June 2nd

Israel naval raid a folly foretold ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by David Grossman - (Opinion) June 2, 2010 - 12:00am No explanation can justify or whitewash the crime that was committed off the coast here early Monday morning, and no excuse can explain away the stupid actions of the Israeli government and the army. Israel did not send its soldiers to kill civilians in cold blood; indeed, this is the last thing it wanted. » Read more

Gaza boat passenger says Australian photographer electroshocked by Israeli soldiers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 2, 2010 - 12:00am Australian photographer Kate Geraghty was electroshocked on the arm by Israeli soldiers who stormed a flotilla of boats heading to Gaza, a fellow passenger said on Wednesday. One of the first to be released from detention center on Wednesday (AEST) was organizer with the Free Gaza Flotilla, Huwaida Arraf, a dual U.S./Israeli citizen who claimed she was aboard the U.S.-flagged vessel Challenger 1 along with Australian Fairfax journalist Paul McGeough and Geraghty. » Read more

Israel's self-inflicted wound ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times (Opinion) June 2, 2010 - 12:00am There's a lot still to be learned about what happened at 4 a.m. Monday in the waters off the Gaza Strip when Israeli commandos boarded a ship that was seeking to break the long-standing Israeli blockade. Did the commandos, who were lowered onto the boat from helicopters, immediately open fire, as claimed by organizers of the six-ship flotilla? Or did the passengers attack first with knives, clubs and, ultimately, guns, as claimed by Israeli officials? » Read more

The Shadow over Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Margaret Atwood - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am The Moment The moment when, after many years of hard work and a long voyage, you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, knowing at last how you got there, and say, I own this, is the same moment the trees unloose their soft arms from around you, the birds take back their language, the cliffs fissure and collapse, the air moves back from you like a wave and you can’t breathe. No, they whisper. You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time Climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. We never belonged to you. » Read more

Israel sees no need to apologize for raid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am Israel struck a defiant tone Tuesday over its lethal takeover of a humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, saying it had nothing to apologize for even as much of the world called for an end to its three-year blockade of the coastal Palestinian enclave. Israel's hard-line response came as organizers of the flotilla said they were sending another ship to attempt to break the longstanding siege, which began after the militant group Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. » Read more

Accounts, videos of flotilla assault continue to conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Mary Beth Sheridan, Scott Wilson - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am Under a moonlit sky, Huwaida Arraf, a graduate of American University's law school, watched from a small ship early Monday as Israeli commando boats pulled up to the Mavi Marmara, a vessel filled with about 600 activists hoping to breach an Israeli blockade of Gaza. » Read more

Israel and the Blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) June 2, 2010 - 12:00am The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions. The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday’s deadly confrontation: “A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade.” There can be no excuse for the way that Israel completely mishandled the incident. A commando raid on the lead, Turkish-flagged ship left nine activists dead and has opened Israel to a torrent of criticism. » Read more

Abbas urges world to protect Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday praised activists who took part in an aid sail to the Gaza Strip, which left nine people dead following an Israel Defense Forces raid of the ships. Abbas lauded the passengers killed in the raid and said that the act of solidarity with Gaza was "very respectable". Speaking at the Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem, the Palestinian president said that just like the sail, which was aimed at breaking the blockade imposed on the Strip, the conference was a sail aimed at breaking the economic siege on Palestine. » Read more

After Raid, Videos Carry On the Fight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Brian Stelter - June 2, 2010 - 12:00am When Israeli commandos attacked the so-called Freedom Flotilla, both sides were well armed — with video cameras — and both sides have released a blizzard of video clips as evidence that the other side was the aggressor in the conflict on Monday, which left nine activists dead. Once again, the political power of the moving picture is on display, as it was last year when a video showing the death of a young protester in Iran, Neda Agha-Soltan, became a symbol of resistance in that country. » Read more

Why Israel's narrative of the flotilla attack is failing so badly ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) June 1, 2010 - 12:00am To most of the world, this is a very simple story: elite Israeli counterterrorism commandos stormed an unarmed, civilian ship carrying aid supplies in international waters, in order to enforce a morally indefensible and politically counterproductive blockade, and as a consequence 10 civilians were killed and many others injured. The entire Israeli effort since these realities became known has been to try to complicate the picture and shift the responsibility for the bloodshed away from the military commandos who stormed the ship, or their commanders, and onto the passengers themselves. » Read more