Time for the UN to assemble a force to lift the Siege of Gaza or its members should pack up in New York and relocate the UN in Europe

Call by Rifah Party of Pakistan on UN members on Israeli attack on Peace Flotilla

Syed Talat Hussain and team of AAJ TV of Pakistan was on board. Israeli warships attack flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip

 

Demonstrators in Istanbul protested against Israel in front of the Israeli consulate on Monday.

TEL AVIV—Israeli warships early Monday intercepted a flotilla of activists and aid bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, and Israel's military confirmed that more than 10 activists had been killed in a skirmish after Israeli forces boarded at least one of the ships. The ships involved were still at sea, under Israeli naval escort, and believed headed for an Israeli port. The details of the boarding weren't clear early Monday.

An Israeli army spokesman accused activists on the ships of arming themselves with knives and clubs. The spokesman said at least a dozen activists had been injured, as well as 10 Israeli military personnel, in the fighting. He said activists stole a gun from one Israeli personnel and started firing on the soldiers.

Local media put the death toll much higher. Israel's Channel 2, a private station, citing Palestinian officials, reported early Monday that at least 16 died in a confrontation between Israel forces and activists and crew members aboard the ships. The station said Israeli soldiers acted only after responding to violence, but the source of the report wasn't clear.


Israel's official Army Radio, citing Turkish reports, also put the death toll at 16, but said there wasn't any official Israeli confirmation of that number. "The soldiers responded when live bullets were fired on them and one of the soldiers' weapons was stolen," Army Radio reported.

A correspondent for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic news channel, was aboard one of the ships and reported for his network that Israeli forces boarded a separate boat in the flotilla in darkness, at one point opening fire shortly after boarding, as helicopters hovered above.

Israeli officials have for days warned that they wouldn't let the flotilla make port in Gaza, which is controlled by the Palestinian group Hamas and has been under effective blockade by Israel and Egypt. Human-rights activists have long alleged that Israel was keeping out crucial aid and basic materials, a claim Israel has denied.

Sensitive to the possible public-relations fallout of any confrontation, Israeli officials had debated the appropriate response to the flotilla, fearful a heavy-handed approach could deepen Israel's current diplomatic woes.

Turkey's foreign ministry accused Israel of violating international law and demanded an "urgent explanation," according to the Associated Press. Police in Ankara blocked dozens of stone-throwing demonstrators who had converged on the Israeli consulate in protest early Monday. Later in the morning, the protests turned into a more peaceful vigil, AP reported.

The flotilla was carrying around 800 pro-Palestinian activists from various countries, as well as 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies, according to organizers. It is by far the largest fleet of aid to try to reach Gaza since Israel and Egypt began restricting the flow of goods into and out of the territory in 2007 after Hamas seized control.

The latest effort, which organizers called the "Freedom Flotilla," was carrying European parliamentarians, former U.S. diplomats and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire. It is unclear whether any of these high-profile passengers were involved or injured in the skirmish.

Last week, Israel vowed to stop the flotilla, but also said that if the ships docked at an Israeli port first, it would allow the full shipment of humanitarian cargo to reach Gaza, after undergoing security checks. The flotilla was originally scheduled to reach Gaza on Friday, but was repeated delayed over the weekend.

The battle at sea follows a series of diplomatic setbacks for Israel in recent months, including strained relations with the U.S. and the expulsion of Israeli diplomats from Britain and Australia over Israel's alleged role in forging passports used by suspects in the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai. Israel says there is no evidence of its involvement in the slaying.

And Israel's relationship with Washington, its strongest ally, chilled recently after a standoff between the two over Israel's insistence on continuing to build Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That rift appeared on the mend, with President Barack Obama inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House for separate meetings.

At least 20 passengers have been reported dead and over 60 wounded on Monday when Israeli forces stormed Freedom Flotilla, Aaj News reported. Aaj News Executive Director of News, Syed Talat Hussain along with members of his team is on board one of the ships in the Freedom Flotilla. They are understood to be held hostage like other survivors of the Flotilla but their whereabouts are yet unknown.

A statement issued by Rifah Party of Pakistan from London stressed that the Freedom Flotilla was intended to underline the world – particularly the UN – ignoring the prolonged blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt. What it has achieved is much more. The death of protestors for peace exposes the diabolical duplicity of the West which professes human rights to be the touchstone of legitimacy of governments. It is their duplicity and the inaction of Muslim countries in the face of killing of Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan that has gives authenticity to murderous organisations like Al-Qaeda.

The murder of peace activists by Israeli armed forces, the Rifah Party Statement said, gives an opportunity to the UN Security Council to act. It can assemble a force of the countries whose citizens have been killed by Israel, to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip. If the UN Security Council is once again exposed to be toothless in the face of a US veto, there is little point in this organisation to exist. Its members, the statement said, should pack up in New York - the HQ of Zionism - and relocate to Geneva in Europe or Tokyo in Japan. ++