Gaza Latest (15 June): US & Britain Welcome Israeli Enquiry; Abbas Opposes Lifiting of Blockade

UPDATE 0630 GMT: Mahmoud Abbas has denied the report that he opposed the lifting of Israel's blockade on Gaza.

Both the White House and Britain's Foreign Ministry moved quickly on Monday to welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confirmation that Israel would hold an internal enquiry into the assault on the Freedom Flotilla, with the three Israeli members buttressed by former Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble and Brigadier General Ken Watkin, a former judge advocate general of the Canadian Armed Forces.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs issued this official response:

The Latest from Iran (14 June): The 2nd Year Is Underway….

We believe that Israel, like any other nation, should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security. Israel has a military justice system that meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation, and the structure and terms of reference of Israel's proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation. But we will not prejudge the process or its outcome, and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the Israeli announcement "an important step forward" and said, "Clearly it is very important that it is a truly independent enquiry and a thorough investigation that the international community can respect".

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee quickly welcomed Washington's "dramatic and courageous statement", adding: "[We] call on the Obama administration to act decisively at the United Nations and other international forums to block any action –-- including alternative investigations supported by the Secretary General –-- which would isolate Israel."

Others were not as positive. Turkey continued to insist on an independent international investigation, as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared, “We don't have any confidence at all that Israel will conduct an impartial investigation -- as a country which attacked a civilian convoy in international waters, thereby committing a violation of international law....Any investigation conducted unilaterally by Israel will have no value to us.”

Critics claimed that the "international" dimension of Israel's enquiry was already compromised by the appointment of Trimble, a fervent supporter of West Jerusalem. Ha'aretz noted that the Nobel Prize laureate --- ironically, the second laureate to be involved in this crisis, as Mairead Corrigan was a passenger on the Flotilla --- had joined the “Friends of Israel” initiative launched in Paris on 31 May, an initiative which includes  Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold, a close associate of Netanyahu.

In another Gaza development, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said that the Israeli blockade should not be lifted before a reconciliation between his party Fatah and Hamas, Gaza's political leaders, and that the step should only come through a Palestinian Government led by the current Prime Minister of the PA, Salam Fayyad.

Gaza Latest (13 June): Rumblings of the Next Flotilla

1400 GMT: Mahmoud Abbas denied that he had asked Obama to prevent the lifting of the naval blockade on Gaza. However, Netanyahu, during a meeting of Likud ministers, said that he supports easing the three-year blockade Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip, but that he would not approve the lifting of the naval blockade.

1315 GMT: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has said there should be international participation in Israel's investigation into its raid of the flotilla. Israel's vice premier Dan Merridor replied: "There will be international elements in the commission which is going to be formed. For the moment it is not totally clear but the commission will be composed of five Israelis and two or three foreigners."

1245 GMT: Nabila Abu Rdineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, said in an interview with local newspaper al-Ayyam, that an international mechanism to end the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip might be formed within a few days. He added: "President Abbas told the U.S. administration that lifting the Gaza blockade is not less important than peace talks."

However, the issue is more complicated than it seems. On Wednesday, following President Barack Obama's political support for the "unsustainable" situation in Gaza along with $400 million pledge to Gazans, Abbas told Obama that the easing of the siege should not bolster Hamas. His suggestion was not to end the naval siege by Israel for the time being.

1200 GMT: Former MP George Galloway is planning a land and sea convoy in September. He said: "Following our negotiations in Istanbul, I can announce to you that the day after Ramadan [September 10], two mighty convoys, one by sea and one by land, will begin. The land convoy will leave from London, will travel though Europe, Turkey, Syria and Jordan, and it will sail from Aqaba to Sinai and enter the gates of Rafah, and I ask the Egyptian government, in the name of millions of people, open those gates and let the convoy through."

1130 GMT: An EA reader has just reported that 70 Iranian MPs are also volunteered to aboard.

1100 GMT: The Israeli Defense Ministry has announced that Defense Minister Ehud Barak will stay in Israel while the government creates a committee to investigate the raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla. He was supposed to be present at a new Israeli booth at the Eurosatory 2010 air show in Paris and to meet French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Barak took a decision following pro-Palestinian groups' threats that they would do their best to bring Barak to be justice for his alleged war crimes.

The former commander of the navy and Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon, also called on Barak to "accept responsibility for the consequences of the decision to raid flotilla" and to resign.

1045 GMT: The Voice of Israel reports that the Turkish delegation announced two weeks ago that it wasn’t coming to the conference on International Holocaust Education organized by Yad VaShem (Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority).

1030 GMT:  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the former Supreme Court chief justice Yaakov Tirkel will be appointed to head an investigation into Israeli Defense Forces' operation to Freedom Flotilla.

0900 GMT: Agence France Presse reports that the Iranian Red Crescent equipped and loaded two ships with aid and is awaiting the permission of the Foreign Ministry to set sail to Gaza. Iranian officials claim that 100.000 people have already volunteered to go aboard.

On Thursday, Israel's Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center warned that extremist Islamic organizations were planning to send more ships to the Gaza Strip.

0800 GMT: The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, is the first senior Arab official visiting Gaza since 2007. He met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the Rafah crossing, which Egypt is still keeping "temporarily" open,before seeing Hamas officials today to find a basis for the continuation of the reconciliation talks. Moussa said, "This blockade which we are all here to confront must be broken and the position of the Arab League is clear."

Gaza Flotilla Video: One Hour of Raw Footage from Mavi Marmara (Lee)

Filmmaker Iara Lee of Cultures of Resistance was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the Gaza Flotilla that was attacked by Israeli forces 12 days ago. Her cameras were confiscated by the commandos; however, she was able to hide an hour of raw footage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsMJmvS0AY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Gaza Aftermath: Israel and the “We Con the World” Video (Why I’m Not Laughing)
Gaza Latest: What Will Be Done About the Blockade? (Not Much. Care for an Israeli Snack Food?)

Gaza Aftermath: Israel and the "We Con the World" Video (Why I'm Not Laughing)

On Monday, the Israeli Government press office apologised after circulating a video, "We Con the World", mocking passengers aboard the Freedom Flotilla. Although the video was made by "private" pro-Israeli activists, the dissemination by Israeli officials gave it West Jerusalem's seal of approval.

Normally, I would not make comment on a video humiliating others. However, I am prompted to do so by the impudence and shamelessness of the spokesman for the Israeli Government, Mark Regev. Even as his colleagues were formally apologising, Regev told The Guardian of London, "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny. It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it."

Gaza Latest: What Will Be Done About the Blockade? (Not Much. Care for an Israeli Snack Food?)

Since Regev is now going to re-present the video as a bit of harmless comedy, let's re-visit the episode, starting with the video and lyrics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

There comes a time
When we need to make a show
For the world
The Web and CNN

There is no people dying
So the best we can do
Is create
The greatest bluff of all

We must go on
Pretending day by day
That in Gaza
There is crisis, hunger and plague

Coz the billion bucks in aid
Won't buy their basic needs
Like some cheese
And missiles for the kids

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We are peaceful travellers
With guns and our own knives
The truth will never find its way
To your TV

Ooooh, we'll stab them at heart
They are soldiers, no one cares
We are small
And we took some pictures with doves

As Allah has shown us
For facts there is no demand
So we will always
Gain the upper hand

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We are peaceful travellers
We are waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way
To your TV

If Islam and terror
Brighten up your mood
But you worry that
It may not look so good

Well don't you realize
You just gotta call yourself
An activist
For peace and human aid

We make the world
Abandon reason
We'll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa

We con the world
We con the people
We'll make them all believe
The IDF is the Jack the Ripper

Call me a spoilsport, but I'm immediately bothered by this fun-loving ignorance of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Contrary to the assurance that Gazans can receive everything they need in their daily lives, the most recent report by an Israeli human rights group, the Gisha Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, says that Israel permits just 97 different items to enter, compared to more than 4,000 that entered before June 2007.

Here is what can no longer enter Gaza. Construction materials, of course, since rebuilding the area --- which may have suffered a bit of damage in Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 --- would be an imminent danger to Israeli security. But rubber, glue, and nylon also seem to pose a risk, since they're blocked (perhaps because they could be combined to make a new type of rocket?). And paper is out of the question for unrestricted access. Ginger is banned. And, presumably because Gazans might react to Israel's "We Con the World" with "Yes, Yes, You Do", musical instruments are not allowed across the border.

But let's have a look at the security equation of "We Con the World": Islam = terror. No need to issue a specific condemnation of the makers of the video. After all, this is the rhetoric of Israeli decision-makers and even opposition leaders. Moderates v. extremists means that the simple juxtaposition of West Bank v. Gaza can be put forth. One gets a measure of economic interchange with Israel and the prospect (always the prospect, never the reality) of two-state talks; the other gets nothing.

But let's get to the specific. How funny it is to ignore the deaths of at least nine activists on the Freedom Flotilla! Laugh hard enough and you can accept the punch-line of Israeli "self-defense", protecting soldiers from "terrorists", while rejecting the most un-funny notion of civilians trying to protect themselves from fully-equipped soldiers boarding a ship in international waters. You can turn hundreds of people --- some of whom might have refused initially to surrender to Israeli soldiers and might have offered resistance --- into the unqualified, unmitigated aggressed. You might even giggle at how self-defense turned into shooting  four people in the head and one in the chest at close range.

So I'm bothered. I'm not sure that Mr Regev's interest, or that of the Israeli Government, is to make sure I have a good laugh. I'm not even sure they're really that sorry.  

Because, after all, in the end --- with no conning of the world -- those passengers were all terrorists.

Gaza Flotilla Latest (8 June): The Battle over the Blockade

1430 GMT: The Israeli Government says it is awaiting a "green light" from the US on its proposal for an investigation on the raid on the Mavi Marmara.

Seven senior ministers have agreed on a panel of jurists, but a senior official said that if this is not backed by the Obama Administration, "There is no point in establishing it."

1400 GMT: Battling Claims over the Blockade. The Israeli military has put out a press release declaring, "No Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip", and presenting quantities of imports in 2009-2010.

Ma'an News Agency paints a different picture as it reports, "Israel partly opened two crossing terminals on the border with Gaza for the entry of limited aid and fuel, keeping imports to a restricted minimum." The website claims, "Supplies remain limited, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noting [that] goods barely reached 25% of [requirements] last week. [The] number is up from previous weeks, which [was about] 12% of [the] pre-siege level [of] imports."

Egypt has allowed nine opposition members of Parliament to cross into Gaza, a day after turning them back. However, the delegation had to leave behind their cargo of reconstruction materials.

Seven MPs were members of the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group. The other two were members of the leftist Nasserite party.

Israel's National Student Union has announced that it is planning to send hundreds of yachts to meet at sea any new humanitarian aid flotilla heading toward Gaza.

A new video has been released of the aftermath of last week's confrontation on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the Freedom Flotilla:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tc8kXaiwLI[/youtube]

Infowars Ireland features an interview with Huwaida Arraf, the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, about the Flotilla:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WMPrYZNl1U&feature=player_embedded#at=29[/youtube]