The attack by Israeli commandos on a convoy bringing aid to the Gaza Strip has prompted angry protests in the Netherlands. Police and demonstrators came to blows on Monday evening in front of the Israeli embassy in The Hague, where around 800 people gathered in protest. The UN Security Council is demanding an investigation into Israel’s military operation.
The UN Security Council is demanding that Israel release the civilians taken into custody following the attack on a convoy of ships bringing aid supplies to the people of the Gaza Strip. The Council session lasted for over ten hours due to the deeply divided opinions of its 15 members. The Israeli representative doggedly maintained that the people aboard the convoy were not peace activists.
"What kind of peace activists use knives, clubs, fire from weapons stolen from soldiers, and other weapons to attack soldiers who board the ship in accordance with international law?" said Israel's UN envoy Daniel Carmon.
The Security Council is demanding an independent investigation into the military operation. It is also calling for the return of the confiscated vessels. The UN Human Rights Council is holding an emergency session on the incident today.
Demonstration
A demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands on Monday evening ended in unrest. One of the most prominent protestors at the demonstration in The Hague was Gretta Duisenberg, the widow of a former president of the European Central Bank.
Ms Duisenberg chairs the pro-Palestinian association Stop de Bezetting [Stop the Occupation] and serves on the board of the Free Gaza Movement. She was in the front line of the demonstration and spoke to members of the riot police, who intervened when the demonstrators got too close to the embassy.
A demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands on Monday evening ended in unrest. One of the most prominent protestors at the demonstration in The Hague was Gretta Duisenberg, the widow of a former president of the European Central Bank.
Ms Duisenberg chairs the pro-Palestinian association Stop de Bezetting [Stop the Occupation] and serves on the board of the Free Gaza Movement. She was in the front line of the demonstration and spoke to members of the riot police, who intervened when the demonstrators got too close to the embassy.
"I was hit very hard with a shield – not with a truncheon – and I fell to the ground. And then I was kicked. The way I see it, the spineless attitude taken by our foreign minister Maxime Verhagen is affecting the conduct of the riot police.”
Gretta Duisenberg says she does not plan to lodge a complaint.
Broad support
Palestinians and Turks took part in the protest in The Hague, but so too did representatives of the Jewish organisation Een Ander Joods Geluid [An Alternative Jewish Voice]. Even before the protest began, Dutch politicians were quick to condemn the Israeli attack. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he was shocked by the events. He has asked the Israeli ambassador for clarification.
Palestinians and Turks took part in the protest in The Hague, but so too did representatives of the Jewish organisation Een Ander Joods Geluid [An Alternative Jewish Voice]. Even before the protest began, Dutch politicians were quick to condemn the Israeli attack. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he was shocked by the events. He has asked the Israeli ambassador for clarification.
Casualties
Nine people died in the attack on the aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip and over 40 people were injured. Turkey is sending three aircraft to collect the Turkish casualties, who are currently being treated in hospitals in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Nine people died in the attack on the aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip and over 40 people were injured. Turkey is sending three aircraft to collect the Turkish casualties, who are currently being treated in hospitals in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
In total, almost 500 people were taken into custody. Israeli media report that 48 foreign activists will be expelled today. Two Dutch nationals were aboard the convoy at the time of the attack. They are not among the casualties and are currently behind bars in Israel awaiting questioning.
Link - Report of the attack on the convoy by Israel’s Foreign Ministry
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Hello all!!
how can be possible that UN Security council said that they took civilians in custody?? if everybody saw on all the news that they were taken priosioners, some of them has been torture, some others very bad injures..!! They are pirates killers and the entire world should condem this attack.. What is happening in EUROPE?? will they will awake?? On the international watters you cant come and kill people just for security reasons.
The worst thing we had seen...!! Please Stop this people. Let's all help Palestine People.
During its short 62 years history Israel had fought 8 wars against its Arab neighbors. It had developed nuclear weapons and did not sign the NPT. It had used chemical and nuclear (DU) weapons against civilians. It violated many UN resolutions. It committed war crimes and many massacres against civilians. It had refused all Arab peaceful gestures and keeps threatening to attack its neighbors. It occupation and destruction of religious sites, especially Islamic, might provoke religious war in the region. Israel is the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East.
NOW they are KILLING TURKISH CIVILIAN and TURKEY is FIRST COUNTY RECOGNIZE the state of ISRAEL and If US ever condemns ISRAEL violence act then next will be US citizens.
What a TERRORIST state has US and British created to the world.
During its short 62 years history Israel had fought 8 wars against its Arab neighbors. It had developed nuclear weapons and did not sign the NPT. It had used chemical and nuclear (DU) weapons against civilians. It violated many UN resolutions. It committed war crimes and many massacres against civilians. It had refused all Arab peaceful gestures and keeps threatening to attack its neighbors. It occupation and destruction of religious sites, especially Islamic, might provoke religious war in the region. Israel is the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East.
NOW they are KILLING TURKISH CIVILIAN and TURKEY is FIRST COUNTY RECOGNIZE the state of ISRAEL and If US ever condemns ISRAEL violence act then next will be US citizens.
What a TERRORIST state has US and British created to the world.
Come now, Vera, this is nowhere near the tactics employed by the Nazis or any other totalitarian regime. The Israeli navy gave fair warning for the boats to stop and turn course as they would not be allowed into the waters around Gaza. It was the Israelis who were attacked and thrown overboard from the ship. They could have easily killed many people but did not. The blockade right or wrong is the standing policy and all involved knew it. This was simply an exercise to bring about more propaganda and controversy to the situation and had nothing to do with providing humanmitarian aid. If anything, the activists sought to firm the Israeli stance on the blockade rather than help those in Gaza.
Of course the isreali STORM TROOPERS are not like the NAZIS. Their uniforms are different.
I do believe that one of the boundries of the GAZA strip is the Mediteranian Sea. I suppose under ameriKKKan law the people in Gaza do not have the right to have their 3 mile, or 12 mile territorial waters like most every body else in the **free** world. And these are the waters in which the isreali STORM TROOPERS attacked the un-armed ships and killed 9+ un-armed civilians. Sounds very SOMALI like claims.
**It was the Isrealis who were attacked**...........
Now let's examine a hypothetical situation, one that can be understood by ameriKKkans.
One, two, or three THUGS break into some ameriKKKan house to do evil things. The tenent or owner of this hypothetical house using any thing close by as a weapon which is not as powerful as the weapons used by the THUGS fights them. Now by netanyahoos and your definition of defending them selves
the THUGS insist that the home owner or tenent had no right to do what he did to protect his home and
family and must be condemned for this affrontary, because the THUGS were **just** defending them selves. Try that one in ameriKKKa and listen to the laughter. Do you live in a country where the THUGS
have more rights than the people being attacked??
You know the majority of the people protesting at the Hague are the same who were cheering when Theo Van Gogh was murdered, right? Can you see the larger picture here?
Tactics very much reminiscent of the Nazis!
Irish activist Caoimhe Butterly, who was on the flotilla and now in an Israeli prison, recorded this message to YouTube before boarding the boat.
"If you are watching this, this probably means that the flotilla has been either been attacked or stopped at sea,' she begins."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQfsV0lS_c&feature=player_embedded
She is absolutely right. People have no rights if these rights interfere with the greed and evil of ameriKKKa and its colonies!
Remember the rights of the non-ameriKKKans in Ahbu Graib, Guantanamo and My Lai?
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