Post date: Sep 27, 2010 2:33:35 PM
Gaza aid activists, who organized the flotilla that was seized by the Israeli military, say they will set sail again with even more countries' ships participating for the first time, adding a recently released U.N. flotilla report confirmed Israeli violation of international law.
ATHENS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 27, 2010) REUTERS - The Gaza aid flotilla organisers said on Monday (September 27) ships from activist groups of five more countries have agreed to participate in the next Gaza flotilla being planned to sail in the next three months, where at least eight ships will participate this time.
The next attempt to break an Israeli siege is being called the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla II", and for the first time Spain, France, Italy, the United States and Switzerland activists' groups plan to send ships in the new flotilla, organizers said.
"Over the last three months we have been joined by national coalitions in Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Australia, the United States and other countries, each of which is working on sending a boat to Gaza," said Huwaida Arraf, Chairperson for the "Free Gaza Movement", the first organization to begin sending ships to Gaza in 2008 to break the Israeli siege and from where the initiative originates.
The movement expanded into the The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, comprised of the Free Gaza Movement, the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, Ship to Gaza Sweden, the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza, as well as hundreds of other groups.
Previous ships that have participated have been from Sweden, Greece, Ireland and Turkey, although activists from many countries were on board.
"For us it was a major incentive because public opinion was reacting so strongly to the horror of what happened, that we decided we had to be part of the next flotilla, not just as part of the whole thing but there would be a French ship to Gaza," said Claude Leostic, from the Association France Palestine Solidarite of France (AFPS), who added that some 100 activist groups in France were supporting the action.
Swedish human rights activist Dror Feilor, from the group "Ship To Gaza Sweden" said if there was an intervention by Israeli forces again, the activists would not be victimized.
"We will try to resist in a human way, but we are not going to be victims and we are not going to let them victimize us and not intimidate us. We will continue and if they will attack, and if they kill, the blood is on their hands."
On September 22 a panel of international experts said the attack by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May was unlawful and resulted in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The three experts, nominated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Israeli attack in which nine pro-Palestinian activists -- eight Turks and one Turkish American -- were killed, also said that Israel's blockade of Gaza had caused a humanitarian crisis and was unlawful.
The experts -- judges from Britain and Trinidad and a Malaysian human rights campaigner -- said in a report that the Israeli military's action had used disproportionate force and "totally unnecessary and incredible violence" in intercepting the flotilla.
The three experts said Israel had a right to security, and the firing of rockets into Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza also constituted violations of humanitarian law.
But the Israeli blockade of Gaza amounted to collective punishment of the civilian population and was not lawful in any circumstances, they said.
The rights experts, who were not allowed to enter Israel, said Israel had refused to cooperate with their mission, and called on the Israeli authorities to identify those involved in the violence and prosecute them.
Israel, which says pro-Palestinian activists on the boat were killed when they attacked its commandos, had said from the outset it would not work with the probe by the rights council.
Many nations believe the council, on which Islamic states and their allies have a majority, focuses on Israeli treatment of Palestinians at the expense of other rights issues.
Israel has said it would cooperate with another U.N. probe convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon into the incident, which damaged Israel's ties with Turkey. Israel is also conducting its own inquiry.
Monday's session of the rights council will also examine another report by experts on the follow-up investigations by Israeli and Palestinian authorities into the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict. That report has found the probes were inadequate.
"There is no doubt that what Israel id doing is a violation of international law; the U.N. has said it, the International Committee for the Red Cross has said it, Israeli human rights organizations have said it, and now this latest U.N. flotilla report confirms Israel has violated and continues to violate international law. The question is who is doing anything about it, who is stopping them? We call on our governments to live up to their obligations and stop Israel. But if they don't we will," said Arraf, responding to the report.
Organizers said they hope to sail by December.
On Sunday, a group of Jewish activists set sail for Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade, the latest group to sail since the Free Gaza Flotilla was attacked by Israeli soldiers.