The US government has said that it killed Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian man described as al-Qaeda's "number three" official.
Al-Qaeda confirmed al-Yazid's death in a message posted on internet forums on Monday
erhaps now Americans will understand the true nature of the Israeli occupation.
It has never been about security. Not for one day. It has been about land and power. And this is where it has led. And we have made it possible.
Since at least the mid-1970s, only one country has had the power to force Israel to give up its dreams of permanent occupation of the West Bank: The US.
Facing mounting international outrage over its raid on an aid flotilla aiming to break its siege on Gaza, Israel has said it will expel all activists seized from the ships and dropped threats to prosecute some of them.
A spokesman for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Tuesday that all activists - 682 people from 35 countries – "would be deported immediately" in an operation officials said they hoped to complete in 48 hours.
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Police stand guard in front of the residence of Gabby Levy, Israeli Ambassador to Turkey, during a pro-Palestinian protest in Ankara May 31, 2010.(Reuters) |
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Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating in London |
It all boils down to this: There is no law but Israeli law, no legitimacy but Israeli legitimacy and no truth but Israel's version of the truth.
In spite of the shock, pain and anger that was felt across the world in reaction to Israel's bloody dawn attack against the humanitarian aid flotilla heading to Gaza on Monday, which killed and injured scores of international activists, the Jewish state brushed aside condemnations and criticisms and appeared unrepentant and shameless.
Not only that, but Israeli officials were quick to justify the massacre that its soldiers had perpetrated, alleging that the elite commando force was attacked, with sticks and knives, and even fired upon. One official said those on board were not peace activists and aid workers but sympathizers of Hamas and supporters of terrorism. The organizers of the aid-to-Gaza flotilla had expected all possible scenarios; to be forced to turn back from where they came, to be diverted to an Israeli port and even to be arrested and later deported. But no one imagined that a cold-blooded massacre was in store; that unarmed civilian opponents of the three-year Gaza siege will be gunned down while the entire world was watching.
The flotilla of six ships, carrying around 700 international activists, including European parliamentarians, and laden with 10,000 tons of essential aid and building material to the people of Gaza, was on its way to the stricken strip when it was intercepted by Israeli helicopters and navy ships in international waters.
Video clips sent almost immediately by those on board showed Israeli commandos being lowered from helicopters onto the largest vessel, Marmara, followed by scenes of dead and injured passengers lying on the ground. The rattle of gunfire could be heard in the background.
Nothing can justify this latest Israeli crime. The attack was deliberate, ordered by Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak and blessed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Canada preparing for a visit to Washington on Tuesday to meet President Barack Obama.
Diplomatic nightmare
There were many quick and fiery reactions from world capitals, both public and official. From a PR point of view, it was a nightmare for Israeli diplomacy. But if Israel thought it can sustain few days of bashing by the international community before it could walk away, free of guilt and accountability, it was wrong.
Of all the angry reactions that poured from Arab, Muslim and foreign capitals, Turkey's was the most profound and sincere. After all, the Liberty Fleet mission was organized and supported mainly by Turkish humanitarian agencies and donors. The biggest ship in the flotilla carried a Turkish flag and many of the dead and injured were Turkish nationals.
Turkish-Israeli relations have been strained for months, and the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to denounce the attack, accusing the Israeli government of violating international law and of committing an act of piracy.
'Act of state terrorism'
It called for an emergency meeting of the UN's General Assembly and said Israel must endure the consequences of its action. Erdogan, who interrupted a visit to South America and headed home, described the Israeli interception as an act of state terrorism. They were tough words coming from a man who does not beat around the bush when it comes to expressing his emotions, especially on the continuing plight of Gazans.
Even in Israel there were voices that debunked the official version and expressed doubts about the wisdom of the government's action and long-term strategy on Gaza. Bradley Burston, writing in Haaretz, said that "we are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege, which is becoming Israel's Vietnam." He concluded by saying that instead of focusing on Iran, "Netanyahu must recognize that the world is now focused on Israel and the threat it poses to the people of Gaza."
The Arab reaction was confused and confusing. Qatar and Syria called for an emergency session of the Arab League at ministerial level, but between threatening to withdraw the Arab peace initiative and waiting to see where the White House will finally draw the line, nothing much was forthcoming.
President Obama finds himself once more trumped by Netanyahu, who always puts himself one step ahead of his American allies. Now he is exerting pressure again on the Obama administration. As the Security Council debated Turkey's draft statement, the US stepped in to water down its wording; a gesture toward Israel, which could always rely on the blind backing of Washington, no matter the crime.
It is a setback for peace efforts, but the tragic death of humanitarian activists rallying to support over 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza under siege should not be in vain. This is an opportunity to end this unlawful, criminal and unjustified blockade once and for all.
It is ironic that there are those, among the Arab countries, who would not be happy if the Gaza siege is lifted, but this is no longer about politics; Hamas, Israel and Palestinian power struggle. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unprecedented in modern history; it is a crime against humanity and an affront to international law and the Geneva Conventions. It must end and the time to end it is now.
On the other hand, Israel's disregard for international law must be brought to a just conclusion. The West, especially America, have justified Israeli atrocities and its fascist policies against the Palestinian people for too long. The time for reckoning has come and Israel's crime in the high seas should not go unpunished.
— Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and a political commentator based in Jordan.
Brussels/Washington/Jerusalem, 31 May 2010: The International Crisis Group condemns Israel's assault on a flotilla of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza, which resulted in a tragic loss of life.
At the same time, the incident is an indictment of a much broader policy toward Gaza for which Israel does not bear sole responsibility.
For years, many in the international community have been complicit in a policy that aimed at isolating Gaza in the hope of weakening Hamas. This policy is morally appalling and politically self-defeating. It has harmed the people of Gaza without loosening Hamas's control. Yet it has persisted regardless of evident failure.
"The flotilla assault is but a symptom of an approach that has been implicitly endorsed by many", says Robert Malley, Director of Crisis Group's Middle East Program. "It is yet another stark illustration of the belated need for a comprehensive change in policy toward Gaza."
International condemnation and calls for an inquiry will come easily, but many who will issue them must acknowledge their own role in the deplorable treatment of Gaza that formed the backdrop to today's events. The policy of isolating Gaza, seeking to turn its population against Hamas, and endorsing a "West Bank first" approach was not an exclusively Israeli one. To focus on this recent tragedy alone is to miss the much wider and more important political lessons.
The policy toward Gaza is in need of thorough re-examination. The US, EU and Quartet as a whole have been calling for relaxing the siege on Gaza. That is welcome, but opening the humanitarian tap is not an appropriate answer to a policy whose fundamental premise is morally callous and politically counter-productive. Instead, Gaza should be open to normal commercial traffic with adequate international end-use monitoring.
"Today, we have witnessed the sad outgrowth of a failed and dangerous policy", says Louise Arbour, Crisis Group President. "One hopes it can provide an opportunity for a long-overdue course correction."
Israel has once again shown its true colors to the world with its murderous piracy in international waters.
What Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has so rightly called "a massacre" saw the death of at least 10 peace activists on board the lead ship of the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla and the injury of scores others, as heavily armed Israeli commandos seized the convoy and sailed it toward their port of Ashdod. Israeli sources put the toll at nine. The full details of this outrage are not yet clear since the Israeli authorities are censoring all reports and used sophisticated jamming technology to halt media broadcasts from the vessels as they were assaulted. The truth will only become known when 700 journalists and peace activists are released and can give their testimony.
Meanwhile, the world is appalled at this blatant and deadly act of piracy. Governments around the globe are demanding an explanation for this crime and a full investigation of what occurred. International fury has only been increased by the threadbare excuses the Israelis have trotted out in an attempt to justify this carnage. According to them, they opened fire in self-defense when they were attacked with sticks and knives and two pistols as their commandos surged aboard the aid ships. Two pistols — against dozens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers who proceeded to shoot at least 19 people dead. What were the peace activists doing — passing the two pistols to each other with their dying breath? This was surely cold-blooded murder on the high seas, an international crime, which demands the highest penalty for those who planned and carried it out.
Israeli spokesmen were yesterday protesting they had to stop the Freedom Flotilla otherwise it would have breached their blockade and reached Gaza carrying weapons for Hamas fighters, as well as the 10,000 tons of aid that activists insist was the convoy's only cargo. Given the news blackout, the Israelis will have plenty of time to ensure that when the ships' holds are inspected, probably with orchestrated publicity, some weapons will indeed be found. Such a "discovery" would provide some sort of smokescreen for the brutal violence of their piracy. However the international community is unlikely to be taken in, even though planted weapons might provide a fig leaf for Washington.
Netanyahu was last night returning to Israel from Canada having canceled his planned White House meeting with President Barack Obama. So far the US administration has said only that it "deeply regrets" the loss of life. This is a completely inadequate response to a brazen crime.
If the Israelis were intent on maintaining their illegal blockade of the 1.4 million Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Ghetto, there were other less deadly ways of stopping the Freedom Flotilla. They had sufficient notice to prepare booms or nets to entangle propellers and immobilize the convoy. They did not have to board with guns blazing and cause such a bloodbath.
This was Israel once again at its most violent and unacceptable worst with vicious behavior that demands utter condemnation as well as real sanctions from the international community.
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