The United Nations’ Human Rights Council concluded Wednesday that Israeli forces committed serious violations of international law when they conducted a mid-sea interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla in an incident that left nine people dead.

“The fact-finding mission concluded that a series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces,” said the 56-page report.

The report described the circumstances of the deaths of “at least six of the passengers” as being “consistent with … an arbitrary and summary execution.”

UN panel accuses Israel of war crimes for ‘unlawful’ assault on Gaza flotilla, report the Guardian.

Complete list of 9 dead activists, and who are still missing. Names of activists who joined the freedom flotilla from various countries including USA, Indonesia and ueropean countries.

Al Jazeera reports

Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country’s siege on Gaza.

Up to 16 people were killed and dozens injured when troops stormed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, the Israeli Army Radio said.

The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast.

Footage from the flotilla’s lead vessel, the Mavi Marmara, showed armed Israeli soldiers boarding the ship and helicopters flying overhead.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, on board the Mavi Marmara, said Israeli troops had used live ammunition during the operation.

Juan Cole has received a letter on this matter from a peace activist on the boat

‘ (Cyprus, May 31, 2010) At 11:00 pm [on Sunday] Cyprus time and in international waters off the coast of Israel, the boats were contacted by the Israeli navy. “Who are you and where are you going?” Our reply was that we were part of a flotilla and we were going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies.

On the radar, the boats could see three Israeli war ships shadowing us, and 15 minutes later, a silent aircraft hovered over the flotilla. One of our Hebrew speakers had found Israel’s strategy and posted it to us. It stated, “You will be boarded by highly trained, very efficient and very SILENT commandos. They will use silent inflatable boats to get to our boats and both try to board our boats directly from the inflatables and by dropping divers into the water to climb onto the boats,” so people were preparing for them to come up and over the sides of the ships.

Our SPOT locator has sent out several HELP messages at www.witnessgaza.com.

Lubna Marsawa, Free Gaza’s organizer on the Turkish passenger boat said in outrage, “Very few times in history has a flotilla delivering humanitarian goods been welcomed by military war ships.”

This is a call to the world from the people on the boats. “We are a civilian people doing what our governments have refused to do, challenge Israel’s right to collectively punish 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza by blockading their right to their own sea. This flotilla is bringing construction and educational supplies the people of Gaza and are being met by Israeli warships.”

Contact: Huwaida Arraf on board the Challenger 0088 216 5207 2093 Ewa Jasciewica on board the Challenger 0088 163 184 7926 Greta Berlin 00 357 99 18 72 75 Mary Hughes 00 357 96 38 38 09 ‘

Israel Act of terrorism

A commenter in Huffington Post said that what Israel did contravene International law and subject to be the act of terrorism:

israel has committed an act of terrorism..which is defined as the use of violence and intimidation for political ends…The need to kill unarmed humanitaria activists is to send a clear message to anyone else who plans to send aid to Gaza…

make no mistake about it…their plan was to make sure this avenue is closed fo…r good. Their task is now to spin this incident, so that the victims are made to seem the authors of their own fate

Another commenter equals Israel to the era of South Africa’s Apartheid:

As an African American whose parents walked w/MLK – I say to the State of Israel – thug tactics (as in South Africa) and terror don’t work forever. The pendulum will swing. If not tomorrow – then sometime in the near future when the entire world has had enough. We simply do NOT share your belief in your own (ethnic, religious) superiority. Terrorism and thuggish conduct will have CONSEQUENCES.

And of course, the Israeli diamond cartel just LOVED South Africa’s apartheid State. American gentiles – WE are no different to these thugs and neither are the Palestinians. We should NOT be financially subsidizing the State of Israel at all. Period.

Israel comdemns the United Nations Human Rights Council’s approval of the Goldstone Report which accuses Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas of war crimes during the Gaza conflict in January.

Israel says the resolution is biased and one-sided, and the charges of war crimes are outrageous.

“This diktat is phrased in very extreme terms that try to impose rules that will make it impossible for any country to defend themselves against terror,” said Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor.

… the Charter of the Likud Party. With Netanyahu and his right-wing party ready to take over, it is only fair to find out a bit more about them.

In the “Peace and Security” chapter of the Likud Party platform, a recent document (1999) it says initially that:

“Peace is a primary objective of the State of Israel. The Likud will strengthen the existing peace agreements with the Arab states and strive to achieve peace agreements with all of Israel’s neighbors with the aim of reaching a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

But then it says about settlements:

“The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.”

Therefore annihilating the slightest chance of a two-state solution.

European Union foreign ministers pressed Israel to allow more food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and reopen border checkpoints as the only way to ensure a lasting cease-fire after three weeks of fighting.

Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza last week, ending a 22-day land, sea and air offensive aimed at halting the shelling of Israeli cities by Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction that controls Gaza.

Israel waged war on Hamas for 22 days, but on the rubble-strewn streets of Gaza there is little question that the group retains a firm grip on power.

Hamas policemen wearing fatigues and cradling assault rifles stand guard at their usual posts, even where the buildings they have been assigned to protect no longer exist. Movement officials — some still in hiding, some back in public — coordinate cleanup efforts. And pro-Hamas preachers celebrate their “victory” in mosques overflowing with followers who say their devotion to the group has only grown after a war that cost nearly 1,300 Palestinian lives.

Important to note, that Hamas is democratically elected by Gazan people.

In cyclone-like international phone-call diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has centered the Middle East crisis on her agenda, showing her determination to challenge the tough issue.

Clinton has phoned leaders or her counterparts of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, Germany, Czech, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Mexico, spokesman Robert Wood said on Friday.

“The secretary expressed the desire to work closely with them,” Wood said, adding that most of the phone conversations were focused on the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

“The Obama administration hasn’t fully enunciated its Middle East policy. It will do so in “an appropriate time,” said the spokesman.

The Israeli military announced in a report on Thursday that it has used at least 20 white phosphorus bombs inside civilian areas during the IDF’s offensive in the Gaza Strip to try and stop rockets being fired by Hamas, from going into southern Israel. The report comes as Israeli naval gunships went silent for the first time since Israel announced their ceasefire on January 18, with Hamas following a few days later.

The report states that the military used white phosphorous bombs in civilian areas, with at least twenty phosphorous shells fired by a reserve paratroops brigade into a densely packed area of Beit Lahiya. The United Nations head quarters and a hospital in Gaza City were also bombed with white phosphorus.

A summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday will try to help Egypt turn Israel’s unilateral ceasefire in Gaza into a mutual agreement leading to Israeli withdrawal, Egypt said.