Shame and Woe to the UN for producing an Immoral, Dubious and Unscrupulous Report

As expected of the UN, it appoints severely biased panellists, in turn vindicates and exonerates the bigger issue of criminality on the high seas and tries to justify the inhumane and barbaric blockade of 1.5 million people of deprived and stricken Gaza. This two man panel Palmer and Uribe (oh! so few choices amongst honourable men, none a Goldstone among them) themselves should be indicted for supporting crime against humanity as well as the UN secretary general for the idiosyncrasy or malicious expediency to appoint them.

   

The 105 page report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla Incident is a non event, based on fallacies, a whitewash, a shame on the UN and if it is left standing is an indictment of the apathy of all of its pliant members, Arab, Muslim and democratic countries alike and are all to be held accountable.

Everyone knows that Palmer, the head of this panel, is very close to Israel, while Uribe was a prime buyer of Israeli-made weapons during his time in office as Colombian president and was awarded the “Light unto the Nations” prize by the American Jewish Committee and the “Presidential Gold Medallion for Humanitarianism” from B’nai Brith.  Uribe undertakes his role of impartial investigator weighed down by his Zionist partiality and connections.

The appointments despite such a great conflict of interest, is of course a sign of either ineptitude or bad intentions on the part of the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon.

The panel exerted great efforts to justify Israel’s brutal Gaza blockade, which the UN Human Rights Council and the International Red Crescent Committee found illegal and illegitimate. The two men panel shamelessly declared the Israel’s Gaza blockade to be legitimate, thereby contradicting its own propositions. In this legally and morally problematic report, the Palmer panel devoted its energy and efforts to justifying the naval blockade Israel is illegally imposing on another country, instead of reporting the act of banditry and massacre Israel had committed in international waters 72 miles off its coast.

The passengers were unarmed. But still the Israeli soldiers chose to shoot them “multiple times, including in the back or at close range”. This act of aggression resulting in the loss of innocent lives on the Mavi Marmara had not, according to the report, been “adequately accounted for” by Israel.

It is not a report intended to investigate the Israeli army’s piracy and the Mavi Marmara bloodbath, but a piece of immoral, unscrupulous and extremely biased material for propagandizing the legitimacy of the Gaza blockade. For this reason, as accurately noted by Turkish President Abdullah Gül, this report is legally void and invalid for Turkey. Turkey’s UN envoy rejected the report’s claim that the blockade was justified, pointing out that freedom of navigation on the high seas was part of international law, and a blockade required a broader convergence of views.

In the final analysis, this report prepared by a panel set up by the UN, an international organization which was originally established to support international peace and stability and protect the validity of international legal norms, fails to improve bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel or reinforce regional peace and stability, but has triggered a serious process of crisis and tension. Turkey has made its clearest stand and action on the principle of justice and humanity. Will Egypt which also recently suffered deaths inside its own borders from the hands of the Israeli killing machine follow suit to uphold it dignity?

 

All I want is to be treated as a human being with dignity

After 4 years of pain and hardship, Egypt reopens its border with Gaza

All they ever wanted was to be set free. It took the downfall of Mubarak and his dictatorship in Egypt before Gaza could get closer to be free once again. Gaza had to go through 4 years of siege and blockade. If that was not enough Israel bombarded its dense population and showered them with white phosphorus rain. As recorded in a song, Israel went manic and cast their mission in molten lead to be poured mercilessly onto helpless Palestinians as they have done often and ever again. Israel destroyed mosques, universities, schools and homes but to no avail. Palestinians are forever defiant.

It has been reported Egypt lifted a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, greatly easing travel restrictions on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian territory . There maybe many various reasons for this but when the UN's Ban Ki Moon went on record to discourage and speak against international aid flotillas intended to break the Gaza siege, it shows that the powers that be are feeling the pressure of conspiring and colluding in the most inhumane act in the history of he modern world. May they be condemned forever for their crimes against humanity!

"I was so happy to hear that the Egyptian border is opening so I can finally travel for treatment," said Mohammad Zoarob, a 66-year-old suffering from chronic kidney disease.

The blockade, which has fueled a prolonged economic crisis in Gaza, is deeply unpopular among Arabs and the free world, and Egypt's caretaker leaders had promised to end it since the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007.

"All we need is to travel like humans, be treated with dignity and feel like any other citizens of the world who can travel in and out freely," said Rami Arafat, 52, who hoped to catch a flight out of Cairo on Sunday to attend his daughter's wedding in Algeria.

Nearby, 28-year-old Khaled Halaweh said he was headed to Egypt to study for a master's degree in engineering at Alexandria University.

"The closure did not affect only the travel of passengers or the flowing of goods. Our brains and our thoughts were under blockade," said Halaweh, who said he hadn't been out of Gaza for seven years.

(partly sourced from AP)

The Palestine Papers 3: PA Colluding to Strangle Gaza

Qurei to Israel: "Occupy the crossing"

On January 23, 2008, masked gunmen demolished the steel wall alongside the Philadelphi route in Rafah and hundreds of thousands Gazans entered Egypt to buy food and supplies. Less than two weeks later, in a meeting in West Jerusalem, Ahmed Qurei, the former Palestinian Authority prime minister, asked Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister, if Israel could re-occupy the Philadephi corridor to seal the border and cut off supplies to Hamas.

Livni: We’ll not give legitimacy to Hamas and we’ll stop the smuggling of money and arms from Egypt. Did the opening of the borders appear to be a victory of Hamas?”

Qurei: Yes, they appeared to have ended the siege.

Livni: The Egyptians don’t do enough, and we’re sure they can do much more.

Qurei: What can you do about the Philadelphi Crossing?

Livni: We’re not there.

Qurei: You’ve re-occupied the West Bank, and you can occupy the crossing if you want.

Livni: We can re-occupy the Gaza Strip. What is your position?

Qurei to Israel: "Occupy the crossing"

Later that month, during another meeting on the issue of security, Livni seemed willing to retake control of the corridor after Israel and the PA would reach a peace agreement.

Livni: Regarding Philadelphi, whether or not it was a mistake to leave it. If indeed it was a mistake, since Egypt is not effective like Jordan, can our agreement provide for Israeli presence in Philadelphi?

Qurei: Palestine will be independent but can co-ordinate. Agreement should reflect that with a commitment to security. Therefore regarding parameters I believe security is part of regional vision. Other neighbours don't have a problem -- regional security is interconnected.

Even before the takeover in 2007, the PA was desperately trying to keep control over the Gaza Strip by pleading for more weapons from the US, as is reflected in a meeting between Saeb Erekat, the chief PA negotiator, and Keith Dayton, the then-US security co-ordinator for Israel and the PA in May 2006:

Erekat: The PG [Presidential Guard] is in dire need of guns and ammunition. Particularly with the situation in Gaza, this issue is critical. [Keith Dayton replied that he will raise this point with Israelis particularly in meeting with Ephraim, (Israeli deputy defence minister) tomorrow]. "We need to re-establish security liaison with Israel. This is the best way to maintain security."

After the Hamas takeover in 2007, the fighting capabilities of Hamas and other resistance forces in the West Bank were crushed. The PA then started to crack down on the civilian infrastructure of the movement, as is shown in a meeting between Yoav Mordechai, the the head of the Civil Administration in the Occupied Territories, and Hazem Atallah, the PA police chief in the West Bank, in May 2008 in Tel Aviv.

In one of the most candid examples of the PA’s bid to tighten the noose around the Gaza Strip in order to punish Hamas, Erekat shows his disagreements with Israel and Egypt on their Gaza policy. In a meeting with George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy in October 2009, Erekat appears frustrated that not enough was being done to maintain the siege on Gaza:

Erekat: Senator, I am just briefing you on my meetings with the Israelis. I am not giving you a message. They were good meetings. I told Amos Gilad [Israel’s chief negotiator]: you are Egypt’s man. You know the Egyptians. 11km! [Referring to the length of the border with Gaza]. What’s going on with you and the US, the $23 million [given by the US Agency for International Development to prevent tunnels] and ditches - its business as usual in the tunnels - the Hamas economy...Amos Gilad started laughing!

Mitchell: What did he say?

Erekat: They don’t want to say anything negative about Egypt. It’s their strategic relation with them. But they make me pay the price. I am no longer there. I am not alone responsible for the coup d’etat in Gaza

(al Jazeera & Guardian sources)

Support Viva Palestina

Yesterday, we pledged to sponsor a group on route to a gathering in KL in conjunction with the Malaysian convoy for Viva Palestina II, the second brave humanitarian wave to break the brutal siege of Gaza. Will they make it? Knowing the Egyptian authorities can be vindictive and treacherous, we can only pray. We shared our grim feelings and heard a brief tale of the harrowing and bewildering events of the first convoy. It was amazing that it got through even though the multinational team had to endure being pelted by stones and tear-gassed. Egyptian riot police even battled charged them. The activists and aid workers stood their ground and never relented nor did they fight back even under severe provocation. Many were bloodied even the old and the senior citizens among them. They did manage to get through to bring the aid into Gaza and they made their point although it came at a price. They had come from all walks of life to bring a ray of hope to the forgotten Palestinians. We salute them.

Many activists have tried to enter Gaza to bring help and aid but it is such an uphill struggle against unfriendly Egyptian bureaucrats and harsh border guards. If you brought a medical team, sometimes the medicine gets through but the medical doctors and personnel are turned away and vice versa. If you insist then you are threatened or even arrested. One unfortunate medical team leader was harshly treated.

When a friendly ambassador tried to intervene and help, the Interior Minister no less told him off simply that it was an Arab matter and the ambassador did not understand Arab issues. Actually, there is no humane reason to obstruct aid and aid workers from entering Gaza. But for some intriguing and ghastly purpose, Palestinians are being made to suffer openly in the eyes of the world. The Arab regimes are directly and categorically complicit and responsible, and in this case the Egyptian government is the key culprit by perpetuating and collaborating in the inhuman siege and the punishing sanctions imposed upon Gaza. That is as contemptuously Arabian as you can get!

Everyone knows about the steel walls being built sophisticatedly to block the smuggling tunnels, the lifeline of Gazan survival. Underground walls are funded and constructed with US assistance. How could such feats of engineering be so ruthless. Now, if the Egyptians do not want to help the Palestinians then they should not be in the way and be so cruel as to add to the suffering and persistently frustrate relief efforts. But that is the way it is when corruption has made its way into the deepest crevices of authorities and people in power. They only answer the master's call and we all know who their masters are in Tel Aviv and Washington. The latest fatal gassing of Gaza tunnel workers is an example of the extreme measures they take to prolong human suffering. Murder is just an option for corrupt people.

At the same time, the West Bank is being flooded with goods and amenities, semblance of relative peace and comfort. It is deliberately being spruced up to make clear who among the Palestinians are condemned. Those who do not conform shall be evicted and exiled to where else but Gaza, the biggest illegal prison on planet earth. If you are a Palestinian in the territories, you either be grateful for being in occupied West Bank or suffer in the slums of Gaza. In the meantime talk is being spun endlessly around "settlements freeze" as if it is the main issue. This blatant deception is simply an elaborate cover up and scheme to deprive and eliminate physically, economically and emotionally 1.5 million innocent Palestinians from the face of the earth. The real issue is the wanton injustice being perpetuated and perpetrated by Israel, funded and abetted by the USA, and collaborated by corrupt Arab regimes.

So back to the second Viva Palestina convoy, may your journey be safe and may you be successful. You carry the burden and the guilt of the world upon you. We know it ought to be our right and responsibility to wage war to free Gaza and save its inhabitants. It is our right since time immemorial and it is in the UN charter as the right of all nations and peoples to be free and be safe from imposed cruelty. But since everyone is powerless and paralysed by the sheer inhumanity of it all, we better do our bit to remind the world of its guilt in not freeing Gaza and to bring some relief to its people. We do this so that on the Day of Judgement, we can all be accounted with what we did to help. For the ones against us and stopping us, their accounts are not of our concern.

Let us all support Viva Palestina,

ma'a salama fi amanillah.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Abbas’s Palestinian Authority boycott Emergency Summit on Gaza in Qatar

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Mahmud Abbas boycott Doha Summit

VOA News Updated Jan.17,2009 08:57 KST

At Friday's Doha summit, Qatar and Mauritania announced they would cut political and economic ties with Israel to protest the fighting in Gaza.

The summit went ahead despite a boycott by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas ousted from Gaza, highlighting fault lines in the Arab world over the conflict.

No Success in Doha Summit; President Saleh of Yemen Fails to Attend

Written By: Hakim almasmari ( YEMEN POST STAFF ) Article Date: January 19, 2009

With death toll rising to 1,200 Palestinian people killed and another 5,400 injured, and a ceasefire announced by Israel, Arab leaders have failed to act responsibly with events and failed to hold an exceptional summit for discussing the situation in Gaza.

Major Arab countries sought to foil the exceptional summit called for the Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The two countries were blamed for the non-participation of other countries like Yemen and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazan who openly stated that he had been pressurized by some parties not to attend the summit.

Justifying the absence of Yemen from Doha, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi pointed out that Yemen is keen about the unity of Arab countries at this critical moment of the Arab world’s history.

When the Qatari Emir called for holding a summit in Doha, Yemen was among the countries that expressed readiness to attend. However, this readiness did not last long as Yemen apologized later for being unable to attend the summit.

Attended by 13 leaders and representatives of Arab countries and four Islamic leaders, the Qatari Emir expressed sorrowfulness for absence of other Arab countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt."I wish all our brothers were here today so that we can discuss the different issues on this table, irrespective of other viewpoints they might have," said Al-Thani adding, "We wish that Palestinian President was present so that he can discuss the sufferings of his people; however, he preferred not to attend."

Arab leaders meet in Doha despite boycott by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, PA

Ma’an News Date: 16 / 01 / 2009 Time: 14:50

An Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, began Friday without representatives from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Hamas leadir Khaled Mash’al, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) leader Ahmad Jibril have all reportedly traveled to Doha from Damascus to attend the summit.

They will be joined by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Sudanese President Umar Al-Bashir, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Algerian President Abdel Aziz Butefleika, Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi, and high-level representatives from Mauritania, Libya, Yemen, Djibouti, the Comoros, and Somalia.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not be attending the summit. Analysts speculated that Abbas’ refusal was related to invitations issued to leaders from rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Gaza and the Ultimate Self Sacrifice

It is like an orchestration, as if on cue, after Mumbai and the further intimidation of Muslim nations comes the vicious atrocities by Israel in Gaza. What is Gaza but one of the most densely populated enclaves in the world and one of its poorest regions. Gaza has transformed from a strip of land to cater for Palestinian refugee camps to being one of its largest prisons.

Ironically, it is not surrounded in total by Israel but its western borders are closed and guarded stringently by Egypt in supine loyalty as the most subservient Arab collaborator to the Israeli cause.

The throwing of the pair of shoes at Bush is a sign of anger, frustration and desperation as well as symbolizing the impotence of the Arab world. Arab leaders are time and again proving to be cowards. They adopt treacherous positions only by playing up to their suppressed population. They use their equally pesky armies to crush their own political opposition, and dissidents. They are good at oppressing their own. Arabs in general hold themselves in utter contempt while others simply look down upon them in sheer dismissal.

Israel has attacked Gaza, blitzkrieg style, simply to wipe out any idea or inkling of a Palestinian independent state. Israel plotted at first by co-opting Fatah through its Oslo accords. It was caught off guard by Hamas’s democratic election victory. Israel again plotted to crush the Hamas in Gaza using its collaborator Dahlan with the complicity of Mahmud Abbas but it failed. It then launched a malicious siege and subjecting Gaza to a horrifying total blockade of all forms of food, medicine, fuel and aid. But Gaza and the Hamas did not collapse and the Palestinians remain defiant. Israel instigated the powerful clans but Hamas defeated them to run scurrying into Israel. The Palestinians in Gaza remained faithful to Hamas.

So they deceitfully attacked to destroy all of Hamas’s security forces and governing structure at the same time causing whatever civilian casualties without any regard for humanity. Israel simply wants to leave behind an ungovernable piece of territory through military means because even under severe economic and food shortage, Gaza enjoyed peace and security under Hamas. Israel is desperate and vehemently evil. It just cannot allow peace even under harsh living conditions.

What then is the solution, how can anyone help?

Egypt must open its borders and allow all aid, free flow of goods and supplies into Gaza through its Rafah crossing. Egypt must allow refugees to leave for safety and allow refugee camps in its side of the border thereby ensuring hinterland support for the survival of Gaza.

Richard Falk, the UN rapporteur who was evicted from Israel and all relevant UN personnel must be allowed back into Gaza through Rafah. They shall certainly be followed by the various news agencies and their train of journalists. This shall certainly stop the Israeli attacks.

International and Muslim humanitarian volunteers and aid such as the Red Cross and the Red Crescent must be allowed to reach Gaza again through Egypt.

Muslim UN, WHO, IMF and World Bank bureaucrats should go to Gaza and do assessments or hold those photo-op meetings or sessions.

Last but not least, in fact, they should be the first to go to Gaza now, are the obsequious Arab and Muslim world leaders must be there whether as working visits or to convene those Arab League, OIC or whatever necessary summits. This shall certainly put a stop to the whole massacre. From the whole picture of the Palestinian struggle, the only way to victory is a total willingness to sacrifice and that is what is lacking in the Arab and Muslim world.

Some say that when Yasser Arafat was holding up in his severely damaged HQ in Muqatta’ in Ramallah under Israeli siege, basically imprisoned for months before his death, Arafat should have came out fighting and observed the self sacrifice instead of groveling and humiliatingly appealing for help from pathetic world leaders. It certainly would have made a difference to the Palestinian cause and history but fate did not honour him in death.

The Arab leaders do know that Israel does not dare to invade after the Lebanon fiasco. But the Arab leaders are themselves perplexed as to whose side they are really on!


If all else fails, the Arab people have to rise up and remove their leaders, then lead the fight as Hezbollah has shown before.