-UTUSAN MALAYSIA-
Flotila Gaza diserang Israel
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Kapal Mavi Marmara
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BAITULMAQDIS 31 Mei - Sekurang-kurangnya 19 terkorban dan 30 lagi cedera apabila komando Israel hari ini menyerang flotila yang membawa beratus-ratus aktivis pro-Palestin dalam misi bantuan kemanusiaan ke Genting Gaza, setelah mendakwa mereka menghadapi tentangan tidak disangka-sangka ketika menaiki kapal tersebut.
Sebuah badan amal Turki menyatakan bahawa kebanyakan mangsa yang maut terdiri daripada rakyat negara itu.
Kedua-dua belah pihak memberi maklumat berbeza-beza tentang apa yang berlaku dengan rejim Zionis mengarahkan semua maklumat berhubung mangsa yang cedera atau terbunuh dalam operasi kejam itu dihalang daripada disebarkan.
Berita terkini yang diperolehi menerusi khidmat pesanan ringkas daripada konvoi Life Line for Gaza (LL4G) dari Malaysia menyatakan bahawa satu daripada enam kapal dalam misi itu, Mavi Marmara telah diserang oleh helikopter tentera Israel pada pukul tujuh pagi waktu Mekah (kira-kira pukul 12 tengah hari waktu Malaysia).
Persoalan masih berlegar mengenai nasib penerima anugerah Nobel Keamanan 1976, Mairead Corrigan Maguire dari Ireland Utara dan ahli Parlimen Eropah yang juga bangsa Yahudi yang terselamat dari Holocaust, Hedy Epstein, 85.
Sementara itu, nasib wartawan Malaysia dari saluran Astro Awani, Ashwad Ismail dan Shamsul Kamal Latip masih belum diketahui, namun enam lagi rakyat Malaysia lain berada dalam keadaan selamat.
'Flotila Pembebasan' itu menuju ke Gaza dalam misi untuk menarik perhatian dunia mengenai kepungan selama tiga tahun rejim Zionis ke atas wilayah Palestin itu selepas pergerakan Hamas mengambil alih kuasa di sana.
Kumpulan kapal itu mula menuju Gaza dari perairan antarabangsa Cyprus pada pukul tiga petang (pukul lapan malam tadi waktu Malaysia), dengan harapan dapat memasuki perairan Gaza pada waktu siang,
Enam jam selepas bertolak, tiga bot peluru berpandu Israel meninggalkan bandar Haifa untuk memintas flotila itu.
"Amat menjelikkan bila mereka naik ke atas kapal dan menyerang orang awam. Kami adalah orang awam," kata jurucakap pergerakan Free Gaza, Greta Berlin yang menganjurkan flotila itu.
-THE NEW YORK TIMES-
Echoes of Raid on ‘Exodus’ Ship in 1947
Updated | 8:51 p.m. To some Israeli observers, it was impossible to miss the parallels between Monday’s killing of pro-Palestinian activists by Israel’s military in international waters, as commandos intercepted a flotilla of ships trying to break the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza, and a seminal event in the Jewish struggle for an independent homeland.
Noam Sheizaf, an Israeli journalist who is rounding up reports and commentary on the attack on his blog, “Promised Land,” points to a post in Hebrew by Rafi Man of the Israel Democracy Institute which asks: “Will This Be the Palestinian Exodus?”
Mr. Man was referring to the story of the “Exodus 1947,” a ship filled with Jewish Holocaust survivors who wanted to immigrate to Palestine in July 1947. That month, the British Navy intercepted the ship to enforce a ban on Jewish immigration to the territory, which was then under British control.
As my colleague Margalit Fox wrote in December — in an obituary for Yitzhak Ahronovitch, the captain of the Exodus 1947 — the violent way the British Navy seized that ship and deported the refugees backfired, creating global sympathy for the plight of stateless Jews. Ms. Fox explained:
The refugees had no legal authority to enter Palestine, and the British were determined to block the ship. In the battle that ensued, three Jews aboard the Exodus were killed. The ship’s passengers — more than 4,500 men, women and children — were ultimately deported to Germany.
The attack and its aftermath, which focused attention on the plight of many European Jews after the war, made headlines worldwide and helped marshal support for an Israeli state. [...]
Captain Ahronovitch was 23 when he took the helm of the Exodus. On July 11, 1947, he picked up the refugees at Sète, in southern France. On July 18, as the ship neared the coast of Palestine, the British Navy intercepted it. Captain Ahronovitch tried to break through, but two British destroyers rammed the ship.
Several hours of fighting followed, with the ship’s passengers spraying fuel oil and throwing smoke bombs, life rafts and whatever else came to hand, down on the British sailors trying to board, The Times reported at the time. Soon the British opened fire. Two immigrants and a crewman on the Exodus were killed; scores more were wounded, many seriously. The ship was towed to Haifa, and from there its passengers were deported, first to France and eventually to Germany, where they were placed in camps near Lübeck.
-CHINA DAILY-
Ten dead as Israel storms aid ships, sparks outcry
JERUSALEM - Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships on Monday and more than 10 of the mostly international activists aboard were killed, provoking a diplomatic crisis and Palestinian charges of a "massacre".
The violent end to a Turkish-backed attempt to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip by six ships carrying some 600 people and 10,000 tons of supplies raised an outcry across the Middle East and far beyond.
As the navy escorted the vessels into Israel's port of Ashdod, accounts remained sketchy of the pre-dawn interception out in the Mediterranean, in which marines stormed aboard from dinghies and rappeled down from helicopters. Israel said "more than 10" activists died. Israeli media spoke of up to 19 dead.
The bloodshed sparked street protests and government ire in Turkey, which had supported the convoy. Ankara recalled its ambassador from Israel and Turkish President Abdullah Gul demanded that the culprits be punished.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "What Israel has committed on board the Freedom Flotilla was a massacre." He declared three days of official mourning for the dead.
Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, blamed the activists for the violence and branded them allies of Israel's Islamist enemies Hamas and al Qaeda. Had they got through, he said, they would have opened an arms smuggling route to Gaza.
There was no question of easing the blockade, he said.
In a statement, the Israeli military said that in addition to the dead, numerous activists and five soldiers were injured.
-THE PALESTINE TELEGRAPH-
Israeli Navy to storm aid "Freedom Flotilla" ships
Gaza, May 31, (Pal Telegraph – By Sameh Habeeb)A number of Israeli naval ships is approaching the “Freedom Flotilla” sea aid convoys near Gaza shores. The boats which is carrying thousands of tones of aid and food stuff sailed to Gaza from Cyprus after launching the flotilla a few days ago.
Tweeting from the sear, Freegaza is saying that signals are going up and down. Israel is doing its best to block the satellite.
According to Lubna Masarwa, member of Freegaza Movement on board of one of the ships. The Israeli army has sent 2 ships and started to issue threats against the civilians on these boats.
Maarwa said, “ they contacted the ship asking who we are. They are getting closer to the ship. We can see them, 3 boats are coming not we are still 78 mile away from Israeli waters.”
More than 750 international peace activists are aiming at arriving to within Monday by sea to the besieged Gaza Strip. The boats carry more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid and building materials are loaded on these boats.
Hundred housing units are onboard and more than 500 wheelchairs for handicap children as well.
Trigger-happy Israeli soldiers gear up for another offensive in waters off the Gaza coast. Below, the video grab of the sequence of Monday’s raid. (Agencies)
Israeli attack on aid flotilla leaves 10 dead; world condemns act of piracy and terrorism
JERUSALEM: Israeli marines stormed aid ships bound for Gaza on Monday and at least 10 rights activists were killed, triggering a diplomatic crisis and an emergency session of the UN Security Council.
European nations, as well as the United Nations and Turkey, voiced shock and outrage at the bloody end to the international campaigners' bid to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Navy stopped six ships ferrying 700 people and 10,000 tons of supplies toward the Palestinian enclave, but the unprecedented raid on ships in international waters and the massacre of unarmed civilians left Israel isolated and condemned.
As the captured foreign vessels were escorted into Israel's port of Ashdod, accounts were sketchy of the pre-dawn operation, some 120 km out in the Mediterranean. Black-clad commandos can be seen rappelling down from helicopters then pointing assault rifles, in some of the dramatic footage. Israel says the troops returned fire after they were attacked with live rounds, knives and clubs, but the organizers of the Gaza blockade busting bid insist the soldiers started shooting the moment they hit the deck.
"They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep," the Free Gaza Movement said.
Only selective footage of the confrontation has been broadcast as communications with the six ships participating in the flotilla appeared to have been scrambled during the operation.
Three choppers and several commando boats approached the flotilla at about 4 a.m. An Al Jazeera correspondent on board the Turkish ship "Mavi Marmara" said the Israeli soldiers continued shooting even though a white flag of surrender had been raised.
He said hundreds of Israeli troops attacked the ships and that the captain was among those wounded.
Indications are that most, if not all of those killed were aboard the Marmara, which carried the majority of the 700 activists who hoped to make their way toward the Gaza Strip.
