Gaza aid ships forced to sail to Israeli port

Ahram Online
Gaza aid ships forced to sail to Israeli port

Friday 4 Nov 2011

Mohamed Abdel-Baky


Israel navy halts Canadian and Irish activist vessels 35 miles from Gaza shore, forcing them to divert to Ashdod in Israel where they face questioning by local police and immigration authorities

The Israeli navy has intercepted two pro-Palestinian ships aiming to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip and forced them to divert to an Israeli port.
Two Israel navy boats full of soldiers stopped the two vessels in international waters 35 miles from the Gaza shore for two hours before forcing them to take an alternative route.

An official statement from the Israeli army said that a group of its soldiers had boarded the Canadian activists' boat, named Tahrir, and the Irish one, Saoirse, and forced them to land at the Israeli port of Ashdod.

“A short while ago, Israel Navy soldiers boarded the vessels which were en-route to the Gaza Strip,” the statement read, adding that the two ships were being forced to land in Israel but activists would be permitted to deliver their aid to Gaza by land.

“Following their unwillingness to cooperate, and after ignoring calls to divert to the port of Ashdod, the decision was made to board the vessels and lead them there,” the statement said.

During the Israeli soldiers raid on the ship, activists on board raised signs saying “boarding an unarmed ship in international waters is an act of piracy”.

In a brief statement published on Twitter after the ships was forced to change direction from Gaza to Ashdod, the organisers of the campaign to break the blockade said Israeli should be held accountable for violating international law and the “basic principles of human rights”

“The Canadian govt should be demanding protection of Canadian ship and citizens, not defending criminal Israeli policy,” the statement added.

Activists on board the ships tweeted reports that the Israel navy would hand over passengers to local police and immigration authorities for interrogation when they arrived at the Israeli port.

Before raiding the ships, the Israeli navy made radio contact and asked about their destination and called on them to stop or return to where they began.

Asked over the radio by the approaching Israeli vessels what their destination was, Ehab Lotayef, organiser of the Canadian mission reportedly said, “the conscience of humanity.”

When the question was repeated, Lotayef was reported to have replied that the final destination of the latest flotilla -- dubbed Freedom Waves to Gaza -- was “the betterment of mankind.”

Despite months of political, military and alleged secret service interference, the Canadian and Irish boats had managed to leave Turkey and reach international waters.
Organisers of Freedom Waves to Gaza said they had organised in secret, in a bid to prevent Israeli interference.

The two vassals left port in southern Turkey on Wednesday and were expected to reach Gaza by Friday morning, organisers said.

Following the Israeli interception they are expected to stay in Ashdod for a day or two and then return to Turkey.

Between them the two boats are carrying 27 passengers and some US$30,000 worth of medical aid, as well as journalists and crew members, organisers said.

Among the passengers is an Egyptian journalist, Lina Attallah, managing editor at Al Masry Al Youm English.

Activists organised a major attempt to break Israel's blockade in May 2010, when six ships led by the Turkish Mavi Marmara tried to reach Gaza.

Israeli commandos stormed the flotilla some 80 nautical miles off Gaza, in a raid which left nine Turkish activists dead and sparked a diplomatic crisis with Ankara, which recently expelled the Israeli ambassador and cut military ties with Tel Aviv.

Earlier this year, a second flotilla tried to reach Gaza, but several ships were sabotaged, which activists blamed on Israel. Only one ship, the Dignity, attempted the final leg before it was intercepted by the Israeli navy.

History of Israeli blockade on Gaza

AlJazeera
History of Israeli blockade on Gaza

02 Nov 2011

David Poort


Israel has cleverly fine-tuned the siege, hurting Gazans but not letting the situation there reach crisis levels.

With the recent agreement to swap 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Israel may have lost one of its key justifications for its blockade against the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli policy of actively laying siege to the territory, tacitly supported by Egypt under the rule of former president Hosni Mubarak, has been in place since Hamas violently took over power from Fatah in 2007 after it had won elections a year earlier.

The blockade has taken on many shapes and forms over the years. It has been tightened, eased and tightened again, but the changes made - usually a result of international pressure - have been largely cosmetic.

There is no shortage of food in Gaza and recent developments have even triggered what could be described as a 'construction boom'.

But the blockade on the territory is still very much in place, from land, air and sea.

Contrary to popular belief, the blockade is not only something that has occurred for the last five years.

Israel has been limiting travel between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the first Intifada in the beginning of the 1990s, a strategy that has had far-reaching consequences for Palestinians living in the occupied territories.

Under the widely ignored Oslo accords of 1993, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are defined as two territories of a single unit, between which Palestinians should be allowed to move freely and trade goods without restrictions.

However, despite recent changes in Israel’s restrictive measures, this utopian situation looks further from reach than ever before.

GRADUAL TIGHTENING

Israel had been using "security" as a pretext for restricting movement of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank long before the current siege was put in place, states the non-governmental organisation Gisha.

For example, since 2000, Israel has occasionally allowed football players to exit Gaza, but has continued to prohibit Gaza students from attending universities in the occupied West Bank.

These and other restrictions were tightened over time to reach their peak with the placement of the full siege in 2007.

With the help of the freedom of information act, an Israeli law, Gisha recently managed to expose official documents given to the Israeli army, detailing who, and what, is allowed in and out of the Gaza Strip.

These guidelines go into extensive details, painting a clear picture of the limitations that people in the Gaza Strip have been, and partly continue to be, subjected to until today.

At the height of the siege, no Gazans were permitted to exit the Strip through the Erez crossing, with the exception of a small number of high-placed businessmen, people in need of specialised medical care, and certain other "exceptional" cases.

This also applied to residents of Gaza who intended to move to the West Bank for family unification purposes.

The "exceptional" cases under this restriction applied only to first-degree relatives who were chronically ill, elderly, or orphaned under the age of 16 with no one to care for them in the Gaza Strip.

'HUMANITARIAN CRISIS-LEVELS'

In its efforts to punish Hamas and other armed groups, the documents shed light on how Israel fine-tuned the siege, with an aim to hurt Gazans but not let the situation there to reach "humanitarian crisis-levels".

Since 2007 and until 2010 Israel allowed only those goods into the territory that it deemed as "vital for the survival of the civilian population".

For example, hummus was considered a vital good, whereas hummus topped with pine nuts or mushrooms was banned.

Items such as shoes, paper, and even coffee and tea were also placed on the banned list.

All goods that Israel deemed "dual-use" - material that could be used for both manufacturing weapons and for construction - such as wood, cement and iron were banned, despite the dire need for these goods for reconstruction following Israel'sl 2008-2009 war on Gaza.

The quantities of goods allowed in were calculated using mathematical formulas that determined the level of daily consumption of each of the basic products, based on data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, multiplied by the population of the Gaza Strip.

Export of goods is virtually banned, with limited exceptions, such as a seasonal harvest of agricultural goods.

With this policy, Israel maintains that the siege of Gaza does not fall under "collective punishment" as it considered itself to be fulfilling the minimum requirements that an occupier is obliged with under the fourth Geneva Convention rules.

In the aftermath of the disastrous Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla of May 2010, in which nine Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara, Israel eased some of the restrictions.

In response to the international outcry over the raid, Israel published a list of items not permitted into Gaza "that is limited to weapons and war material, including problematic dual-use items".

"All items not on this list will be permitted to enter Gaza," Israel said.

In reality, little has changed. Most of the material that is needed for reconstruction comes in through the hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt.

Israel currently issues about 3,000 permits per month to people who want to leave Gaza, which only amounts to little over half of one per cent of the number of people who crossed the border at Erez in September 2000.

NAVAL BLOCKADE

In addition to the land blockade, Israel has maintained its naval cordon on Gaza, where attempts by flotillas to break the siege, such as the Mavi Marmara, have been halted in international waters.

The Israeli government, during the period of prime minister Ehud Olmert and under current prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has dismissed the flotilla attempts as provocations with the sole purpose of trying to break the blockade, rather than to bring aid.

"This was not the Love Boat, it was a hate boat," Netanyahu said, when defending the raid on the 2010 Gaza flotilla.

"These weren't pacifists, these weren't peace activists. They were violent supporters of terrorism."

Netanyahu claims that stopping the flotillas is needed to prevent the creation of an "Iranian port on the Mediterranean".

Following the Mavi Marmara raid, Israel’s security cabinet issued a statement confirming that all goods bound for Gaza would continue to be inspected at the port of Ashdod, prior to entering Gaza.

Under the 1994 Gaza-Jericho agreement fishermen are permitted to sail out to fishing grounds up 37km offshore; however, Israel only allows them to reach to 5.6km, a restriction Israel says is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks and smuggling.

GILAD SHALIT

The prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has sparked new hope that the siege on Gaza could be lifted.

It has even been suggested that the lifting of the siege would be part of the deal that was struck between both parties.

Since his capture in 2006, Israeli politicians had increasingly presented Shalit’s case as a reason for not lifting the blockade.

In February 2009, Olmert, who was prime minister at the time, said: "We want first to resolve the Shalit issue and then will look into the reopening of crossings and the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip."

Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, in June 2010 linked the lifting of the siege, with both the release of Shalit, and "the renunciation of terrorism" by Gaza’s leaders.

"The day Palestinian leaders in Gaza renounce terrorism, release Gilad Shalit, stop firing missiles and halt their attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers, the continuity of the security cordon imposed on the Gaza Strip won't be needed," he said.

A recent flare-up of violence, in which 11 Palestinians and an Israeli were killed in a fresh spate of tit-for-tat rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes, has dashed the momentum created by the prisoner exchange.

Moreover, with the exchange, Israel has released hundreds of what is sees as high-security prisoners into the Gaza Strip, perhaps giving proponents of the siege a stronger case for keeping the strict border controls in place.

*Photo courtesy of Reuters

Israel to speed up settler colonies after UNESCO vote

BBC News
Israel to speed up settler homes after Unesco vote

November 02, 2011

Israel says it will speed up Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and temporarily freeze the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority.


The announcement comes a day after the Palestinians won full membership of the UN cultural organisation, Unesco.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the move will speed up the destruction of the peace process.

The Israeli government has described the Unesco vote as a "tragedy".

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, told the BBC the measures were designed to increase pressure on the Palestinians.

Mr Palmor said they were "a response to unilateral measures aimed at confronting Israel at the UN and elsewhere on the international scene".

"They [the Palestinians] shouldn't be wasting time by all these manoeuvres. They should continue to negotiate," he said.

The Israeli government said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for the accelerated construction of about 2,000 housing units.

It said the construction will be in "areas that in any future arrangement will remain in Israel's hands", according to a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says the announcement will be seen as a punishment for the Palestinians and a warning to countries that backed their Unesco bid that Israel will react strongly if a similar application for Palestinian membership of the UN itself should prove successful.


Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down more than a year ago. The Palestinians are demanding an end to settlement building.

Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

'STEALING MONEY'

The Palestinian presidency said the decision to speed up settlement construction amounted to a decision to "speed up the destruction of the peace process".

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for Mr Abbas, said the decision to withhold funds collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority was "stealing money from the Palestinian people."

It will be the second time this year that Israel has withheld the revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

The money, which include duties on goods being imported to the Palestinian territories, amounts to about $100m each month - half of the PA's domestic revenue base.

Israel withheld the revenues earlier this year after Mr Abbas concluded a reconciliation agreement with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.

The United States announced it was cancelling funding for the UN cultural body Unesco after it voted on Monday to grant full membership to the Palestinians.

Membership dues paid by the US account for about a fifth of the organisation's annual budget.

Unesco is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.

The UN Security Council will vote later this month on whether to grant the Palestinians full UN membership.

Salafis cover 'revealing' statue in Alexandria

Al-Masry Al-Youm
Salafis cover 'revealing' statue in Alexandria

Tue, 01/11/2011

Mohamed Abu Elenen


People attending a rally of the Salafi al-Nour Party in Alexandria on Monday were surprised to see the organizers covering a large statue in the middle of the square, which the latter said was “revealing.”

The statue depicts Zeus, the Greek god, in the form of four muses sitting on a marble plate.

The organizers placed a sign on the cover reading: Egyptian women are dedicated to their husbands and homeland.

Party leaders have previously announced they were against statues, as they contravene Islamic traditions. They were accused before of destroying a statue of the pharaoh Senusret in the city of Mansoura.

Party spokesman Abdel Moneim al-Shahat said at the rally that the party relies on Islamic Sharia law and modern science in building the nation.

*Translated from the Arabic Edition

1,000s of anti-capitalists march ahead of G20

Agence France Presse
Thousands of anti-capitalists march ahead of G20

Hugues Jeanneaud

(AFP) – Nov 1, 2011

NICE, France — Thousands of anti-capitalists poured into the French Riviera city of Nice on Tuesday for a march against corporate greed ahead of the G20 summit in nearby Cannes, echoing protests worldwide.

Shouting "People first, not finance!", protesters from around Europe and beyond marched noisily along their assigned route in the city's outskirts on a sunny and peaceful national holiday in the Mediterranean city.

They have been arriving since Monday at the "Old Abattoir" cultural centre where a "People's Summit" is to be held in parallel to the summit of Group of 20 leaders around 30 kilometres (20 miles) down the Mediterranean coast on Thursday and Friday.

Police estimates put the number of demonstrators in Tuesday's march at 5,400, while organisers, who say 10,000-12,000 took part, hailed the event a great success.

"The turnout is above that which we were expecting," said spokesman Franck Gaye.

"We have received a good welcome, people are waving at us from their windows ... I hope that the governments are going to listen to the people," he added.

Around 100 Oxfam activists came from Spain, Belgium, Mexico, Britain and France, many wearing Robin Hood hats and carrying jute bags representing the stock exchange, demanding a tax on financial transaction.

"I am Robin Hood, I demand (French President) Nicolas Sarkozy set up a tax on financial transactions. We take from the rich to give to the poor, we want a better distribution of wealth," said Benjamin Lemesle, 23.

Two backpacker protesters, from Belgium and France, arrived on a train from Paris and told AFP they "came to Nice to ask for just a little more humanity (and for) the financial system to be put at the people's service."

Police in Nice said they had arrested three Spanish men on the city's renowned Promenade des Anglais seafront in possession of "bolts, mountaineering axes, balaclavas and gas masks" ahead of the march.

Interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the men had T-shirts and badges with "Black Cross" written on them, which he said suggested they may be part of the militant Black Bloc protest movement.

Anyone thought to be associated with Black Bloc protests faces arrest if police find them anywhere in the region.

Officers also arrested two Belgians armed with steel weapons near the train station ahead of the march, a police source said. Not thought to be part of a specific movement, the two were released after the demonstration.

Groups including environmental advocates Greenpeace, Attac, the Human Rights League and anti-racism organisations organised the march, which culminated at the "Old Abattoir" in the early evening.

Some 2,500 extra police were drafted in to deal with the protest and about 15 vehicles belonging to the CRS riot police were parked in front of Nice's train station, with groups of riot police patrolling the station, stopping passengers to search them and check their identities.

Paris obtained authorisation from Brussels to reintroduce customs and immigration checks on the Italian border to prevent troublemakers gaining entry after around 100 people were injured in violent protests in Rome on October 15.

One of the protest's organisers, Franck Gaye, said ahead of the march that there would be no confrontation in Nice as anarchist movements "have called on supporters to go everywhere in France because there won't be security forces elsewhere."

On Thursday, some protesters will head to the principality of Monaco to "celebrate" the end of tax havens that was announced at the 2009 G20 summit in London.

Anti-capitalism protests have sprung up in more than 80 countries in recent months, including a protest camp in the heart of London's City financial district, the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Indignants protesters in Spain.

The protests are against what demonstrators consider an irresponsible financial system and for economic equality.

Syria plants land mines along border with Lebanon

Associated Press
Syria puts land mines along border with Lebanon

Nov. 01, 2011


SERHANIYEH, Lebanon (AP) – Syria is planting land mines along parts of the country's border with Lebanon as refugees stream out of the country to escape the crackdown on anti-government protests, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.A Syrian man who stepped on a mine and had to have his foot amputated was the first known victim, according to a doctor at a hospital in Lebanon that treated him. He was wounded just across from the Lebanese village of Irsael on Sunday. The doctor asked that his name not be published for fear of repercussions by authorities.

The Syrian exodus to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey has proven a deep embarrassment for increasingly besieged President Bashar Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country's conflict.

A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the anti-personnel mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria. The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also told the AP they have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in two parts of Syrian territory: in the restive province of Homs and across from Lebanon's eastern Baalbek region.

"Syria has undertaken many measures to control the borders, including planting mines," said the Syrian official.

More than 5,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the crisis began in March.

The land mines are the latest sign of Syria's increasing isolation and just how deeply shaken the Assad regime has become since the uprising began nearly eight months ago. Assad, a 46-year-old eye doctor who trained in Britain, still has a firm grip on power, although the cost has been mighty: The U.N. says some 3,000 people have been killed by security forces.

Syria is a regional nexus, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. Turkey, until recently an ally, has opened its borders to anti-Assad activists and breakaway military rebels.

The crackdown has eviscerated Assad's reputation, canceling out widespread hopes when he took power in 2000 that he might transform his late father's stagnant dictatorship into a modern state. Instead, Assad has reverted to the same tactics that have kept his family in power for more than 40 years, using fear and brute military force to try to break the popular revolt against his autocratic rule.

Three residents of the Lebanese border village of Serhaniyeh showed an AP reporter a long sand dune barrier along the frontier where they said Syrian troops laid mines. Ahmed Diab, 26, said several trucks carrying about a 100 soldiers arrived in the area on Thursday and spent the entire day planting mines on the side of the barriers that is toward Lebanon.

"Since they planted the mines, no one dares to go to the border line," said Diab, as he sat on his motorcycle near his home that overlooks parts of the Syrian province of Homs. Homs has seen some of the worst violence of the uprising.

Many Syrians cross the border into Lebanon regularly, some of them to flee the violence in their country. And the mines are the latest in a number of signs that Syria is working to prevent Lebanon from becoming a safe haven for the Syrian opposition.

There have been at least three cases this year of Syrian dissidents being snatched off the streets in Lebanon and spirited back across the border, Lebanese police say. The abductions have raised alarm among some in Lebanon that members of the country's security forces are helping Assad's regime in its crackdown on anti-government protesters, effectively extending it into Lebanon.

Syria had direct control over Lebanon for nearly 30 years before pulling out its troops in 2005 under local and international pressure. But Damascus still has great influence, and pro-Syrian factions led by the militant group Hezbollah dominate the government in Beirut.

There also have been reports of Syrian troops crossing into Lebanon to pursue dissidents. In September, the Lebanese army said in a statement that Syrian soldiers briefly crossed the border and opened fire at people trying to flee the violence in Syria.

A senior Lebanese security official confirmed that Syrian troops are planting mines on the Syrian side of the border, but said Beirut will not interfere with actions on Syrian territory.

"What concerns us are violations of Lebanese territory and Syrian troops' pursuit of people on the Lebanese side of the border," the official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Syria and Lebanon share a 230-mile long border, although it appears the landmines have been planted in Homs province — where some of the worst violence of the uprising has occurred — just across the border from Serhaniyeh, Lebanon. Mines also have been planted in the Baalbek region, which borders Homs and the Damascus countryside, witnesses say.

The crackdown has prompted the most severe international condemnation the Assad dynasty has seen. Sanctions from the European Union and the U.S. are chipping away at the beleaguered economy and many leaders have called on him to step aside.

Assad has responded with vague promises of reform, but the opposition has dismissed the overtures as meaningless while the military fires on protesters. As the uprising has dragged on, Assad has become more defiant, exploiting fears at home and abroad of regional turmoil, sectarian violence and Islamic extremism.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph published over the weekend, Assad warned world powers fresh from their victory over Moammar Gadhafi in Libya that the Middle East will go up in flames if there is any foreign intervention in his country.

Syria "is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said in his harshest words so far regarding the potential for foreign intervention. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?" he asked, alluding to the 10-year war that has bogged down tens of thousands of foreign forces.

But given that NATO and the U.S. have made abundantly clear they have no appetite for another military intervention in Syria, Assad does not have to worry too much about a Libya-style operation against his regime. Still, increased international focus on his bloody crackdown could bring more sanctions and isolation on a regime that is showing signs of increasing desperation.

*Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Photos: March against SCAF & its military tribunals

Some 3,000 Egyptians took part in a protest march against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF,) demanding the release of activist-blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, along with thousands of other civilians sentenced to prison by military tribunals.
The protest began at 7pm in Talaat Harb Square, downtown Cairo. Protesters then marched on Tahrir Square.


On the back of this protester - Free Alaa Abdel Fattah. No military tribunals, no more emergency law, down with military rule.


Thousands of protesters marched onwards to the district of Bab el Khalq - outside the police department where Alaa and others are jailed.


Even Suzanne Mubarak, and (ex-Interior Minister) Habib el-Adly were present at this protest march.


Youth activists posted stickers, and posters of Alaa on the entrance of the Military Police barracks, some even spray painted anti-SCAF stencils on the barracks' outer walls.


Portrait of Alaa.


Free Alaa spray painted on the outer wall of the Police Department in Bab el Khalq, a row of riot police looks on.


Protesters demanded the release, or retrial, of thousands of civilians imprisoned by verdicts issued from military tribunals. Over 12,000 civilians have been referred to military courts since SCAF assumed power.


Slogans were chanted against the military junta, and the Ministry of Interior. In mockery, hundreds of activists dedicated a birthday song to SCAF-chief, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi. Mubarak's lap-dog/general turned 76 years old today.


Police/pigs observe the protest from the rooftop of their quarters. With their cameras and cellphones, some pigs even took surveillance videos and photos.


After some three hours, the protest march winded-up and headed back to Tahrir Square.