May, 31 2010, 02:42pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Israel Attacks on Aid Ships Called Aggression
WASHINGTON
RICHARD FALK
Falk
is professor of international law emeritus, Princeton University and
Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territories for the United
Nations Human Rights Council. He said today: "The Israeli naval and
helicopter lethal attack on the Freedom Flotilla bringing needed
humanitarian relief to the civilian population of Gaza is a shocking
crime against humanity. Some of the facts are contested, but an Israeli
military attack on the high seas is an act of aggression, and those on
board the ships had a legal right to act in self-defense.
"In any event, Israel's use of force was grossly disproportionate and
excessive given the circumstances, and should be investigated and those
responsible held criminally accountable. This incident should serve as
a wake-up call for a complicit international community. There are three
political imperatives that need to emerge with a sense of urgency:
condemnation of the Israeli attack and an accompanying demand for the
immediate end of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, appropriately
by a decision in the UN Security Council; an authoritative launching of
an investigation of war crimes allegations against Israel by the
International Criminal Court; the widest possible endorsement and
strengthening of the already growing worldwide boycott, divestment, and
sanctions campaign directed at Israel's occupation policies in
Palestinian Territories."
ADAM SHAPIRO
Shapiro
is on the board of the Free Gaza Movement. He said today: "CNN is
looping footage of mayhem on one of the ships, but is not giving the
context that the Israelis had killed someone already at that point. The
ship was in international waters, there was no plausible rationale to
take it over by the Israelis. The ships were not going to Israel, they
were going to Gaza, they had no plans to enter Israeli waters. All this
could have been avoided if Israel had let the ships deliver their aid
to Gaza."
GRETA BERLIN
RAMZI KYSIA
Berlin and Kysia are organizers with the Free Gaza Movement.
More Information
More Information
AMJAD SHAWA, [in Gaza]
Shawa is Coordinator of PNGO, the Palestinian NGO Network.
For video from various outlets:
https://www.therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&i...
Live coverage on Al Jazeera English: https://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english
Background: Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said today
that it was an "armada of hate and violence" that was engaging in
"outrageous provocation" and the "organizers are well known for their
ties to global terror," adding that "Israel did everything to avoid
this outcome."
Those aboard the ships include parliamentarians from various countries
and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, Nazi Holocaust survivor Hedy
Epstein, former U.S. diplomats Amb. Edward Peck and Colonel Ann Wright
and USS Liberty veteran and survivor Joe Meadors.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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While advocates of peace and a multipolar world order welcomed Friday's China-brokered agreement reestablishing diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, U.S. press, pundits, and politicians expressed what one observer called "imperial anxieties" over the deal and growing Chinese influence in a region dominated by the United States for decades.
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Panikoff wrote in an Atlantic Council analysis:
We may now be seeing the emergence of China's political role in the region and it should be a warning to U.S. policymakers: Leave the Middle East and abandon ties with sometimes frustrating, even barbarous, but long-standing allies, and you'll simply be leaving a vacuum for China to fill. And make no mistake, a China-dominated Middle East would fundamentally undermine U.S. commercial, energy, and national security.
Other observers also worried about China's rising power in the Middle East and beyond.
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According to Pierson:
The vision Mr. Xi has laid out is one that wrests power from Washington in favor of multilateralism and so-called noninterference, a word that China uses to argue that nations should not meddle in each other's internal affairs, by criticizing human rights abuses, for example.
The Saudi-Iran agreement reflects this vision. China's engagement in the region has for years been rooted in delivering mutual economic benefits and shunning Western ideals of liberalism that have complicated Washington’s ability to expand its presence in the Gulf.
Pierson noted Xi's Global Security Initiative, which seeks to promote "peaceful coexistence" in a multipolar world that eschews "unilateralism, bloc confrontation, and hegemonism" like U.S. invasions and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"Some analysts say the initiative is essentially a bid to advance Chinese interests by displacing Washington as the world's policeman," wrote Pierson. "The plan calls for respect of countries' 'indivisible security,' a Soviet term used to argue against U.S.-led alliances on China's periphery."
The U.S. has attacked, invaded, or occupied more than 20 countries since 1950. During that same period, China has invaded two countries—India and Vietnam.
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"The Americans, who have been the central actors in the Middle East for the past three-quarters of a century, almost always the ones in the room where it happened, now find themselves on the sidelines during a moment of significant change," fretted Baker. "The Chinese, who for years played only a secondary role in the region, have suddenly transformed themselves into the new power player."
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