Pro-Palestinian activists intended on breaking a three year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. As the waters calm down, it seems that Israel is trying to stay afloat with condemnation coming from the International community. Craig Corrie says he doesn’t think that the United States has not done enough, including bringing aid to Gaza.
Action Alert: Israeli military attacks Gaza Freedom Flotilla, 4 deaths confirmed
Israel Murders at Least 4 Unarmed Civilians on Aid Flotilla to Gaza, Dozens Injured
(Cyprus, June 1, 2010, 6:30AM local) Under darkness of night, Israeli commandos from at least 14 warships and military helicopters boarded the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began shooting. According to live video from the ship, at least two civilians have been murdered, and dozens injured. Israeli television is reporting 16 civilians killed.
The Mavi Marmara was part of a 6-ship unarmed flotilla, including a U.S.-flagged vessel, carrying 700 passengers from 40 different countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza.
The last GPS signal from the flotilla, sent just prior to the attack, placed the ships at latitude:32.64113, longitude:33.56727 – approximately 65 miles off the coast of Netanya, well in international waters.
Palestinian fishermen are regularly fired upon off the coast of Gaza, but these are the first Israeli murders of internationals at sea. In recent years, the Israeli military has adopted increasingly vicious policies toward international human rights workers in Palestine, murdering Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurdall in 2003.
The names of the dead are not yet known. The flotilla passengers included retired US diplomats Amb. Edward Peck and Col. Ann Wright as well as humanitarian aid and human rights workers, several Members of Parliament from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Malaysia, and Palestinian Members of the Knesset.
Numbers for Israeli officials:
- Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office: +972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
- Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence: +972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
- Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy: + 972 5 781 86248
- The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
- The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax: 972-2- 5303367
- Click here for a list of Israeli embassies in other countries
Organize a demonstration at an Israeli embassy
Register your demonstration or find a planned action in your area at the Gaza Freedom March
Numbers for United States officials:
- White House: 1.202.456.1111
- Department of State: 1.202.647.4000
Call or send a letter to your Congressional representative with this sample letter:
Dear YOUR REPRESENTATIVE,
In one of the most outrageous attacks on civilized people, the Israeli military killed at least three people and injured at least 30 more in an unprovoked assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters. The ships presented no threat as they were filled with diplomats, academics, journalists and human rights workers hoping to bring humanitarian goods to the besieged Gaza Strip.
I call on you to hold Israel accountable for their despicable actions and to immediately dispel your Israeli ambassador until a thorough investigation can be undertaken by a credible third party.
Military investigator testifies that head of IDF Southern Command instructed bulldozer operator not to cooperate with investigation
(Haifa, Israel – March 24, 2010)– On Monday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 24, 2010, the Haifa District Court heard the fifth and sixth days of testimony in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Witnesses included an Israeli military police investigator, an expert witness for the Corrie family, and Rachel’s father, Craig Corrie.
Elad, an Israeli military police investigator who was part of the team that investigated Rachel’s killing, completed his testimony on March 22. In his testimony he stated that:
- A commander of the unit involved in the incident interrupted the testimony of the operator of the bulldozer that killed Rachel, telling him that the head of the Southern Command of the Israeli military ordered him to stop talking, not to sign anything and not to cooperate with the investigation. When asked if he considered this an intervention into the interrogation, the investigator testified that he did.
Israeli Military Investigator Admits Failures in the Military Investigation of Rachel Corrie’s Killing
(Haifa, Israel – March 17, 2010)– The Haifa District Court heard the fourth day of testimony today in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Witnesses included an Israeli military police investigator and Gregory Schnabel, an American eye-witness to Rachel’s killing.
Elad, an Israeli military police investigator who was part of the team that investigated Rachel’s killing stated that:
- He never inspected the site where the killing occurred; nor did he ever sit inside the D9 bulldozer to see for himself the view the driver had and what the field of vision was.
- He admitted that the Israeli military’s D9 bulldozer regulations state that the D9s should not be operated with civilians in close proximity. He failed to question the bulldozer driver about these regulations or make them part of the military police investigation file. [Read more…]
Haaretz: Ramallah to name street after U.S. activist Rachel Corrie
Jack Khoury and Amira Hass, Haaretz
The parents of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer in Gaza, took part in a ceremony in Ramallah on Tuesday, where a street is being named after Rachel.
The ceremony was attended by Palestinian anti-fence protesters as well as members of the International Solidarity Movement, the organization to which Rachel Corrie belonged.
Later on Tuesday, Rachel Corrie’s parents were in Haifa to watch a biographical play about their daughter on the seventh anniversary of her death.
The parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, could not conceal their emotions as Lana Zreik took the stage at the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa to portray their late daughter in the one-woman play “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.”
The Corries were joined by dozens of others taking in the performance that tells the story of the young American woman who chose to disengage from her quiet life in the town of Olympia, Washington and travel to the southern Gaza Strip as a human rights activist.
Corrie died on March 16, 2003 after she was trampled by an IDF bulldozer. Her family is in Israel to sue the state and the IDF over her death.
The play, which is based on Rachel’s diary entries and e-mails she wrote since she was 10 years old, was first staged in London in 2005.
The director of the play, Riad Masarwa, saw the London production and afterward contacted the rights holders, edited the script, and staged an Arab-language version of the play in 2007.
“This is a personal story and a tragedy of a young girl who presented a challenge before each and every one of us,” the director said yesterday. “Particularly among the Palestinian people and the Arab world.”
Cindy Corrie, who noted that the play has already been staged in many countries, including the United States, said she found comfort in the fact that her daughter’s memory is being kept alive by means of words she herself wrote.
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