Arabs furious over deadly Israel raid, demand UN action

[demoleft]

Source: afp

AFP - Arab countries slammed Israel's deadly raid Monday against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla as a "crime" and "state terrorism" while they urged the United Nations to hold the Jewish state accountable.

"We condemn this crime, taken against a humanitarian mission and people. They were trying to help people. They were not on a military mission. Everyone should condemn this," Arab League chief Amr Mussa told AFP.

Mussa warned that the Israeli action meant "everything" was now left "hanging in the air," including US-brokered proximity talks that only started on May 9 between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.

"This is another message, a very powerful message, that Israel does not want peace, is not ready to enter into peace," Mussa said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum summit in the Qatari capital.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20100531-arabs-furious-over-deadly-israel-raid-demand-un-action

---

and now let's see what cards UN has in their hands.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. Israel should be treated no differently than apartheid South Africa was

Terrorism wasn't an acceptable excuse for the South Africans oppression - why does Israel which behaves almost identically get a free pass?

[depakid]

25. +1

My bet is that the days of their free pass will be coming to a close not too long down the track.

[primavera]

3. Unfortunately, we don't have much credibility anymore to protest

Since we're pretty much at the top of the world's list of shoot-first-ask-questions-later offenders.

[MadMaddie]

5. That is the unfortunate reality isn't it?

I have to say that Israel could have come up with a better solution. Now Turkey is severing ties with Israel because some of the ships came from Turkey.

[wordpix]

4. so what was on the ship? Haven't read of weapons being found---does anyone know?

[Old Vet]

6. Tons of food, Doctors, Nurses.................

A by bunch of diplomats. It was a good-will mission with professionals to help with purifying water, Food, And alot of medicine organized by the arab council.

[davidinalameda]

7. and yet Hamas rejected the Israeli aid offer

makes you wonder why

[mike_c]

10. because the Israelis are the aggressors and the occupiers....

Their "aid offer" is in response to their own depredations against the Palestinian people. The only "aid" Israel should be offering is compliance with UN resolutions and reparations for Palestinians.

[tabasco]

12. You gotta be pretty dense if you're pondering the answer to that question. n/t

[Ignis]

29. Ah yes, why would they not like the Carrot & Stick approach?

Maybe, just maybe, because many Palestinians think, "Shoot our children with one hand, feed them with the other? No thanks."

[Ignis]

11. It was inspected by Turkish officials before leaving port.

6:12pm: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, says the flotilla was carefully inspected before departure:

I want to say to the world, to the heads of state and the governments, that these boats that left from Turkey and other countries were checked in a strict way under the framework of the rules of international navigation and were only loaded with humanitarian aid."

There was no one on board "other than civilian volunteers" he said.

-- http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/05/31/live-coverage-israels-flotilla-raid

[happygoluckytoyou]

8. until we treat israel "as an adult" they will act as a bully... sad but true... we enable them

as a jew, but not a zionist, i would hope israel could be treated as an adult nation--- responsible for their actions

[Wizard777]

9. Egypt should end their support of the blockade.

[Recursion]

14. Why should Egypt be saddled with millions of refugees? NT

[Wizard777]

17. Who said anything about refugees. They should just start letting the relief organizations in.

[David__77]

20. The ideological basis of Nassarism is Arab unity.

Egypt formally adheres to Nassarism.

[Recursion]

22. Arab unity was always bullshit

But it's been a convenient fiction for Israel.

[demoleft]

13. update: "Protests erupt across the world after Israeli raid"

In Turkey crowds took to the streets in several cities to vent fury after the storming of a Turkish passenger boat in the flotilla that left at least nine dead, most of them believed to be Turkish nationals.
...
In London more than 1,000 people -- some of whom had friends on the ships carrying aid to blockaded Gaza -- protested outside the residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Israeli embassy.
...
In Paris about 500 people joined a noisy protest near the Israeli embassy, waving Palestinian flags and shouting "Palestine will survive, Palestine will conquer".
...
More than 2,000 people in Amman protested what Jordan's Information Minister Nabil Sharif dubbed a "heinous crime".


and elsewhere, of course. afp, http://www.france24.com/en/20100531-protests-erupt-across-world-after-israeli-raid

[demoleft]

15. update: "Paris: Demonstrators tried to break into the Israeli embassy"

"During a violent anti-Israel demonstration in Paris on Monday, demonstrators tried to break into the Israeli embassy.

The demonstration was in protest at the killing of nine pro-Gaza activists during the storming of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara early on Monday morning.

About 1200 people took part in the noisy demonstration against Israel, and threw stones at police who cordoned off the embassy."

source: jerusalem post, http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=177057

[demoleft]

16. update: "UN: Flotilla journalist's equipment was confiscated"

"Oscar Fernandez-Tarango, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs told the UN Security Council on Monday that after the storming of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara and the other five flotilla ships, the journalists on board had their recording and transmission equipment confiscated."

source: jerusalem post, http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=177055

[dipsydoodle]

18. Well fortunately

the videos and twitters came out using mobile 'phones whatever. That's how the news agencies got stuff like this on AlJazeera which they then broadcast : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFEBbDkyrqQ

[demoleft]

19. update: the titles of the syrian arab news agency (SANA)

http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/index.htm

"martyrs" is the recurring word.
and not a good omen.

[Pavulon]

21. Looks like the "peace pipe" was used by the crew. This justifies deadly force

video pretty much settles it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo

[quakerboy]

23. Only for you

This video is ambiguous in my mind. What came before it?

On its own, it does not portray what I would hope to see from Aide workers. However, it far from justifies use of deadly force, on several levels. First and foremost, there was no reason for the soldiers to be there in the first place. But, even if you accept the tenuous "necessity" of their presence, the reports indicate these are Israeli special forces, supposedly the elite. You are telling me their only way to deal with the menace of a ship of food stuffs and medicine, and angry people with deck chairs is to Kill people?

No matter which way you slice it, Israel Fucked this one up. Whether the aid workers were all sunshine and rainbows is irrelevant to that fact. All that remains is to see which way the cards fall.

It sure looks like the US will back our horse and end up taking all the heat. Israel will walk away scot free for as long as they have a protector, any chance of peace in the area will be pushed off further, and world stability will take another major hit. As, likely, will our efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and our hopes of keeping Iran Nuke Free, and the chances of another major terrorism event in the US will rise again.

[JoeyT]

24. It was settled long before the pipe came into play.

It was settled when Israel engaged in piracy.

It's always good to know someone will defend ANYTHING. Unwarranted slaughter of peace activists is just dandy for some people, I guess.

[tkmorris]

26. Those soldiers had no business being on that ship

They boarded a ship on the high seas with no cause whatsoever. They acted as pirates and you think those who defended the ship are somehow at fault? You disgust me sir. You are an example of that most despicable type of human being: the kind who picks a side before beginning to think and is fundamentally unable to process further information as it relates to their chosen belief. You simply are not capable of seeing Israel as wrong, and the fact that people such as you exist saddens me. People such as you ensure that cooler heads cannot prevail, as they have not for over 50 years where Israel is concerned. More death will occur, and it is on the head of such as you that it does.

I implore you. Set your bias aside and THINK.

[depakid]

27. Settles absolutely nothing- other than the fact that some people will rationalize anything

Tell you something else, next time Israel gets hit, there'll be that much less sympathy in the world for them.

[Ignis]

30. You made your conclusion before evidence was available.

But it takes a certain degree of maturity to be able to recognize and subdue one's own prejudices, so hopes weren't high.

[demoleft]

28. update, tuesday june 1st: UN statement is a compromise between US and Turkey

The UN Security Council has issued a statement calling for an impartial inquiry into Israel's raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid ships.

The statement said the investigation should be "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent".
...
The statement was the result of a compromise between Turkey and the United States, with Turkey reluctant to water down its trenchant criticism of Israel while the United States, Israel's closest ally, wanted to temper the language used, says the BBC's UN correspondent Barbara Plett in New York.

Turkey is furious at the commando raid, which targeted a Turkish ship and appeared to have killed mostly Turkish activists, our correspondent says.

bbc, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10201165.stm


same interpretation for the jerusalem post: the UN decision a compromise that weakens the arabian requests. see:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4406230&mesg_id=4406406