attacks on the Gaza Strip this week have left five civilians dead. These stories and more in this week’s update.
This program was produced by the International Middle East Media Center for August 28, 2009.
For more information, visit:
http://imemc.org