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No point in declaring a blockade unless you intend enforcing it. It seems Israel does.
The Israeli navy has stormed at least one of a convoy of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip, amid reports of casualties on board.
Some reports say two people have been killed and about 30 injured. Israel has declined to comment.
The exact location of the interception is unclear. Israel had warned the ships not to enter its territorial waters.
The ships are carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to the Gaza Strip in an effort to break an Israeli blockade.
Turkish TV pictures taken on board the Turkish ship leading the flotilla show Israeli soldiers fighting to control passengers.
The footage showed a number of people, apparently injured, lying on the ground. The sound of gunshots could be heard. It is not clear whether the fighting is ongoing.
Al-Jazeera TV reported from the same ship that Israeli navy forces had fired and boarded the vessel, wounding the captain.
The Al-Jazeera broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!".
"Provocation'
The six-ship flotilla left international waters off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and was expected to arrive in Gaza later on Monday.
Israel has said it would stop the boats, calling the campaign a "provocation intended to delegitimise Israel".
An economic blockade was imposed by Israel after the Islamist movement Hamas took power in Gaza.
Israel says it allows about 15,000 tones of humanitarian aid into Gaza every week.
But the United Nations says this is less than a quarter of what is needed.
Hamas, a militant palestinian group that controls the Gaza strip, has fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past decade.
BBC News - Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship
No point in declaring a blockade unless you intend enforcing it. It seems Israel does.
"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs
Agreed. Yet I wished they managed to capture the ships without blodshed, this incident will play into the hands of those hatemongers in Turkey, who anticipated and will welcome such an opportunity to demonize Israel.No point in declaring a blockade unless you intend enforcing it. It seems Israel does.
Yep. Israels detractors despise the place already, so apart from the fuel this'll add to the ongoing hype what have the Israelis got to lose?
Socialism is simply the Collective denial of responsibility.
GEM?Y? BÖYLE ELE GEÇ?RD?LER - WEB TV :: Hürriyet
the links is from a Turkish newspaper, just click & watch the video
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none; be able for thine enemy rather in power than use; and keep thy friend under thine own life's key; be checked for silence, but never taxed for speech.
Agreed S-2, I'm wondering which part of "naval blockade" didnt the protestors understand? I guess they didnt think the Israeli Navy meant it. Unfortunately, it leads to events like this and Israel will get the blame again no doubt. But yet these same detractors turn a blind eye to Irans funding and weapons forwarding to Hamas for terrorism strikes. IMO, its their own dam fault for testing the blockade, the responsibility is theirs.Originally Posted by S-2
Last edited by Dreadnought; 31 May 10, at 07:33.
Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.
More than 10 people died, some sources say up to 16. Someone $%^&*( something up pretty bad. Israel could use some good PR now and this just aint it.
Those ships were never meant to reach Gaza. Their main mission was to provoke an Israeli response that can be used to exploit muslims worldwide by fueling hatred toward jews. In the video recording of the assault ''peace volunteers'' can be seen hammering armed commandos with clubs.
exactly. i was schocked when i saw "peace volunteers" attacks commandos
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none; be able for thine enemy rather in power than use; and keep thy friend under thine own life's key; be checked for silence, but never taxed for speech.
No point in boarding the others unless Israel really wants to inspect each cargo hold. My suspicion is they'd prove clean as a whistle.
I'd stand off, order they depart the waters and give them ten minutes to get underway. After that, I'd sink the first.
Were I Israel, I'd prepare for a state of war with Turkey by tomorrow.
Should be fascinating. No doubt Syria would provide trespass rights to the Turkish Army and likely pile on.
"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs
Here's the Al Jazerra report with reported video-
Israeli Commandos Storm Aid Ships-Al Jazerra
The reporter makes the point twice that they're in internat'l waters. Not sure it matters. Maritime Law of the Sea specialist needed. My guess is that the Israeli government will have its legal arguments prepared and that the intercept location is precisely calibrated. There'd be little reason not to have done their homework and plenty of time on this one.
"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs
And you called my nuclear holocaust between Israel and Iran "apocalyptic"!)
Truth be told, I believe this was one of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations.
Just a thought though: Wouldn't it be better for Israel to form a sort of "guard-of-honour" for those ships and guide them to the strip and monitor constantly the whole aid-delivery?
(Not that another "Blame-Israel" speech hurts them much, though....)
By the way, if war broke between Israel and Turkey (just a mental experiment) how would it play out? (Barring nukes, of course). What possible stance would the US hold (a NATO ally of Turkey, but also supporter of Israel). And of what long term repercussions are we talking here?
"And you called my nuclear holocaust between Israel and Iran "apocalyptic"!
Did I now? I don't honestly recall...
""By the way, if war broke between Israel and Turkey (just a mental experiment) how would it play out?"
Well, first, America would ask if both sides would be amenable to a delay so we could kick off our KOREA ROCKS THE WORLD TOUR 2010 and finish that up with a minimum of fuss.
Actually, that would be good because it would allow not just a full mobilization period but lots of neat side-line posturing and provocations. Just so it doesn't upstage the Korean thingy until completion.
Please have your Public Relations people call my Public Relations people so we can assure that everybody's on the same sheet of music.
It's lookin' like a real wing-ding summer...
Last edited by S2; 31 May 10, at 10:36.
"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs
It does, doesn't it. Countries all over the world suddenly seem to think they have carte blanche to do whatsover they like.
It's lookin' like a real wing-ding summer...
Socialism is simply the Collective denial of responsibility.
It doesn't. The ships belong to the merchant marines of two NATO members, the organization that unilaterally declared the entire Mediterranean Sea (that would include foreign-held territorial waters) part of its territory in 1949. Technically, under Article 6 of the NATO charter, Turkey and Greece could call for a Article 5 Joint Defense of NATO now.
Further, with a bit of legal stretching, making the international waters of the Mediterranean part of Europe, Greece could under Article 5 of the WEU charter (1954 Brussels Treaty) require all other WEU nations to send their entire fleets into action to support them, without other nations being able to veto it (unlike the very stretchable mutual defense regulations of NATO).
From the legal side anyway. Of course technically e.g. the USA could have declared the same in 1967 (not the WEU part), and Germany could have had a case in 2006 (with the WEU part).
Last edited by kato; 31 May 10, at 12:14.
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