Dear Israel… thank you

Thank God for Israel. We should be sending them bouquets right now. Great big arrangements of tube-roses and gladiolas, with a little card pinned to a leaf. Inside should be a cute drawing of a teddy bear with hearts popping around him and a hand-written message saying “Dear Israel, stay villainous! You make us look good! Love, Pakistan.”

The killing of aid workers on the way to Gaza by typically over-zealous, kill-hungry Israeli forces is a tragedy. It is an act of heinous cruelty by a nation that has worked hard towards innovating in the field of heinous cruelty. And most importantly, it distracted attention away from us. Because right now, we are looking pretty heinous and cruel ourselves. Almost 100 innocent Pakistanis killed in a single act of terrorism, perpetrated on the basis of religion, condoned by a government that is conspicuously silent in regards to criticism of the event and sanctioned by a nation that never once raised a voice of protest against such repugnant discrimination.

Israel restricts access to Al Aqsa mosque

JERUSALEM: Israeli Police on Friday restricted access to Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque amid tension over the deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld also said that police “are on high alert across the country and particularly in Jerusalem,” adding that hundreds of officers were deployed around the Old City.

Only women and men over 40 will be allowed to attend Friday prayers at the mosque compound, he said.

UN adopts resolution to probe Israel attack

WASHINGTON: The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution setting up an independent international probe into Israel’s interception of Gaza-bound ships, on Wednesday.

The resolution, which also condemned Israel’s “outrageous attack,” was adopted after a vote, with 32 countries voting in favour, three against, and eight abstentions.

It “decides to dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian aid and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.”

Israel, Egypt ease Gaza blockade after deadly raid

Palestinians arrive at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip June 1, 2010. Egypt will open its border with the Gaza Strip to let Palestinians cross. –Reuters Photo

JERUSALEM: Israel and Egypt signaled a temporary easing of the Gaza Strip blockade following harsh international condemnation of the deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla en route to the sealed-off Palestinian territory.

Egypt said it was freely opening its border with Gaza for the first time in more than a year to allow in humanitarian aid, setting off a mad rush to the crossing by thousands of residents, while an Israeli official said there is an ”ongoing dialogue” with the international community on how to expand the amount of goods entering the area.

How far would be too far for Israel?

An Orthodox Jew smokes while holding a Palestinian flag during a protest to denounce Israel’s raid Monday on ships allegedly taking humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, outside the Israeli embassy in London, Tuesday, June 1, 2010. – AP Photo

“No matter how one looks at the conduct of the Israeli government and the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces),” writes Yossi Melman in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “it is hard to understand how stupid and tragic it was.”

“Time and again, Israel tries to prove that what can’t be solved by force can be solved by more force. Over and over, the policies of force fail. The problem is that with each failure, the part of the world in which we would like to belong is losing patience with us.”

Although it’s difficult to disagree with Melman’s conclusion, the question “Exactly how far does Israel have to go before the world cries ‘enough!’?” remains unanswered, even in the wake of the IDF’s assault, in international waters, on a flotilla carrying aid to blockaded Gaza.

Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship



Watch the video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10195838.stm

More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.

Armed forces boarded the vessels overnight, clashing with some of the 600 protesters on board.

It happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.

Israel says its soldiers were shot at and attacked with bars and knives; the activists say Israeli troops came on board shooting.

Ten killed in Israeli attack on Gaza-bound convoy

GAZA: At least ten people were killed, and 30 wounded in a naked Israeli attack on Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Israeli warships attacked at least one of the six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for blockaded Gaza. The al Jazeera satellite channel reported that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain.

The reports came just after daybreak, with the vessel still well away from the Gaza shore. Israel had earlier declared it would not allow the ships to reach Gaza.

Evil Navy Vs Humanitarian Flotilla

Humanitarian Flotilla Vs Evil Navy By Gilad Atzmon 28 May, 2010 Ururknet.info

Haaretz reports today that Israel will attempt to block the humanitarian Freedom Flotilla heading toward Gaza. However, according to the Israeli paper, the humanitarian cargo would then be unloaded, inspected and sent to Gaza overland via the United Nations.

Typical for Israel, it tries to win a lost battle. On the one hand, by stopping the flotilla Israel attempts to maintain its regional status