The
Egyptian Council for Foreign affairs deplores in the strongest
possible terms the cowardly attack that occurred on May 31,
2010 on the Freedom Flotilla which was carrying tons of humanitarian
supplies to the besieged people of Gaza. On board there were 650
activists from 32 nations. The ship which bore most of the brunt of
the aggression was called marmara, a Turkish flagship. 9 Turkish
citizens and other nationalities were murdered as well as scores of
people from several nations who were seriously injured. The
activists on board included parliamentarians, diplomats, authors,
doctors, human rights activists, a Nobel peace laureate from
Ireland, even an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor. There where
Muslims, Christians, and Jews on board. Several facts about this
incident indicates already that it is as a case of state terrorism
committed by Israel :
1)
The mounting, seizure, searching, and accosting of the ships,
occurred in international waters as the ships where 80 to 100 miles
off the Israeli shores. According to international law, this can be
considered an act of war in this case against the country of Turkey
but also against other participating countries such as Greece and
Ireland. The Security Council of the United Nations as it looked
into that matter should have treated this event as such, meaning
that strong and appropriate action in accordance with the mandate
under the UN charter should have been adopted. Under extreme
pressure from the Obama administration Israel was not even condemned
for this barbaric action. There were only expressions of regret for
the loss of life and Israel was "urged "to conduct her own
investigation into the matter in" a proper and transparent way !
This decision is tantamount to asking the murderer to investigate
his own crime.
2)
The UN Secretary-General Ban Key Moon while expressing shock and
regret at the loss of life also called for a proper and transparent
investigation. He took that position under strong US pressure
behind closed doors. The Secretary-General failed to suggest the
establishment of an investigative committee by the United Nations
He was entitled to do so , under the UN charter.
The
European Union nations while again expressing their regret for the
loss of life failed to condemn Israel for her barbaric actions and
did not adopt any punitive measures, of any sort, against Israel.
3)
The attack on the peaceful flotilla was planned and executed by the
defense minister himself Gen. Barack with the full endorsement of
the Prime Minister Mr. Netanyahu and his Cabinet employing heavily
armed commando units in full battle gear, black clad in the middle
of the night, using high-speed boats and American supplied
helicopters shows beyond any doubt that the attack and murder were
premeditated . Some eyewitnesses on board reported seeing a list
with the soldiers who were searching for some particular persons on
board in order to liquidate them.
4)
The siege of Gaza which the Freedom Flotilla was seeking to break,
is in itself illegal under international law as it amounts to
collective punishment of a whole population and that is a war crime
.
Israel had been condemned before many times for the massacre of
Jennin , the use of cluster bombs in southern Lebanon against the
civilian population , the murder of 1400 civilians in Gaza
including 450 children using prohibited weapons such as white
phosphorus as documented by the Gladstone report. Israel was also
ordered to remove the apartheid wall that it had erected on
Palestinian territory by the international Court of Justice at the
Hague, and recently Israel was found to steal and forge passports of
citizens belonging to several nations including many European
nations and Australia in order to use the forged passports in
assassination operations. In spite of all these transgressions
Israel was never censured. Israel claims to have total control over
the Obama White House and the U.S. Congress. The latest attack
reminds us of the murder ,in cold blood, of Rachel Corrie, the 22
year old American woman who was human shielding a Palestinian home
from demolition by Israeli bulldozers.
An
Israeli investigation into the incident was conveniently suppressed.
5)
The lifting of the illegal siege of Gaza as advocated by the whole
world community and most recently by Baroness Kathy Ashton the
foreign minister of the European Union has been categorically
rejected by Israel. George Mitchell the US peace mediator visited
the area 12 times but yet is to set foot once in the Gaza strip to
check on the impoverished population living in an open air prison.
6)
Instead of treating Israel as a pariah state for its repeated
violations of international law and the norms of civilized behavior,
Israel has been routinely described as a " democratic state" and as
such has been warmly embraced both by the US and the European Union.
Israel was recently admitted to the OECD organization and has been
made a member of European football tournaments, Eurovision contests
and other economic, educational and cultural activities in Europe ,
These privileges should now be revived and revoked.
7)
The apartheid regime in Israel has been well-documented , not the
least by such prominent personalities as former Pres. Jimmy Carter.
The close relations between the apartheid regime that was in South
Africa and its counterpart in Israel have also been well documented.
Israel even offered to sell nuclear weapons and rockets to the
apartheid regime in South Africa by the current president of Israel
Shimon Peres. Sanctions that were imposed on apartheid South Africa
by the whole international community which successfully resulted in
the transformation of that regime into a democratic rainbow state
were never considered in the case of Israel !!! . Instead, the West
has turned a blind eye to the undemocratic apartheid practices
committed by Israel as well as to her having a massive nuclear
arsenal, yet at the same time, we find the west up in arms against
countries seeking a modicum of independence and trying to
secure their energy supplies and were never found to have any
nuclear military program Sanctions against Iran proposed by the
Western nations only demonstrates very clearly the double standard
employed. Such clearly unfair practices only lead to instability,
disruption of peace, antisemitism, and terrorism and must be
stopped.
8)
The countries in the Middle East are now living under the shadow of
a barbaric regional superpower which has threatened to destroy vital
infrastructures in the region such as Aswan high dam ( in the words
of her esteemed foreign minister Mr Lieberman.) Instead of
correcting that serious imbalance of power in the region the West
continues to supply Israel with the latest weapons technology in air
,land and sea , even under the sea, thus promoting her limitless
arrogance of power.
The
west this way seems to be risking becoming a witness refusing to
testify to Israel's crimes, allowing the preparator to escape with
impunity.
There is a rogue state in the Middle East which is a serious
threat to World peace and should be condemned and boycotted by all
nations. Do we need to name that state is NOT Iran.
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