Israel sea blockade of Gaza legal - U.N. Report
July 8, 2011 - 5:24pm
If the U.N. approves it must be OK.
Israel's sea blockade of Gaza is legal but its attack on a Turkish ship trying to break it last year used "excessive force", according to leaks of a United Nations report.
The report also concludes that the blockade of Gaza is not illegal and that Israel is justified in stopping vessels even outside its territorial waters.
The article doesn't talk about how the logic behind the conclusion.
Turkey is throwing the Israeli ambassador out of the country and cutting military ties over Israel's refusal to apologize for a deadly May 2010 raid on a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that diplomatic ties are being downgraded, and all military ties between the two countries are suspended.
Reuters reported that the Israeli ambassador, Gabby Levy, is currently in Israel and cancelled plans to return to Turkey
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/09/02/gaza-flotilla-raid-report-...
..some coverage at democracy now.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/2/as_turkey_freezes_israel_ties_critics
On the make-up of this particular pro-Israel UN Panel:
by Alex Kane on July 7, 2011
....[
It appears that Israel only agreed to cooperate with this particular UN inquiry as there is very little chance this commission will take an independent stance and deliver an unbiased verdict on the brutal Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Indeed, Israel has declined to cooperate with the other UN commission into the attack appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. It can be reasonably argued that Colombian and Israeli cooperation in this matter is a further step towards jointly “doing more in terms of the fight against terrorism” (to paraphrase Bermudez’ remarks in Israel).
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/un-report-on-%E2%80%98freedom-flotilla-i-w...
=====
A more general article by Girardi on US-Israel use of "lawfare"
by Philip Giraldi, September 01, 2011
Email This | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum
I have already reported how “lawfare,” which was defined by Air Force Deputy Judge Advocate General Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap following 9/11, is becoming the new hot button for defenders of Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s foreign policies. Using the law itself to subvert existing constitutional arrangements and, ironically, to undermine legal restraints has been around for quite a while....
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2011/08/31/israel-wages-lawfare-agai...
..from the democracy now story
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/2/as_turkey_freezes_israel_ties_criti...
HUWAIDA ARRAF: Hi, Amy, Juan, Norman.
Sadly, it’s a completely expected whitewash of Israeli crimes. This panel’s composition—not only its composition, but its mandate—was problematic in so many ways. And it wasn’t designed to get at the truth of what happened or to achieve—to get at justice for the victims of Israel’s attack, but rather to arrive at political compromise between Israel and Turkey. And that’s what we have. It’s an attempt to whitewash the crimes, set them aside, and in addition, it came up with some outrageous claims that completely contradict the findings of numerous human rights organizations and international law authorities, including various bodies of the U.N. itself, about the legality of the Israeli blockade. So, very problematic.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And the report’s criticism or faulting of one organization, in particular, a Turkish organization, that had some members—helped organize the flotilla. Could you talk about what it said and your response to that?
HUWAIDA ARRAF: Sure. It did say—you did quote that we were "reckless," but it also said that Israeli soldiers faced organized violence when they tried to board the Mavi Marmara, which is completely untrue. We spent a long time preparing for this flotilla. And our—everything that we prepared, the passengers and our—the foundations of our movement and what we do is based on nonviolent direct action resistance.
This is not to deny that Israeli soldiers did face some attacks when they boarded, but you can’t say that these attacks were anything more than self-defense, because of the obnoxious way in which Israeli soldiers—and very violent way in which they took over the ships, in the way that was intended to cause tremendous fear and commotion. They boarded the ships firing, even on our very small boat. The boat that I was on was traveling right next to the Mavi Marmara, and we only had about 17 people on that boat. They boarded, beating down people, using tasers, firing stun grenades and paintball pellet at people’s faces. It was completely uncalled-for violence, so that some people, a handful out of 700 volunteers, reacted in what can be called a violent way. It was self-defense, so it was in no way organized. And this is—I’m saying this, being part of the central organizing committee of the flotilla.
For more information:
Ehab Lotayef - 514.941.9792 - lotayef@gmail.com
Sandra Ruch - 416.716.4010 - miriamswell@hotmail.com
Free Gaza press release:
The Palmer/Uribe Report:
Another Attempt by Israel to Whitewash Murder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos brutally attacked Freedom Flotilla 1, killing eight Turkish and one American passenger on board the Mavi Marmara, most having been killed at close range, execution style.. They injured more than 50 other passengers, both on the Mavi Marmara and on the other four boats sailing to the embattled territory of Gaza to bring the attention of the world to Israel’s illegal blockade of 1.6 million Palestinians. Not only were our passengers murdered and maimed, but the Israeli government has refused to return over $1 million in money and equipment, including cameras and videos which are of evidential value.
In the 15 months since Israel’s unwarranted attack on five boats carrying human rights watchers, Israel has been trying to spin the story that their well-armed soldiers were the victims and we were the aggressors. Several reports have already been written, most squarely blaming Israel for its attack on unarmed civilians.
The UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission took evidence from 112 eyewitnesses, reviewed forensic evidence, including autopsy reports and inspected the Mavi. It found that, because a humanitarian crisis exists in Gaza, Israel's blockade is unlawful and ‘cannot be sustained in law…regardless of the grounds” used as justification. Israel’s blockade is collective punishment and in violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, inflicting civilian damage disproportionate to any military advantage. Therefore, since Freedom Flotilla 1 neither presented an imminent threat to Israel nor was designed to contribute to any war effort against Israel, intercepting the flotilla was ‘clearly unlawful’ and could not be justified as self-defense.
Israel refused to cooperate with this UN panel even though the United Nations and governments all around the world called for just such an independent investigation of the events.
Instead, the Israeli government set up its own investigatory panel, The Turkel Commission, led by Israeli retired Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel and three other Israelis issued a report on January 23, 2011 exonerating the commandos, then saying the blockade was legal. The commission did not interview a single passenger or crew member from any of the boats but only received testimony from the Israeli military.
On January 28, 2011, Amnesty International condemned the Turkel findings as no more than a whitewash. “Despite being nearly 300 pages long, the report crucially fails to explain how the activists died and what conclusions the Commission reached regarding the IDF’s specific actions in each case.”
http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/013/2011/en/96e848bd-56ee-4e6e-a817-17e07c3d5192/mde150132011en.html
Free Gaza shares Amnesty International's analysis that the conflict between the Israeli armed forces and unarmed civilians was NOT armed conflict, making international humanitarian law (IHL) the wrong framework; international human rights law and law enforcement norms should have been applied, which would have made the use of force – and especially lethal force –an act of last resort.
Now there is the Palmer/Uribe report due to be released tomorrow, which apparently adopts the same faulty IHL framework.
According to Audrey Bomse, Board member and Legal Adviser to Free Gaza : “If the leaks we've heard from Israeli officials are correct, the holes in this report are big enough to sail a flotilla of ships through. There are serious problems with the Panel’s composition, mandate and legal analysis. But most disturbing of all is the fact that the Secretary General’s Panel apparently condones Israel’s gross violations of the human and national rights of the Palestinian people and the rights of those in solidarity with them.”
The Panel has 4 members, one from Israel and one from Turkey, plus Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand and ex-president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. The choice of Uribe as vice-chairman is suspect, given his intimate association with the military and paramilitary practice of murdering civilians in Colombia. The Panel, was only tasked to review the reports of the national investigations by Turkey and Israel (the Turkel Committee), not to conduct an in-depth objective investigation. Its ultimate goal, was to “positively affect the relationship between Turkey and Israel.”
International humanitarian law (IHL, the law of armed conflict) is the wrong legal framework to be used as the basis for judging the lawfulness of the actions taken by Israel both against the civilian population of Gaza (the blockade) and against those resisting the boarding of the MM. The conflict between the Israeli navy and unarmed civilians on the Mavi Marmara was not armed conflict. International human rights law and law enforcement norms should have been applied, which would have made the use of force – and especially lethal force –an act of last resort. Nor should the legality of the blockade of occupied Gaza be analyzed in the framework of the law of armed conflict.
If indeed the Uribe Report has concluded that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza - a serious measure of war - is legal and in accordance with international law, then this Report will contradict numerous other UN reports and resolutions, most recently that of the Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission, on the issue of the legality of the Gaza siege.
As the Human Rights Council Fact‐Finding Mission observed, “public confidence in any investigative process ... is not enhanced when the subject of the investigation either investigates himself or plays a pivotal role in the process.”
-- 30 --
Turkey to challenge Gaza blockade at International Court of Justice
post removed because of incorrect information regarding the commission. apologies.
'Israel Follows in Hitler's Footsteps' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197327.html
"They are racist and they were looking to see who was Arab or Muslim, with dark colored skin. That's who they killed. Even the Western activists on the ship were surprised at that. This is a racist, Zionist, apartheid regime backed by the US and Britain allies" (and Canada)
Holy shit NDPP; 'Israel Follows in Hitler's Footsteps'?
Do you agree with this?
mods!
The mods don't care, Dave. They just don't care ever since one of their own was fired.
Saeb Saath, a respected peace activist and author, is voicing his opinion on Israel's actions. It's not the first time such a comparison ahs been made on babble, and it won't be the last. What, exactly, should be done about this according to those objecting? And what, in fact, is objectionable?
Holy shit NDPP; 'Israel Follows in Hitler's Footsteps'?
Do you agree with this?
Wow. Iran's Press TV ran a sensational anti-Israel headline to pull viewers. And Iran and Israel usually get along so well!
I just watched most of the half hour. You should watch it too, it might make you pause before making thilly posts. We're discussing a criminal incident in which nine people were murdered on the high seas.
One of the panel made some heated remarks in response to the odious propagandizing of a panelist defending Israel in the matter of the Mavi Marmara. Considering he reported that he lost friends in the incident - where, you'll recall, highly trained Israeli commandos launched an armed assault against an unarmed humanitarian aid convoy and somehow managed to kill nine people - by shooting them repeatedly, sometimes by sniper fire, sometimes from a helicopter, sometimes in the back. Professional soldiers of this caliber with the assets at their disposal could have peacefully subdued a population ten times the size if that was their intent, but the killings were a calculated, or indeed miscalculated act. I can forgive the panelist his upset when confronted by someone lying so brazenly about coldblooded murder. Frankly I could forgive him for beating the propagandist senseless, but that's just me.
Drawing comparisons between an extreme-right Israeli leadership with a propensity for acts of wanton violence...against an all-but defenceless subject civilian population... trapped within a concrete perimeter wall....living in the most crowded, still-shrinking strip of land on the planet...
A leadership whose formative early life experience was surviving and escaping the Nazi Holocaust and now find themselves guiding a highly militarized society that is actively colonizing the neighbouring territories...
...and the land-clearing operations of the SS in eastern Europe which evolved into genocide from an earlier intention to simply displace the unwanted 'races' to open up land for colonization - eh, the parallels are there for all to see. I suppose we avoid them out of respect for the survivors but the 'facts on the ground' as it were, are unmistakable.
I recently read Timothy Snyder's 'Bloodlands', a relentlessly grim account of both the Holodomor and the Holocaust - as I travelled through Poland, Byelorussia and other centers of the NKVD terror and the Final Solution. Having also recently reviewed Lanzmann's Shoah; and discovered my own suppressed Jewish ancestry. Frankly, given the profoundly warping nature of survivors experiences, indeed the sort of people that would survive such a selection process - I can't imagine how they could NOT, tragically, find themselves acting out repeated versions of their own misery...in some sort of psychological process I'm unqualified to elaborate but which makes a sort of psychic sense to me. It seems inevitable.
I happen to think the comparison of Gaza to a concentration camp is excessive hyperboli, as is the somewhat more compelling "Warsaw Ghetto" equation which Mark Levine claims are wrong--while allowing a number of similarities:
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/crisisingaza/2009/02/2009219151894124...
But if "Reductio ad Hitlerum" is a sin, the troll Wildermore's calling antiwar.com a "stormfront site" above is more egregious.
Thanks for your post, Merowe, informative as always.
hey, cheers contrarianna, I'd actually qualified the panelists remarks as 'hyperbolic' myself in an earlier draft. Editted later for flow. My weakness for adjectives.
I'd shy away from the comparison myself because I'm not sure what it would achieve, what its utility would be, beyond a way of reliably baiting zionists. In making a sincere effort to penetrate to the complex heart of the matter, getting clear of the emotional, overheated rhetoric seems the first task.
I think there is enough substance, as Levine notes, to sustain a rough comparison, but I don't think you can go very far with it; when you close in on it it sort of dissipates, displaced by the particularity of the current event. Because of course, the tiny Levant with its few million souls, after the fact of the Holocaust, can never be that primal convulsion of modernity that swept across Eurasia.
More like, there's just this unnerving similitude that should act as a red flag to those responsible, as in, ok guys, where is this going, what are we really doing here, are we really in control of this? An uneasiness.
Personally, I think the Israeli state's actual goal, is the complete displacement of the native non-Jewish populations of Gaza and the West Bank. Its not proceeding in the most obvious manner, by simply killing the indigenous inhabitants for practical reasons. It will achieve this by piecemeal whittling away the Occupied Territories and sufficiently degrading the quality of life there that the Arab populations emigrate voluntarily, or just kind of, don't thrive, and diminish, and eventually die off, like Hottentots or something.
But I am interested, as I write this, in further exploring a psychoanalytic approach to the motivations of the first generations of Israeli leadership. There must be quite a body of scholarship on this, out there.
Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza - by Caryl Churchill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/feb/26/caryl-churchill-seven-jewish...
Hey Merowe, this for your exploration...
Polish-Jewish Sociologist Compares West Bank Separation Fence to Warsaw Ghetto Walls
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/polish-jewish-sociologist-comp...
"Sygmunt Bauman says Israel 'terrified of peace' and 'taking advantage of the Holocaust to legitimize unconscionable acts..."
re: the 'somewhat more compelling 'Warsaw Ghetto' equation'
Saeb Saath, a respected peace activist and author, is voicing his opinion on Israel's actions. It's not the first time such a comparison ahs been made on babble, and it won't be the last. What, exactly, should be done about this according to those objecting? And what, in fact, is objectionable?
I for one could care less. My intention was not to draw a mod to this post. I just asked NDPP if he agrees with the notion Israel is following Hitler's footsteps; a question more out of curiosity than an attempt to put him on the line with you mods. I'm not surprised by this coming from the Iranians; they do this dumb shit all the time. You can always hit back at them with a couple of cartoons: that always seems to piss them off and gets under their skin.
Hi Bec,
Hitler and Netanyahu, Nazi Germany and Zionist Israel are worlds apart in space and time, despite sharing certain ruthless, racist, genocidal tendancies. Of course it's hyberbolic but absolutely appropriate in the context in which it was said. I hope people derive something more from the discussion than that single comment/title. There is great sensitivity when it comes to matters relating to the criticism of Israel, considerably less so to the Zionist entity's hapless victims. ps - thanks for the invite to the party too - CAW!
I see, so you agree with it analytically but not literally. Thanks for the answer and explanation.
Wasn't there another flotilla or two forming up or something?
things might go easier next time...
"...the Turkish navy will increase its patrols in the eastern Mediterranean and pursue 'a more aggressive strategy'. According to the report, Turkish naval vessels will accompany ships carrying aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-turkey-navy-to-esco...
Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are spurious at best, ahistorical, insensitive and at times anti-semitic.
Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are spurious at best, ahistorical, insensitive and at times anti-semitic.
Sure. No connection there. Whatsoever.
Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are spurious at best, ahistorical, insensitive and at times anti-semitic.
Then what murderous regime would you compare it to? Would you accept comparisons to apartheid South Africa? Personally I see it as most akin to Iran. So educate us who do you compare Israel to?
WHy not Canada? Except Canada has achieved what Israel can only dream of...
get my drift?
Yes, well, if we consider that the S.A. bantustan model was copied from the North American Indian reservation system, and if we accept that Israel has cleverly supported extremist Jewish settlements, with the whole infrastructure of roads and services and military protection, to fragment the West Bank into virtual islets, then there is something to NDPP's observation.
Caledonia...
"our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic of Canada and there is no more Indian problem, that is the whole purpose of our legislation." Government of Canada,
Mavi Marmara Lawyers Pursue Criminal Complaints Against Israelis, Declare UN Report 'Null and Void'
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/mavi-marmara-lawyers-pur...
"Lawyers representing the victims of the Israeli military attack on the Mavi Marmara have affirmed that they are pursuing legal action against the perpetrators, including individual Israeli soldiers. The Mavi Marmara lawyers also rejected the so-called Palmer report. The lawyers statement affirmed that the Palmer report was 'politically motivated' and was legally 'null and void'.."
Jason Kenney's and Harper's good buddy--and partner in "security" agreements--Israeli Foreign Affairs minister Avidgor Lieberman, wants to get back at Turkey for its demand that Israel appologize for murdering its citizens on the high seas.
How do you do that?
Why by sending (more) arms to the designated terrorist group, the PKK, to attack Turkey of course.
I guess Canada will be taking the the PKK off their terror list soon.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-s-office-distanc...
But such action does not actually seem to be much of a departure from Israel's existing policy toward the PKK in any case.
BBC film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPWIL4ge1vg
Turkey says flotilla raid was 'cause for war'
"This attack that took place in international waters is not within international laws," Erdogan said. "It is a cause for war, but we decided to act in line with Turkey's grandeur and showed patience."
An Israeli government spokesman was not immediately available for comment but Israel insists its naval commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked by some of the activists.
Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives aboard the flotilla and said Tuesday it was time for the two countries to restore their former close ties.
A U.N. report into the raid, released earlier this month, said Israel's naval blockade was legitimate but accused the Israel of using "excessive and unreasonable" force.
Turkey has been angered over Israel's refusal to apologize for the raid.
In response, Turkey this month suspended its military ties with Israel, expelled top Israeli diplomats, pledged to campaign in support of the Palestinians' statehood bid, and vowed to send the Turkish navy to escort Gaza-bound aid ships in the future.
Wow some pretty hardcore saber rattling. Hopfully it will just stay that way.
So are you hoping that the Israeli blockade of Gaza remains in place? Seems to me that it will only broken when Israel is made to stop they will never lift it without being forced to.
"This attack that took place in international waters is not within international laws," Erdogan said. "It is a cause for war, but we decided to act in line with Turkey's grandeur and showed patience."
An Israeli government spokesman was not immediately available for comment but Israel insists its naval commandos acted in self-defense after being attacked by some of the activists.
Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives aboard the flotilla and said Tuesday it was time for the two countries to restore their former close ties.
A U.N. report into the raid, released earlier this month, said Israel's naval blockade was legitimate but accused the Israel of using "excessive and unreasonable" force.
Turkey has been angered over Israel's refusal to apologize for the raid.
In response, Turkey this month suspended its military ties with Israel, expelled top Israeli diplomats, pledged to campaign in support of the Palestinians' statehood bid, and vowed to send the Turkish navy to escort Gaza-bound aid ships in the future.
Wow some pretty hardcore saber rattling. Hopfully it will just stay that way.
I certainly hope not!
So are you hoping that the Israeli blockade of Gaza remains in place?
No, but I'd hate to see this turn into a shooting war. Are you (two) to saying you hope for that? I'm misreading that right?
So are you hoping that the Israeli blockade of Gaza remains in place?
No, but I'd hate to see this turn into a shooting war. Are you (two) to saying you hope for that? I'm misreading that right?
Its been a shooting war for some time now. But only the IDF have weapons.
Its been a shooting war for some time now. But only the IDF have weapons.
Do you think Turkey is really willing to change that by using its navy to break the blockade?
I think it is time a country or two with modern armaments stood up against Israel and forced it to back down from its illegal and immoral blockade. Then it will be up to the Israeli thugs to decide whether they want to attack other countries navies instead of unarmed boats full of peace activists. The IDF is real good at shooting unarmed demonstrators I wonder what it will be like if Turkey and Iran send modern warships and air support to accompany the peace activists. Of course I would expect that the other forces would have strict orders not to fire first and only retaliate if Israel shoots first.
IMO Gaza will never be freed by flotillas of peace activists no matter how much I admire and applaud their courage and dedication to justice.
Do you think Turkey is really willing to change that by using its navy to break the blockade?
Hard to say how pissed the Turks are at having their citizens murdered by Israel. In this bizarre world everyone knows that if some other country's navy had boarded an Israeli flagged ship and killed 6 Israelis they would have already have been attacked by the IDF or Mossad.