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They are murdering the Palestinian people: children, health workers, doctors, journalists and poets also fall under terror. On October 23 we read the news that one of the victims had been the Palestinian poet and novelist, Heba Abu Nada, at the age of 32, in the town of Khan Yunis; He had left some verses the night before, which began like this:
“The night in the city is dark,
except for the brightness of the
missiles.”
The flotilla had not yet entered Gaza’s jurisdictional waters when the ship, Mavi Marmara was boarded and shot at by the Israeli navy
Mahmud Darwish, He is one of the most recognized Palestinian poets, born in 1941 in Birwa, in Palestine under British mandate. In 1948 the city was destroyed by the Zionist army, and the family had to take refuge in Lebanon. “Let’s go out” was the poem written in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Beirut in the summer of 1982. (A fragment).
And we said:
let’s go out Leave, then, only one passage for the blood that
from us it has flowed and submerged its cannons.
Stop the flight of the planes for five minutes
and stop bombing by sea and land for another three minutes,
so that those who leave leave and those who enter arrive…
(…)
We are going to gather the members of our body in suitcases,
stop bombing for five minutes
so that the traces of former kisses can be washed from the breasts
of the elegant ones.
We must remember what happened in Lebanon, in June 1982. It happened that the Israeli army invaded southern Lebanon with the so-called operation “Peace for Galilee”, with the aim of expelling the (OLP) Palestine Liberation Organization, in which 16,000 Lebanese died. With the warm bodies of the victims and while the country was suffering a civil war, on August 23, Bashir Gemayel was elected president; Falangist and member of one of the richest families in Lebanon. President who was assassinated in September, along with 26 other people, when the Beirut Phalange headquarters was attacked. It served as an argument for the Israeli government to respond with a massacre in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila, perpetrated by the armed Lebanese phalanx, but directed by the Israeli army. It was so terrible that even the UN General Assembly had to declare the attack an “act of genocide.” Finally, it was ruled as an “irresponsibility of Ariel Sharon”, then Minister of Defense: Sharon remained unpunished and, years later, ended up becoming Prime Minister.
In the assault, nine activists were killed by Israeli soldiers and more than fifty wounded. The humanitarian aid they were carrying was embargoed
The passage of time
It was the year 2005 when the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip took place. Some resisted, but had no choice but to withdraw from an area that had already been condemned beforehand. At the end of 2008 The Israeli government carried out one of the most destructive war offensives against the Palestinian people, the operation, “Cast iron”. Faced with the constant attacks on the Palestinian people, the international reactions of the people were immediate. Civil society began an information and awareness campaign. The arduous and hopeful campaign culminated with a humanitarian aid project for the tortured people. and the creation of The Liberty Flotilla He spread his wings to bring them the message of solidarity of the people. the ship Mavi Marmara was acquired by the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Aid (İHH), a Turkish Islamic organization. Departed Anatolia on May 22, 2010 to join the rest of the flotilla (eight ships); the majority of passengers were Turkish.
The fleet, with the flagship at its head, Mavi Marmarasailed the seas bound for Gaza. But Zionism never sleeps and was lurking. The crew’s anticipation increased with every mile the ship advanced. They were already very close; Yes!!, the flotilla was very close, although in international waters. International waters are regulated by the International lawand it means that all nations have the right to circulate through them, even to use the natural resources of their waters. The Israeli surveillance patrol established contact with the flotilla for the first time on May 30 in international waters, 200 kilometers from the coast of Gaza and 64 kilometers from territorial waters. The Hebrew naval forces ordered the ships of the flotilla to follow them or they would be boarded. Shortly after, two Israeli ships positioned themselves on either side of the flotilla, while a Navy aircraft flew overhead. Mavi Marmara. The flotilla had not yet entered Gaza’s jurisdictional waters when the ship, Mavi Marmara was boarded and shot at by the Israeli navy. In the assault, nine activists were shot dead by Israeli soldiers and more than fifty were injured. The humanitarian aid they were carrying was embargoed.
There was one seriously injured, Ugur Süleyman, 51, who spent four years in a coma after being shot in the assault; died on May 23, 2014, bringing the total death toll to 10 humanitarian activists
Türkiye, through Ministry of Foreign Affairs, He described the military assault as “unacceptable,” stating that it violated “the principles of international law.” The Secretary General of the United Nations, at that time, called on the Israeli government to lift the blockade it maintained on Gaza. days later, United Nations announced that the organization itself would be in charge of distributing all of the confiscated cargo carried by the flotilla. The then president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, ordered the “immediate opening” of the Rafah crossing, (closed during most of the Israeli blockade ), to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza began after Hamas’s success in the Palestinian general elections in January 2006. The UN described the blockade as inappropriate “collective punishment.” Other international organizations also claimed that the blockade was arbitrary, especially when Israel had not published a list of what was or was not allowed to be imported. The Israeli government argued that it had to inspect the cargo for self-defense, as it could be carrying weapons for use against Israel. The Israeli navy stated that an arsenal of weapons was discovered inside the ship. The Free Gaza activists assured that they had no intention of fighting the soldiers, and that as soon as the assault began, before even setting foot on the deck of Mavi Marmarathe Israeli navy began to open fire on them, denying hospital care to two of the activists, who died on the deck of the ship. As for the accusation of carrying weapons on board the ships, it was denied.
The video that was sent by the correspondent of Al-Jazeera shows two dead and numerous wounded on board Mavi Marmara as consequences of the shots and grenades even before the commandos descended to the ship; The white flag was raised, but to no avail. The Arab-Israeli parliamentarian of the Kneet (assembly), Haneen Zoubi, who was traveling aboard the Mavi Marmarastated: “Israel wanted many deaths to terrify us and to send a message that no aid convoys should in the future try to break the siege of Gaza.”
Humanitarian activists demanded all the documentation seized by the Israeli government, but their demand was not met: ““We were detained by Army commandos who pointed their laser weapons at our faces (…), hooded us and stole all our work.” Subsequently, internationalists and other members of Spanish nationality filed a lawsuit before the Spanish justice system for the assault, for the Israeli mistreatment, and for the theft of their belongings.
Since 2013, the year in which the case was presented before the International Criminal Court, The Prosecutor’s Office of this court has refused on several occasions to investigate the case
9 people were confirmed dead by Israeli forces and dozens injured; all of them repatriated to Türkiye without identification. There was one seriously injured, Ugur Süleyman, 51, who spent four years in a coma after being shot in the assault; He died on May 23, 2014, bringing the total death toll to 10 humanitarian activists. It was finally learned that the nine dead were Turkish nationals; most of them recognized as members of the IHH group, in addition between three and six activists disappeared. There were also 10 Israeli soldiers wounded, 2 seriously. Israeli authorities declared that the flotilla was carrying weapons, but the director of Customs at the port of Antaya, in statements to the private news channel NTV, described Israeli claims about the possible existence of weapons on board as false, since they were examined with devices. X-ray all the luggage of the ship’s passengers one by one Mavi Marmarabefore leaving Türkiye. The Spanish pacifist Manuel Tapial, who was also traveling on the ship Mavi Marmaraexplained that all the ships’ cargo had been reviewed and certified by independent international organizations precisely because they knew that Israel would use the excuse of aid to detain them. The news agency Al-Jazeera published photos of the cargo aboard the Mavi Marmara: toys, books, school notebooks, wheelchairs and medicines.
The initial people who participated in the flotilla, in May 2010, were 480, later this rose to 682; There were 42 countries that participated in the humanitarian action. Reporters Without Borders stated that among the passengers were more than sixty journalists from various countries.
Since 2013, the year in which the case was presented before the International Criminal Court, The Prosecutor’s Office of this court has refused on several occasions to investigate the case, despite finding indications that the attack constituted a war crime. The case was also presented before Spanish courts, at that time competent to prosecute crimes under international law thanks to the “principle of universal jurisdiction”, a principle that underwent an express reform in 2014 causing the filing of several cases, that of the Flotilla among them. The case of Mavi Marmara It is appealed in several instances.
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