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Expert Opinions on Israeli Attack on Humanitarian Aid Flotilla
Monday, 31 May 2010
According to the Israeli military and activists traveling with the flotilla, the Israeli Navy attacked a humanitarian aid flotilla carrying thousands of tons of supplies for Gaza at 5 am on local time on Monday morning. The Israeli TV reported that at least 16 people were died and dozens of wounded.
The warships first intercepted the aid convoy shortly before midnight on Sunday, surprising the boats in international waters, according to activists on one vessel. Israel had vowed not to let the flotilla reach the shores of Gaza.
Named the Freedom Flotilla, and led by the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement and a Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi, the convoy of cargo and passenger boats is the most ambitious attempt yet to break Israel’s three-year blockade of Gaza.
About 600 passengers were said to be aboard the vessels, including the
1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire of Northern Ireland, and a Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, 85.
“The moment someone tries to snatch your weapon, to steal your weapons, that’s where you begin to lose control,” the Israeli Trade Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said, quoted by Reuters.
Three Israeli Navy missile boats had left the Haifa naval base in northern Israel a few minutes after 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, planning to intercept the flotilla. After asking the captains of the boats to identify themselves, the navy told them they were approaching a blockaded area and asked them either to proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, or to return to their countries of origin.
The activists responded that they would continue toward their destination, Gaza.
Speaking by satellite phone from the Challenger 1 boat, which has foreign legislators and other high-profile figures on board, a Free Gaza Movement leader, Huwaida Arraf, said: “We communicated to them clearly that we are unarmed civilians. We asked them not to use violence.”
Earlier Sunday, Ms. Arraf said the boats would keep trying to move forward “until they either disable our boats or jump on board.”
USAK Director Assoc. Prof. Sedat Laciner commented on the issue by saying that, “Israeli attack on aid flotilla has occurred in the high seas and there is no excuse for that. They killed more than 10 people including Turkish citizens and injured many others. Israeli soldiers used both helicopters and assault boats to attack on humanitarian aid ships in the international waters.” He added that, “A country's stopping civil ships and opening fire to unarmed people, massacring them at high seas is a breach of international law. It is a piracy and banditry.”
Prof. Laciner stated that Israeli attack continued despite the civilians in the boats waved white flags and ever-repeated they declared that they were unarmed civilians. “This was not a last-minute decided attack and Israeli soldiers acted as how they were given orders,” said Dr. Laciner.
Sedat Laciner stated that this act of Israel is much violent even than the Somalian piracy incidents. Laciner said, "Somalian pirates are doing this in order to get ransom, and they do not harm people who they take hostage. Yet Israel killed people from whom it did not have anything to gain."
According to Sedat Laciner, Israel could have stopped the aid ships without
resorting to violent means. "There is an evil purpose here. If there were not, then the Israeli Air Forces and Naval Forces would not have been used to kill unarmed people within these civil ships. It is obvious that Israel wanted to make a bloody and violent operation."
By reminding the incident of Rachel Corrie who was an American journalist intended to make a peaceful protest was smashed by bulldozers of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), Laciner said "There is nothing to be surprised. As they killed Rachel Corrie, Israel repeats its typical behavior towards another peaceful act. However, this time it was more violent and brutal."
Sedat Laciner said, "Most of the people killed are Turks and it is not surprising. Israel has two aims. One is to give a lesson to all who intended and will intend to stop the blockade. The second is to take revenge from Turkey and give a lesson. Because Israel thinks that if they allow these ships to enter then more ships will come on incoming days."
USAK Center for Eurasian Studies deputy director Dr. Guner Ozkan said that there would probably not a sanction against Israel even after these incidents. Dr. Ozkan stated that, “the Gaza attacks occurred at the end of 2008 proved that Israel has an international support regarding the Palestinian issue and that’s how they could become this brutal and violent.”
Dr. Ozkan said, “I don’t think there would be a really serious reaction against Israel from the Caucasus and Central Asian countries. If Israel had a thought that it would draw a serious rebuff, it wouldn’t have done this. The United States and Israel are very strong alliances and Israel’s strength and stance in the U.S. politics is very much known, so it is not hard to guess the U.S.’ reaction against Israeli after these attacks. There will be no sanctions, no serious reactions.”
According to Dr. Ozkan, it is not possible for Central Asian and Caucasian countries to show a strong reaction against Israel while the big powers remain silent. “These countries may not go further than a condemnation,” he said. Dr. Ozkan stated that, “maybe Russia will try to put pressure on Israel, but more international actors like the United Nations should get involved on this issue to have a sanction against Israel.”
USAK Center for Middle Eastern Studies researcher Serpil Acikalin stated that Israeli attack is intolerable and cannot be accepted. According to Acikalin, this aid flotilla was the last chance for the people in the Gaza Strip to have humanitarian aid. “When Israel stopped these ships, they also stopped the possible humanitarian aids would come to the region via sea route,” she added.
Acikalin said that, “Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s cancellation of his trip and decision to come back to Turkey is very important. What Turkey needs to do now is to convince the U.S. and international actors to put pressure on Israel. What Israel did during the Lebanon war and Gaza attacks are still on people’s minds. Israel cannot commit an illegal act and then get through with it. Turkey should be careful against the ones who might want to show Turkey responsible for what happened last night.”
Monday, 31 May 2010
Salih Dogan, JTW
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/102554/expert-opinions-on-israeli-attack-on-humanitarian-aid-flotilla.html