Monday, May 31, 2010
Israel, Gaza flotilla sponsors blame each other for violence on ship
Israel insisted Monday that its soldiers were defending themselves when they fatally shot nine activists aboard a ship in international waters that was laden with humanitarian goods for Gaza. 
Map: Gaza flotilla intercepted 
Video: Turkish protests denounce IDF raid 
Video: Spokeswoman: We were bringing aid 
Video: 'Israel regrets loss of life'
Israel's assertion was denied by one of the groups that sponsored the boat. The competing claims could not be independently verified.
"They deliberately attacked soldiers," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters at a photo op in Ottawa, Canada, with his Canadian counterpart.
Israel's policy is to allow all humanitarian goods to enter Gaza, said Netanyahu, who canceled his planned trip to Washington to return to Israel to manage the crisis.
Map: Gaza flotilla intercepted Video: Turkish protests denounce IDF raid Video: Spokeswoman: We were bringing aid Video: 'Israel regrets loss of life' Gaza has become a base for Hamas terrorists backed by Iran who have fired "thousands of rockets" into Israel, Netanyahu said.
"What we want to prevent coming into Gaza are rockets, missiles, explosives and war material that could be used to attack our civilians," he said. "This is an ongoing policy, and it was the one that guided our action" against the six ships that made up the flotilla.
People aboard five of the six ships agreed to let Israeli soldiers search through their goods for possible weapons, Netanyahu said.
But those aboard the sixth ship "deliberately attacked" the soldiers, beating, clubbing and stabbing them, he said. "There was even a report that a gun was fired, and our soldiers had to defend their lives or they would have been killed."
In all, seven soldiers were wounded, four of them moderately and three of them lightly, the Israel Defense Forces said.
"It should be emphasized that both the State of Israel and the IDF made repeated calls to the flotilla, telling them that all goods and humanitarian aid could be transferred according to the secure and approved methods in place today, as is done on a near daily basis," the Israel Defense Forces said in a written statement.
"Unfortunately, this was not the case. IDF naval forces were met with premeditated violence, evident by the activists' use of clubs, metal rods, and knives, as well as the firing of two weapons stolen from the soldiers, causing for defensive action on behalf of the forces who felt their lives were endangered."
IDF spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibowitz said light weapons and handguns were confiscated. "We basically encountered a lynch," she said. "We had to control this violence."
The IDF released a video shot from above that it said showed soldiers being attacked, though the distance from which it was shot precluded immediate confirmation.
Israeli military gives version of flotilla incident
The Free Gaza Movement, a sponsor of the flotilla, disputed Israel's claim of violence by people aboard the ships.
Shadowed by three Israeli warships, the boats had approached Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade.
"At about 4:30 a.m., Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto deck of Turkish ship, immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians," said a post on the group's Twitter page.
"We basically encountered a lynch. We had to control this violence.
--Lt. Col. Avital Leibowitz, IDF spokeswoman
--Lt. Col. Avital Leibowitz, IDF spokeswoman
Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, condemned the action and called for an independent investigation "to know who gave the orders from the Israeli side to open fire against civilians and to bring those people to face justice."
Earlier, a senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in an account cleared by military censors, said troops had planned "not to fight" in dealing with peace activists on the flotilla.
The official displayed a box containing switchblade knives, slingshots and metal balls and bats he said had been confiscated from one of the boats. "This was not spontaneous," he said. "This was planned."
"They were not expecting to be attacked," said Jonathan Peled, minister-counselor for the Israeli Embassy in Washington. "It was a provocation. These were terrorists disguised as humanitarians."
He said the soldiers were carrying paintball pistols when they boarded the flotilla, but switched to bullets when a naval commander was stabbed and others were attacked with knives and metal bars.
The flotilla had left European ports in a protest organized by two pro-Palestinian groups to deliver 10,000 tons of food, medicine, construction materials, wheelchairs and other aid to Gaza to break a blockade imposed by Israel in 2007. The groups are the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish-based IHH, a humanitarian relief foundation affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, a hard-line Islamic political movement.
"This operation will leave a bloody stain on the history of humanity.
--Turkish Deputy PM Bulent Arinc
--Turkish Deputy PM Bulent Arinc
The IHH was one of the organizers of the flotilla, although people from various nations were aboard.
International condemnation poured in swiftly, with a number of nations summoning their ambassadors to Israel and others calling for a full investigation. Turkey recalled its ambassador, with Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc saying, "This operation will leave a bloody stain on the history of humanity."
In Paris, France, riot police fired tear gas to control about 1,000 demonstrators rallying outside the Israeli Embassy. As riot police tried to block the crowds along the Champs Élysées, which was closed to traffic, demonstrators threw rocks, smashing a window of a police van.
The Palestinian Authority said in a statement that its Cabinet "strongly condemned the Israeli crime against international supporters on board of the Freedom Flotilla."
IDF video showed soldiers rappelling onto the deck of a ship from a helicopter. The boarding of the ships took place in international waters more than 70 nautical miles outside Israeli territorial waters, according to the IHH.
Most of the dead were Turks, the Israeli senior military official said. Twenty other people were wounded.
The U.N. Security Council was to meet about the incident Monday, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to attend.
The ships were escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and 15 people who had been aboard were taken to an Israeli prison in Beer Sheva, according to a spokesman for the Israeli prison authority.
Israel issued a "serious travel warning" for Israelis visiting Turkey. Those planning to travel to Turkey -- Israel's closest ally in the region -- were asked to postpone their trip, while those in Turkey were advised to stay indoors. A Turkish travel agent said more than 15,000 Israelis had canceled plans to visit Turkey.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called for global support of the Palestinian cause. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for three days of mourning in the Palestinian territories to honor the lives lost.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke Monday to Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, and with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
He "told them that the passengers on the ships are not freedom fighters, but terrorist supporters who fired at IDF soldiers as soon as the latter boarded the ships."
Israel said Sunday that Western and Turkish authorities have accused the IHH of having "working relations" with terrorist organizations.
The Israel Defense Forces said the Gaza shore is not a "closed military area," but is closed to maritime traffic.
About 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid flows into Gaza per week, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.
"We have consistently advised against attempting to access Gaza in this way, because of the risks involved," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. "But at the same time, there is a clear need for Israel to act with restraint and in line with international obligations."
"The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy," White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
Israel slapped a blockade on Gaza in January 2006, when Hamas won democratic elections in the Palestinian territories.
It tightened that blockade in June 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza. Since then, Israel has controlled the entry of all manner of goods into Gaza, including such disparate products as instant coffee, chocolate and construction materials. Israel has said the latter could be used by Hamas to build bunkers.
Since the summer of 2008, five flotillas have gotten through the blockade to deliver humanitarian goods to Gaza. Monday's flotilla was the largest such mission.
Israeli PM 'regrets' deaths as troops storm aid ships
But he said soldiers had been defending themselves after they were "clubbed, beaten and stabbed".
Pro-Palestinian campaigners say the soldiers opened fire unprovoked when they landed on the aid-carrying ships.
There has been international condemnation of the loss of life, and the UN is holding an emergency session.
As the meeting of the UN Security Council got under way in New York, diplomats said the draft text of a resolution called for condemnation of the operation, the immediate release of the impounded ships and for an international inquiry.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the incident "murder committed by a state" and said Israel had "lost all legitimacy".
But Israeli UN representative Daniel Carmon told the Security Council that some on board the ships had motives other than providing humanitarian assistance, and had tried to lynch Israeli soldiers.
Mr Netanyahu cut short a visit to Canada to deal with the growing crisis and cancelled a scheduled meeting in Washington with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after the Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007.
The six-ship convoy had set out to carry 10,000 tonnes of aid from Cyprus to Gaza, despite repeated Israeli warnings that it would not be allowed to reach the territory.
In a statement, Mr Netanyahu defended the Israeli operation, saying troops were attacked when they landed on the largest of the six ships in the flotilla.
"They were mobbed. They were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed," he said.
"There was even a report of gunfire and our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives or they would have been killed.
"Regrettably, in this exchange... people died. We regret this loss of life. We regret any of the violence."
Organisers of the convoy have strongly denied the Israeli account.
Contact with activists on the ships was lost after the raids and no first-hand accounts from them have yet emerged.
Arafat Shoukri, of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) which helped organise the convoy, said those on board one ship had told them by telephone that Israeli helicopters had arrived.
"Then we started to hear screams, shouting, shooting everywhere," he said. "We heard some of them shouting 'We are raising the white flag, stop shooting at us'."
He said Israeli claims that activists had pistols and other weapons were "cheap propaganda".
Audrey Bomse, also of the FGM, told the BBC that the activists were "not going to pose any violent resistance".
The flotilla left the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Gaza on Monday.
Reports say troops boarded the ship about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea in international waters.
Organisers of the flotilla said at least 30 people were wounded in the incident. Israel says 10 of its soldiers were injured, one seriously.
There has been widespread condemnation of the violence, with several countries summoning their Israeli ambassadors.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" and called for a "full investigation" into what happened.
The White House said the US "deeply regrets the loss of life" and was "currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy".
There was a particularly strong response from Turkey, where many of the activists on the ships are from.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of state terrorism and violation of international law.
In Istanbul, thousands of protesters took part in an angry demonstration against Israel.
Turkey was Israel's closest Muslim ally but relations have deteriorated in recent years.
Greece has withdrawn from joint military exercises with Israel in protest at the raid on the flotilla.
The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he condemned "the disproportionate use of force", while UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said there was "a clear need for Israel to act with restraint and in line with international obligations".
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza says there has been widespread anger there with protests organised by Hamas.
Israel has escorted the ships to the port of Ashdod and says it will deport the passengers from there.
Israel says it allows about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza every week.
But the UN says this is less than a quarter of what is needed.
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