Israel Kills 10 in Palestinian Aid Convoy

that's the reason that languages which still have real grammar ...

If you really think that Israel should just roll over and give in to the Palestinians, many of whom were not born in Israel and have no claim to anything in Israel, then you need to learn a little more.

If they decide to give in to the Palestinians, then Israel should destroy every building, every hospital, every road, every factory, every water treatment plant, every gas station, every farm, and everything else that was built by Israeli's.

As for the "aid" convoy approaching Israel, they have every right to stop, board, and inspect ANY vessel that is entering their territorial waters, irregardless of where that vessel is flagged.

Israel had no claim to any of that land.

There were plenty of terrorist Jews back when the "state" was being founded.

The key word, of course, being 'entering.

Which surprises me that you select terrorists over democratic countries. Palestinian and Taliban terrorists good.....Israeli and USA military forces bad.

Did you know sharks will only attack you if your wet, IT'S A FACT

Israel intercepts new Gaza-bound aid ship
Updated 2 hours 40 minutes ago/ABC News online


There are 11 passengers on board the Rachel Corrie. (AFP)

Israeli forces have intercepted another aid-laden ship bound for Gaza.

They are shadowing but have not boarded the Irish-owned Rachel Corrie, some 55 kilometres out in the Mediterranean, a spokeswoman for the campaign group supporting the ship said.

The 1,200 tonne ship with 11 passengers on board was hoping to arrive in Gaza bearing aid supplies this afternoon, but Israel vowed to prevent the ship from docking.

Those onboard said they were prepared for a confrontation but that they did not have weapons on the ship.

The vessel, named after an American pro-Palestinian activist killed in the Gaza Strip in 2003, was seized five days after a convoy of six was halted.

That convoy included a Turkish ship on which nine men were killed by Israeli commandos who stormed aboard.

- ABC/Reuters

Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range
Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 June 2010 22.00 BST

Exclusive: Nine Turkish men on board Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times, autopsy results reveal

The funeral of one of the Turkish victims of the Gaza flotilla raid Crowds at the funeral of one of the Turkish victims of the Gaza flotilla raid, at the Beyazit mosque in Istanbul. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

The findings emerged as more survivors gave their accounts of the raids. Ismail Patel, the chairman of Leicester-based pro-Palestinian group Friends of al-Aqsa, who returned to Britain today, told how he witnessed some of the fatal shootings and claimed that Israel had operated a "shoot to kill policy".

He calculated that during the bloodiest part of the assault, Israeli commandos shot one person every minute. One man was fatally shot in the back of the head just two feet in front him and another was shot once between the eyes. He added that as well as the fatally wounded, 48 others were suffering from gunshot wounds and six activists remained missing, suggesting the death toll may increase.

The new information about the manner and intensity of the killings undermines Israel's insistence that its soldiers opened fire only in self defence and in response to attacks by the activists.

"Given the very disturbing evidence which contradicts the line from the Israeli media and suggests that Israelis have been very selective in the way they have addressed this, there is now an overwhelming need for an international inquiry," said Andrew Slaughter MP, a member of the all party group on Britain and Palestine.

Israel said tonight the number of bullets found in the bodies did not alter the fact that the soldiers were acting in self defence. "The only situation when a soldier shot was when it was a clearly a life-threatening situation," said a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London. "Pulling the trigger quickly can result in a few bullets being in the same body, but does not change the fact they were in a life-threatening situation."

Protesters from across the country will tomorrow march from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy to call for Israel to be held to account for its actions. ...<cont>

WTF does 'select' mean?

Please explain how the Taliban are terrorists.

Seized aid ship docks in Israel
By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker and wires
Updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago


Israeli navy soldiers boarded the Rachel Corrie, with permission from its crew, on Saturday. (Supplied: Israeli Defence Force)

The passengers and crew of an Irish aid ship that tried to break the Gaza blockade are likely to be deported from Israel as soon as possible.

Israeli forces boarded the 1,200 tonne Rachel Corrie when it was around 30 nautical miles from Gaza.

The passengers and crew put up no resistance.

The ship has now docked at the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, after Israeli troops diverted it there.

Israeli officials planned to question the 11 activists onboard the ship.

Most are from Ireland and Malaysia and will be flown home as soon as possible.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev says the Israeli navy was left with no choice but to intercept the Irish ship.

"The first thing I think we can be thankful for is this all happened without any violence," he said.

"We didn't want today's incident. We had arranged yesterday, there were understandings reached with the government of Ireland, which guaranteed the free flow of all the humanitarian cargo on the ship to the people of Gaza.

"Though this was agreed to by the governments of Israel and Ireland, those activists on the boat rejected that, making the interception today unfortunately necessary."

However, the Free Gaza Movement which funded the voyage says it will continue to organise more such ships in its campaign to end the three-year blockade on Gaza.

Israel has offered to transfer the aid on board to Gaza by land once it has been checked for any banned items.

But Hamas, which rules Gaza, has so far refused to allow any of the aid from last week's flotilla into the Palestinian territory.

Israel says it cannot allow unauthorised ships into Gaza because of the risk of them smuggling in rockets or other weapons

On Monday nine activists were killed after Israeli commandos boarded another aid ship bound for Gaza.

- ABC/BBC

So, this is sadly typical. I'm going to try and predict the US response. My guess is nothing severe at all.

Israel is bound and determined to shoot themselves in the foot.

From what I have heard on the news (and I admit that the reports have been sketchy) those were unarmed ships.
And while they were trying to run the Israeli blockade, there was no reason to shoot any of the people on those ships.

IF, and I stress IF, the reports are true that those people were unarmed, then the Israeli govt is in serious trouble.

However, I am willing to wait for all of the facts to come out.

However, my initial reaction stands for now.

I am still trying to understand the "international waters" part.

Isn't invading a foreign-flagged vessel in international waters piracy, no matter how you do it?

Leftist and rightist Israelis clash at Gaza flotilla protest in Tel Aviv
Published 20:45 05.06.10
Latest update 20:45 05.06.10/Haaretz
By Chaim Levinson

Smoke grenade hurled at left wing protesters from unknown source;

Leftist and rightist demonstrators clashed Saturday night in Tel Aviv as more than 6,000 Israelis gathered to protest the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship earlier this week, in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.


Leftist protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday, June 5, 2010.
Photo by: Nir Keidar

The protest was originally planned by to mark the anniversary of the Six Day War which broke out 43 years ago today. Among the organizers were left wing parties Meretz, Hadash and Peace Now organization. The demonstrators carried banners saying "The government is drowning us all," "We must stride for peace," and "A right wing government = clear and immediate danger to state security."

As the demonstrators marched from the Rabin Square near the city's municipal building toward the Tel Aviv museum several hundred rightist demonstrators followed the procession. Upon their arrival at their final destination the spirits heated up between the two opposing groups, during which they two sides cursed and shouted at each other.

A smoke grenade was also hurled at the left wing demonstrators from an unknown source.

Police were deployed to keep the two sides apart. Clashes were also reported on the central Ibn Gevirol Street.

Among the leftist demonstrators, hundreds carried Israeli flags to establish that they were not demonstrating against Israel nor questioning the country's existence, but rather protesting the actions executed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government.

Today's editorial from the Guardian (UK).:

Quote:

There was nothing on board those ships that constituted a threat to Israel's security, so Binyamin Netanyahu's argument that his troops were acting in self-defence has no validity. They should not have been there in the first place. The convoy was carrying construction materials, electric wheelchairs and water purifiers for Gaza's people. This was recognised by the Israeli navy, who said in a statement that it had offered to transfer the aid by land to Gaza. Four years into a blockade mounted ostensibly to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the enclave, this claim, too, is utterly specious.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/gaza-blockade-bloodshed-editorial