Re: i 19 errori di ISRAELE
Inviato da Stella il 2/6/2010 11:39:28
From The Times
June 2, 2010
World leaders call for inquiry as Israel frees Gaza activists
James Hider, Alex Christie-Miller
The international community rounded on Israel yesterday, demanding an independent inquiry into the storming of a convoy of aid ships that ended in the deaths of at least nine people.
Amid widespread condemnation of the raid in international waters, Israel said last night that it was freeing foreigners detained after the raid. All 682 were to be deported, the Government said, though it was not clear how long the process would take.
The announcement came after Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, urged Israel to let the activists go. “I add my voice to the calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation into the incident,” he said.
Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, had called earlier for a “full investigation” and urged Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, blaming it for the violence on board a Turkish-flagged cruise ship, the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli special forces boarded her from helicopters. “Had the Israeli Government heeded international calls and my own strong and urgent and persistent call to lift the blockade of Gaza, this would not have happened,” he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, said that Israel’s behaviour “should definitely be punished” and urged the immediate lifting of “the inhumane embargo on Gaza”.
About 30 British citizens were being held in a prison in the Negev desert town of Beersheva, and another was being treated at a Tel Aviv hospital. Israeli officials said that 48 people had already been deported.
Even as Israel dealt with the fallout from the botched raid, when elite commandos opened fire with live ammunition after being overwhelmed by passengers, organisers of the aid flotilla said that two more ships would soon be heading for Gaza, in an open challenge to the three-year blockade.
Israel vowed to halt any more vessels that tried to reach the enclave, but officials said that they were reviewing their tactics after the military debacle. Israel’s closest European ally, Italy, warned that the bloodshed of the previous day must “never happen again”.
Greta Berlin, a co-ordinator for the Free Gaza Movement, which organised the convoy, said: “This initiative is not going to stop. We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They’re going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats.”
There were growing calls both in Israel and abroad for a full investigation into the incident. As the first activists were released from custody, their testimony bore striking contrast to the official Israeli version of events.
Haneen Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli MP who was on board, said that Israeli commandos let at least two of the wounded die of their injuries while they searched the vessel for weapons and herded the passengers into rooms.
As the only Hebrew speaker, she tried to solicit help from the commandos. “I made a sign in Hebrew, ‘Please, we have two very dangerous injuries. Please give us help’,” she said. But the soldiers ignored her. “They [the casualties] died in the coming half hour,” she told The Times.
Other activists accused Israel of exaggerating levels of resistance on the ship, despite video footage of them attacking the commandos with clubs. “The Israeli Government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case,” said Norman Paech, a 72-year-old former MP from Germany who was on the ship. “This was not an act of self-defence. Personally I saw two and a half wooden batons that were used . . . there was really nothing else. We never saw any knives,” he said.
Two MPs from the same left-wing party, Inge Höger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56, said that they had “felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped. We wanted to bring aid to Gaza. Nobody had a weapon.”
The Israeli military released footage of weapons that it says were found during the raids, which have focused international attention on the three-year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, earning Israel yet more stinging criticism.
“The situation in Gaza is unsustainable and unacceptable,” Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, declared. Egypt, appearing keen to avoid the backlash, announced that it would open its borders to Gazans.
June 2, 2010
World leaders call for inquiry as Israel frees Gaza activists
James Hider, Alex Christie-Miller
The international community rounded on Israel yesterday, demanding an independent inquiry into the storming of a convoy of aid ships that ended in the deaths of at least nine people.
Amid widespread condemnation of the raid in international waters, Israel said last night that it was freeing foreigners detained after the raid. All 682 were to be deported, the Government said, though it was not clear how long the process would take.
The announcement came after Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, urged Israel to let the activists go. “I add my voice to the calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation into the incident,” he said.
Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, had called earlier for a “full investigation” and urged Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, blaming it for the violence on board a Turkish-flagged cruise ship, the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli special forces boarded her from helicopters. “Had the Israeli Government heeded international calls and my own strong and urgent and persistent call to lift the blockade of Gaza, this would not have happened,” he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, said that Israel’s behaviour “should definitely be punished” and urged the immediate lifting of “the inhumane embargo on Gaza”.
About 30 British citizens were being held in a prison in the Negev desert town of Beersheva, and another was being treated at a Tel Aviv hospital. Israeli officials said that 48 people had already been deported.
Even as Israel dealt with the fallout from the botched raid, when elite commandos opened fire with live ammunition after being overwhelmed by passengers, organisers of the aid flotilla said that two more ships would soon be heading for Gaza, in an open challenge to the three-year blockade.
Israel vowed to halt any more vessels that tried to reach the enclave, but officials said that they were reviewing their tactics after the military debacle. Israel’s closest European ally, Italy, warned that the bloodshed of the previous day must “never happen again”.
Greta Berlin, a co-ordinator for the Free Gaza Movement, which organised the convoy, said: “This initiative is not going to stop. We think eventually Israel will get some kind of common sense. They’re going to have to stop the blockade of Gaza, and one of the ways to do this is for us to continue to send the boats.”
There were growing calls both in Israel and abroad for a full investigation into the incident. As the first activists were released from custody, their testimony bore striking contrast to the official Israeli version of events.
Haneen Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli MP who was on board, said that Israeli commandos let at least two of the wounded die of their injuries while they searched the vessel for weapons and herded the passengers into rooms.
As the only Hebrew speaker, she tried to solicit help from the commandos. “I made a sign in Hebrew, ‘Please, we have two very dangerous injuries. Please give us help’,” she said. But the soldiers ignored her. “They [the casualties] died in the coming half hour,” she told The Times.
Other activists accused Israel of exaggerating levels of resistance on the ship, despite video footage of them attacking the commandos with clubs. “The Israeli Government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case,” said Norman Paech, a 72-year-old former MP from Germany who was on the ship. “This was not an act of self-defence. Personally I saw two and a half wooden batons that were used . . . there was really nothing else. We never saw any knives,” he said.
Two MPs from the same left-wing party, Inge Höger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56, said that they had “felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped. We wanted to bring aid to Gaza. Nobody had a weapon.”
The Israeli military released footage of weapons that it says were found during the raids, which have focused international attention on the three-year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, earning Israel yet more stinging criticism.
“The situation in Gaza is unsustainable and unacceptable,” Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, declared. Egypt, appearing keen to avoid the backlash, announced that it would open its borders to Gazans.
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