Posts Tagged ‘flotilla’
FILM: Valley of the Wolves – Palestine
January 28th, 2011 • Film & Documentary, News
Tags: film, flotilla, gaza, KUTLAR VADISI - FILISTIN, turkish, Valley of the Wolves - Palestine
New Turkish action movie, Valley of the Wolves – Palestine, based on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla:
Showing at Cineplex, Wood Green, London: “KUTLAR VADISI – FILISTIN”
Reviews: Guardian, New York Times (during production) & Al Jazeera report:
Reading International Festival 2010 Recap
October 28th, 2010 • Events, Film & Documentary
Tags: 60 minutes, A Steadfast Hope – The Palestinian Quest for Just Peace, Anna Baltzer, B'Tselem, Breaking the Gaza Blockade, CBS, flotilla, gaza, Gaza Flotilla Attack: The Truth, Holy Ground: Commond Ground, ICAHD, International Women's Peace Service, Is Peace Out Of Reach?, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Jeff Halper, Jerusalem East Side Story, London Palestine Film Festival, No Way Through, peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land, Reading International Festival 2010, Testimony, The Iron Wall, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
We’d like to thank all those that came to our Reading International Festival events making them such a great success. We hope to see you at our next meeting:
- Thu 18th November, 8pm: Monthly Branch Meeting
- Sat 20th November, 12.30pm: Broad Street Stall
- Thu 16th December, 8pm: READING PSC XMAS PARTY
We hope you consider joining PSC and attending our future events.
If you’d like to share the films and information from these two events with your friends, you’ll find them below. Share this link: readingpsc.org.uk/rif2010
A Steadfast Hope – The Palestinian Quest for Just Peace (27/10/10)
A Steadfast Hope [Youtube link]
Films mentioned/shown in “A Steadfast Hope”:
- The Iron Wall – watch on Youtube
- Jerusalem East Side Story – watch on Youtube
- Holy Ground: Common Ground (no online version)
- Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land – watch on Youtube
- CBS 60 minutes: Is Peace Out Of Reach? – watch on Youtube
Interviewees and Organisations:
- Anna Baltzer & International Women’s Peace Service
- B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
- The Rachel Corrie Foundation
- Jeff Halper (video) & Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions / ICAHD-UK
Mentioned in the Q&A session after the film:
- Zaytoun Olive Harvest Trips & Zaytoun Olive Oil (as seen on Channel 4 “Food” show)
- IHH Germany
- Boycott information – look out for “729″ on the barcode
- PSC’s BIG Campaign
- Global BDS Movement
- Cultural Boycott: Don’t Play Apartheid Israel
Breaking the Gaza Blockade (21/10/10)
Many thanks to Chris for the informative talk and slideshow about his recent trip to the West Bank. Chris’ talk followed these two films:
Short Film: No Way Through (shown at the London Palestine Film Festival 2010)
Gaza Flotilla Attack: The Truth: [Youtube link]
We hope you enjoyed the events and will share the stories with your friends and family.
Ed Miliband – Peace through Human Rights and International Law
September 28th, 2010 • News
Tags: ed, flotilla, friends of palestine, gaza, labour, Labour Friends of Palestine & The Middle East, miliband
Newly elected Labour leader, Ed Miliband, mentions attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla during his speech at the Labour Party Conference:
via Labour Friends of Palestine:
The Palestinian people have the right to a state with internationally recognised borders. They have a right to a functioning economy. They have the right to be free and to pursue a better life for themselves and for their children. The sad truth is that today, with the blockade still in place on Gaza and in the aftermath of the appalling events on board the SS Mavi Marmara, we are a long way from securing that outcome. There should be an international investigation into what happened aboard that ship, but that alone will not undo the damage – to Israel’s reputation and the peace process – done by those tragic events.
Power of Women Protest Movements
September 10th, 2010 • Awareness, News
Tags: aid, blockade, boat, flotilla, gaza, humanitarian, lebanon, Miriam, peace, protest, ship, siege, women
In a piece on female protest movements, BBC Radio 4′s ‘Point of View’ mentions the all-woman humanitarian aid ship, the Mariam, heading for Gaza:
True equality will only have been achieved when women are punished as harshly as men for their misdemeanours, says Lisa Jardine in her Point of View column.
(Partial Transcript)
A ship carrying humanitarian aid, “manned” entirely by women, is ready to leave Lebanon on the first leg of its journey to Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. Named the Mariam (the Aramaic version of Mary), it has a multi-faith international passenger list, including doctors, lawyers and a group of American nuns.
History is full of unexpected precedents where human behaviour is concerned. Although the Mariam initiative has been dubbed by some a publicity stunt, the historian of 16th and 17th-Century Europe encounters groups of ordinary working women acting in a disorderly manner surprisingly often.
[..]
As for their contemporary counterpart – the women sailing on the Mariam – I have little doubt that their intention is to show the world that their attempt to help the beleaguered residents of Gaza is solely humanitarian.
They presumably anticipate a less hostile response from the crews of the Israeli ships sent to intercept them en route than that meted out to their male counterparts. Perhaps we should consider whether we might only have arrived at real equality when women are no longer accorded their traditional licence occasionally to misbehave with impunity.
Read the full transcript at the BBC website… (including a number of comments from listeners/readers)
Yorkshire Woman’s Freedom Flotilla Experience
July 31st, 2010 • Film & Documentary, News
Tags: attack, flotilla, freedom flotilla, gaza, IHH, News, report, tv, yorkshire
“A woman from Huddersfield has been speaking today of her determination to return to Palestine to complete the aid mission she never completed. Paveen Yaqoob was on board the ship stormed by Israelii troops back in May. She now vows to continue humanitarain work in memory of her nineteen year old friend who was among the nine Turkish people killed.” — ITV Yorkshire Regional News, Sat 31 July ’10
In the clip, Paveen can be seen reading the recently published report from IHH about the Freedom Flotilla. Download here…
[Thanks to Jim for sending the video link]
UN Names Flotilla Inquiry Panel
July 25th, 2010 • News
Tags: flotilla, gaza, inquiry, israel, UN Human Rights Council, UNHRC
UN Human Rights Council release…
UNHRC
The United Nations Human Rights Council has appointed a team to investigate Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
The team will consist of three independent experts: Sir Desmond de Silva of Britain, Karl Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad and Tobago, and Mary Shanth Dairiam of Malaysia, the UN body said on Friday.
The council voted to establish the inquiry in June, after nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli troops boarded the Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the flotilla.
“The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality,” Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the Thai ambassador to the UN, said.
Thailand currently holds the presidency of the human rights council.
De Silva is a former chief war crimes prosecutor at the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone. Hudson-Phillips is a former judge at the International Criminal Court and Shanthi Dairiam is a women’s rights activist.
Israeli co-operation
The team is expected to travel to Israel, Turkey and Gaza next month to interview witnesses and gather information. It will report its findings in September.
It is unclear whether Israel will co-operate with the inquiry; Israel has said that its soldiers acted in self-defence, and has rejected calls for an international investigation.
An internal Israeli army inquiry completed earlier this month recommended no disciplinary action against senior officers, and concluded that “the use of live fire was justified” on board the Mavi Marmara.
A separate civilian panel, chaired by former Israeli supreme court judge Jacob Turkel, is also investigating the raid.
Israel’s defence ministry announced on Friday that it would return seven ships from the flotilla to Turkey, including the Mavi Marmara.
The ships have been sitting in Israel’s Ashdod and Haifa ports for more than a month, despite repeated requests from the Turkish embassy that the ships be returned.
The ministry said it will co-ordinate with Turkey to arrange for the return of the ships, a process which could take several weeks.
Israeli Navy Braced for Criticism
July 12th, 2010 • Action, News
Tags: al jazeera, attack, commandos, death, flotilla, gaza, haaretz, israel, jerusalem post, mavi marmara, navy, turkish
AJE report:
‘Very critical’
Nine were killed when Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that “witnesses and various other people who have spoken to Eiland say that his report will be very critical of the army’s conduct in the affair”.
The daily said the navy is to be “the main target of Eiland’s critique of the operation, although his assessment will apparently be tempered by consideration for the navy’s success in several operations in recent years under Major-General Eliezer Marom”.
The Israeli media reports said that the military commission’s report pointed to “flaws” in the preparations for the raid.
The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that their were problems with the “battle guidelines” issued to commandoes and the intelligence gathered prior to the military boarding the Mavi Marmara.
The Jerusalem Post said that the report focused “on the relationship between the military and political echelons as well as the apparent intelligence failure, under which the navy commandos boarded the ship without knowing that a group of passengers, apparently mercenaries, had laid an ambush”.
Read the full report at Al Jazeera…
Libyan ship ‘will continue to Gaza’
July 12th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: aid, blockade, egypt, el-arish, flotilla, gaza, greece, humanitarian, israel, libya, moldova, ship, siege
AJE reports on a Moldovan registered ship being sent by the Libyans:
Organisers of a Libya-sponsored aid ship have said they will continue their attempt to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, despite Israeli claims that the vessel would instead sail to Egypt.
Yousseuf Sawani, a director of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, told Al Jazeera that there were no plans for the Al-Amal to dock at the port El-Arish.
The "Al-Amal" Moldova-flagged cargo ship carrying 2,000 tons aid for Gaza
“This is definitely a part of the campaign against the ship, a campaign of distortion, but we are definitely heading towards Gaza, because that is where aid should be heading to,” he told Al Jazeera.
“This is a purely humane mission, it is neither provocative nor hostile,” he said.
The ship set sail from Greece on Saturday, carrying 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli foreign ministry said that it had reached an agreement with Greece and Moldova to have the ship diverted to Egypt.
Israeli request
Israeli authorities also reportedly contacted Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, to request that the ship be allowed to dock in El-Arish, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
Read more at Al Jazeera…
Bristol Council Lobbies for Israel Sanctions
July 8th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: boycott, Bristol, convoy, Council, flotilla, israel, sanction
The Jewish Chronicle reports:
Bristol City Council has condemned Israel’s part in the Gaza flotilla attack and called for sanctions against the Jewish state.
No councillor spoke on behalf of Israel during the debate, and the Gaza flotilla was referred to as a “peace convoy”.
The Tories proposed a milder condemnation of Israel which was rejected. The resolution was passed with the votes of Lib Dem and Labour councillors, with the Conservatives opposing it.
The final resolution read: “This Council notes the long standing links between Bristol and the people of Palestine through a range of organisations and activities over many years; therefore Council condemns the brutal attack on the ships of the Freedom Flotilla, in international waters, by the Israeli military on Monday 31 May 2010.
“This was a convoy of ships delivering vital humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. At least nine human rights activists were killed and dozens more injured. Two Bristol citizens, Sakir Yildirim and Cliff Hanley were on one of the ships carrying aid to Gaza.
Read more at JC.com…
Turkey Threatens Israel with cut-off of Diplomatic Relations
July 7th, 2010 • News
Tags: diplomatic, flotilla, israel, lieberman, netanyahu, obama, turkey, washington, Zaman
Post-flotilla, Juan Cole looks at the diplomatic situation between Turkey and Israel:
As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flew to Washington, DC, on Monday, a further war of words has broken out between Turkey and Israel over comments made by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to the press corps on an airplane returning from Kyrgyzstan. The Zaman correspondent heard him to say of Israel, “It will either apologize, or it will consent to a study by an international commission, or the relations will break off.”Thousands gathered in Istanbul to pray alongside the coffins of victims of the Gaza flotilla raid. Photograph: Ibrahim Usta/AP
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister whom Davutoglu apparently declines to deal with, shot back, “We don’t have any intention to apologize. We think that the opposite is true.” Lieberman, a notorious thug who once advocated drowning all the Egyptians by bombing the Aswan Dam if they ever gave Israel any trouble, is a Moldavian immigrant to Israel not known for being diplomatic.
Davutoglu is probably not serious about presenting Israel with an ultimatum, and may have been especially interested in posturing as a hard liner because he was embarrassed with the Turkish cabinet and in the Arab world when it came out that he had had a secret meeting with Israeli Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer last week. Ben-Eliezer, an Iraqi from Basra originally named “Fuad,” had earlier in his career been a hard liner, but compared to Lieberman he has emerged as a voice of reason. Davutoglu was widely criticized in Turkey and Arab capitals for the secret talks.
Read the rest at juancole.com….
