Police interrogate Sheikh Raed Salah over role in Gaza flotilla clashes

Israeli-Arab leaders declare general strike to protest clash, call international community to investigate flotilla's interception.

By Eli Ashkenazi, Jack Khoury and Liel Kyzer

Ashdod police interrogated Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Tuesday over his role in the clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and Israeli troops following the Israel Navy raid on the Gaza aid flotilla.

	Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah.
	Photo by: Tess Scheflan

MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), who was also arrested and interrogated over her participation in the Gaza aid flotilla, was released from police custody early Tuesday.

The other members of the Arab sector who were arrested fro their participation in the flotilla - Mohammed Zeidan, the head of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee and Sheikh Hammad Abu Daabes, the head of the Southern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel - remain in police custody.

 

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee declared a general strike in Israel's Arab sector yesterday to protest the flotilla clash, an unusual step the group has tried to avoid in recent years.

 

The committee held an emergency meeting at its Nazareth offices, including the heads of all the country's Arab political groups and parties.

 

In addition to the strike, the committee also announced that protest marches and rallies would be held in Arab communities, and called on the international community to investigate the circumstances behind the flotilla's interception.

 

The Arab leadership also called on the international community to try the prime minister and the defense minister for violating international law.

 

The committee described the clash as "state-sponsored terrorism and piracy that requires those responsible to be tried."

 

After the meeting, a procession marched through Nazareth. Hundreds of participants hoisted Palestinian and black flags, and called for the blockade on the Gaza Strip to be lifted.

Other processions and demonstrations took place yesterday in Sakhnin, Haifa, Acre, Tamra, Shfaram, Arabeh, Tira and Taibeh.

 

In Umm al-Fahm, dozens of youths rallied in the city square, near the entrance to the highway through Wadi Ara. A large police deployment came, and the protesters threw stones at the officers. Several protesters were arrested for throwing stones.

 

Police had informed city residents that protests would be allowed, but that they would not allow disturbances including blocking roads or damaging government offices.

The Arab Israeli protests began after rumors began Monday morning that the head of the Northern Wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, may have been injured. He was on the flagship of the flotilla.

 

Palestinian and Israeli Arab media outlets reported that the sheikh had been killed, and Islamic Movement members and Umm al-Fahm residents began making their way to his home, even though there had been no confirmation of the news.

 

Efforts to communicate with the delegation members failed throughout the day, increasing tension.

 

By noon, there were reports that Sheikh Salah had been seriously injured and had been taken to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. Family members rushed to hospital and the sheikh's brother was taken into the operating room, where he acknowledged that the man being treated was not his brother.

 

However, this did not assuage the Islamic Movement and the group's deputy, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, called on the security services to allow communication with Salah.

"We will not believe anyone until we have personally spoken with the sheikh, and Israel is fully responsible for his safety," Khatib said.

 

When the ship Salah was on was finally brought into Ashdod port, MK Zuabi announced all members of the group's delegation were safe, including Salah. MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad ) confirmed the report.

 

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, filed a petition with the Supreme Court, asking it to order the security services to inform the families of the people who had been killed or detained. The petition was backed by other groups, including Physicians for Human Rights.

 

Meanwhile, due to concern that the news would spark riots in the Israeli Arab sector, as well as among right-wing and left-wing extremists, the police raised its alert to Level C.

Police are preparing for potential disturbances in East Jerusalem, in the Old City and in nearby Arab villages.

 

However, no restrictions have been imposed on entry into the Temple Mount complex.

 

"We will do everything necessary to keep the peace, but the security forces and law enforcement are ready for any situation," said Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

There were sporadic disturbances in Jerusalem yesterday. Four youths were arrested after they called on East Jerusalem shop owners to shut their shops to protest the flotilla clash.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-interrogate-sheikh-raed-salah-over-role-in-gaza-flotilla-clashes-1.293407?localLinksEnabled=false

Armed Activists Attacked Our Troops, Says Israel Amid World Outrage

Armed Activists Attacked Our Troops, Says Israel Amid World Outrage
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstration outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday, May 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

(CNSNews.com) – Facing the world's wrath over the deadly clash at sea between its troops and pro-Palestinian activists, the Israeli Defense Forces released video footage Monday showing groups of activists using what appear to be clubs or bars to attack Israeli soldiers the moment they landed on deck.

The footage, along with an array of weapons found onboard the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara – now docked in the Israeli port of Ashdod – presents a picture at odds with accounts given by pro-Palestinian groups of a massive, disproportionate assault on peaceful civilians.

International condemnation is widespread and ongoing, with protestors taking to the streets in many, mostly Islamic countries, and Israel's erstwhile ally, Turkey, warning of  "irreparable consequences" to bilateral ties. Iran demanded action by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and even European countries generally friendly towards Israel were strongly critical.

An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, called by Turkey, saw member states' envoys one by one express shock over the incident, in which nine activists were killed.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu set the tone for the Council session, describing the incident as "banditry and piracy" and "murder conducted by a state."

Many Council members called for an independent investigation and demanded a lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel after Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.

The meeting then went into closed session to debate the wording of a draft presidential statement.

The Marmara and accompanying ships were headed for Gaza in what the campaigners said was a humanitarian mission.

Israel, which views the Gaza convoys as a "political provocation" and media stunt, says it allows humanitarian aid to enter through land crossings, but subject to security checks to prevent the smuggling in of weapons like the thousands of rockets that have been fired into Israel from Gaza in recent years.

Before the ships were boarded, the IDF warned them not to continue heading for Gaza but said they should instead dock in nearby Ashdod. Once the cargo had been inspected there, the activists would be able to observe its delivery to Gaza, it said. After the crews refused to comply, "it was decided to board the ships and lead them to Ashdod."

Israeli commandos then boarded the ships in international waters.

The footage released by the IDF shows Israelis rappelling from a helicopter and landing on the deck several seconds apart, immediately being set upon by waiting activists, armed with bars or clubs (see videos). A soldier is seen being pushed over a railing, and thrown to a deck below.

Knives, clubs, bars and other items which the Israeli Defense Forces said were recovered from the Mavi Marmara after Monday's clashes at sea between Israeli troops and activists trying to sail to the Gaza Strip. (Photo: IDF Spokesperson)

The IDF also claimed that activists had seized two firearms from soldiers and fired at them.

"As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces first employed riot dispersal means, followed by live fire."

"The 'Free Gaza' flotilla had publicly insisted on their non-violent intentions, however their violent attack on the IDF soldiers was clearly premeditated," said the IDF. "They had knives, metal rods, firebombs and other items ready to use."

According to Israeli figures, seven soldiers were wounded, two of them critically.

Images released later showed knives, slingshots, rocks, smoke bombs, iron bars, sticks, clubs hammers, firebombs and gasmasks, which Israel said were found onboard the Turkish vessel.

(Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who accused Israel of "inhuman state terror," said the ships had been inspected before leaving port and had contained only humanitarian aid.)

In stark contrast to the IDF version, the Free Gaza Movement described the incident as an unprovoked assault: "Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck," it said in a statement. "They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep."

The Israeli government is blaming extremists from the Turkish organization Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) for the violence that erupted onboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara when troops boarded it at sea on Monday. In this photo of the ship before setting sail, a white and green IHH banner is visible on the hull, between Turkish and Palestinian flags. (Photo: IHH)

'Extremists'

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who called off a planned White House visit and returned home, said Israel regretted the loss of life. "I give my complete backing to the army, the soldiers and commanders who acted to defend the state and to protect their lives."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak also insisted the troops acted appropriately, and said blame for the deaths should be laid at the door of the organizers, who defied repeated Israeli requests to offload their cargoes at Ashdod, where it would have been checked and then sent to Gaza via road border crossings.

"The area is ruled by a terror organization, Hamas, which possesses rockets that threatened Israel and its soldiers," Barak told a press conference. "Therefore, Israel has the natural right to examine all cargo entering the Strip. The sail was a provocation."

He also said that the soldiers had been met by violence on only one of six ships in the activists' flotilla, the Marmara. The other boardings had gone smoothly.

"The organization behind the flotilla is not a humanitarian aid organization," Barak said.

He was alluding to one of the Turkish groups behind the flotilla, Insani Yardim Vakfi. Known by the acronym IHH, it was one of 36 ostensibly charitable organizations banned by Barak in 2008 as identified fundraisers for Hamas.

A visiting IHH official, Izzat Shahin, was arrested in the West Bank in April, questioned on suspicions of funding terrorism, and deported.

A recent report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israel-based non-governmental institution, alleged that the IHH has supported "jihadist terrorist networks in Bosnia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya."

Of the various ships in the Free Gaza Movement flotilla, IHH organized the ones from Turkey, including the Marmara. It hosted a farewell ceremony marking its departure from Istanbul, and a giant IHH banner was displayed prominently on the ship's hull, between Turkish and Palestinian flags.

Israel's Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, also noted that violence had only erupted on the one vessel.

"What occurred on the Marmara ship under possession of the extremist IHH organization is not what took place in the five other ships in the flotilla," he told reporters.

"From what I saw during the night, there was no connection to a campaign or demonstration of peaceful workers or of humanitarian aid," Ashkenazi said. "It was extreme violence from the first moment our soldiers boarded the ship, with prior preparation to attack the soldiers with metal and wooden poles, and knives."

Pro-Palestinian activists, like these near the Israeli Embassy in Paris, France, held anti-Israel protests in numerous cities around the world on Monday. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

'US expects full and credible investigation'

Netanyahu was to have met with President Obama on Tuesday, a visit aimed at easing tensions that have arisen between the two over Israeli policies regarding Jerusalem.

But the developments at home prompted the prime minister, who was in Canada at the time, to return home immediately. The visit will be rescheduled at the first opportunity, the White House said in a statement.

It said that Obama in a phone conversation with Netanyahu had "expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning's tragic events as soon as possible."

The State Department in a later statement also said the U.S. expected "a full and credible investigation" by the Israeli government.

Spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. would continue to discuss with Israel the expansion of "the scope and type of goods allowed into Gaza to address the full range of the population's humanitarian and recovery needs."

He also chided groups organizing attempts to break the blockade.

"Mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by governments and groups that wish to do so," Crowley said. "These mechanisms should be used for the benefit of all those in Gaza."

Israeli officials said some 480 crew and passengers from the ships were held for questioning, and Israel Radio reported Tuesday that most would be deported to their countries of origin.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/66849

Nuclear equipment missing from Iranian lab, IAEA report says

Nuclear equipment missing from Iranian lab, IAEA report says

An apparatus that could be used to extract plutonium for an atomic bomb is gone, the United Nations watchdog agency says.

By Borzou Daragahi and Julia Damianova, Special to The Times

International arms control inspectors say sensitive equipment that could be used to extract plutonium for an atomic bomb has gone missing from a Tehran laboratory months after the apparatus was disclosed to a United Nations watchdog agency, according to an official report released Monday.

The report is expected to feed suspicions in the West that Iran is attempting to hide the nature and scope of its nuclear program.

On the other hand, Iran agreed in May to allow inspectors greater surveillance and access to the area where it is producing 20% enriched uranium meant for a Tehran medical reactor, clearing up one of the points of contention between the Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Still, analysts and diplomats say overall cooperation between Iran and the agency seems to continue to deteriorate, a dynamic that emerged after the tenure of new IAEA Secretary-General Yukiya Amano began late last year.

"If Iran were really interested in cooperation with the agency, it would have allowed the IAEA to undertake additional surveillance measures before it started enriching up to 20%," said a Western diplomat in Vienna, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran's nuclear program has been a major point of contention with the West and Israel, which suspect the Islamic Republic of putting together the infrastructure to eventually build an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its nuclear program is meant for civilian purposes only and it accuses the West of trying to deny Iranians' their rights and national aspirations.

IAEA inspectors were told in January by a scientist or official at Tehran's Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory that Iran was conducting pyro-processing experiments, work potentially consistent with creating warheads that could be used in developing a nuclear weapon.

But during an April 14 inspection of the laboratory, the equipment — used to remove impurities from uranium metal — had been removed, said the agency's report to its board of governors ahead of a meeting next week. Iran had earlier backtracked, insisting to inspectors it was not engaged in pyro-processing work.

Arms control experts say the apparent attempt to experiment with pyro-processing adds to the cloud of suspicion that hangs over Iran's nuclear program.

"It will bring Iran close to being able to separate plutonium and thus have a second path to a nuclear weapon," said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former State Department nonproliferation specialist serving as an analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "Given the evidence of military connections to Iran's nuclear program, it is worth asking the purpose for which Iran is studying the production of uranium metal."

The latest quarterly report by inspectors to the IAEA board of governors also suggested that Iran continues to produce enriched uranium at far less than capacity, feeding uranium into only 3,936 of the 8,528 centrifuges installed at a plant near the central town of Natanz.

Analysts have been divided over why Iran has failed to use its full enrichment capacity. Some have argued that evidence suggests Iran is experiencing technical and supply troubles. Others suggest Iran is hoarding its uranium supplies to use when it perfects a generation of more efficient centrifuges.

daragahi@latimes.com

Times staff writer Daragahi reported from New York and special correspondent Damianova from Vienna.

International arms control inspectors say sensitive equipment that could be used to extract plutonium for an atomic bomb has gone missing from a Tehran laboratory months after the apparatus was disclosed to a United Nations watchdog agency, according to an official report released Monday.

The report is expected to feed suspicions in the West that Iran is attempting to hide the nature and scope of its nuclear program.

On the other hand, Iran agreed in May to allow inspectors greater surveillance and access to the area where it is producing 20% enriched uranium meant for a Tehran medical reactor, clearing up one of the points of contention between the Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Still, analysts and diplomats say overall cooperation between Iran and the agency seems to continue to deteriorate, a dynamic that emerged after the tenure of new IAEA Secretary-General Yukiya Amano began late last year.

"If Iran were really interested in cooperation with the agency, it would have allowed the IAEA to undertake additional surveillance measures before it started enriching up to 20%," said a Western diplomat in Vienna, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran's nuclear program has been a major point of contention with the West and Israel, which suspect the Islamic Republic of putting together the infrastructure to eventually build an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its nuclear program is meant for civilian purposes only and it accuses the West of trying to deny Iranians' their rights and national aspirations.

IAEA inspectors were told in January by a scientist or official at Tehran's Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory that Iran was conducting pyro-processing experiments, work potentially consistent with creating warheads that could be used in developing a nuclear weapon.

But during an April 14 inspection of the laboratory, the equipment — used to remove impurities from uranium metal — had been removed, said the agency's report to its board of governors ahead of a meeting next week. Iran had earlier backtracked, insisting to inspectors it was not engaged in pyro-processing work.

Arms control experts say the apparent attempt to experiment with pyro-processing adds to the cloud of suspicion that hangs over Iran's nuclear program.

"It will bring Iran close to being able to separate plutonium and thus have a second path to a nuclear weapon," said Mark Fitzpatrick, a former State Department nonproliferation specialist serving as an analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "Given the evidence of military connections to Iran's nuclear program, it is worth asking the purpose for which Iran is studying the production of uranium metal."

The latest quarterly report by inspectors to the IAEA board of governors also suggested that Iran continues to produce enriched uranium at far less than capacity, feeding uranium into only 3,936 of the 8,528 centrifuges installed at a plant near the central town of Natanz.

Analysts have been divided over why Iran has failed to use its full enrichment capacity. Some have argued that evidence suggests Iran is experiencing technical and supply troubles. Others suggest Iran is hoarding its uranium supplies to use when it perfects a generation of more efficient centrifuges.

daragahi@latimes.com

Times staff writer Daragahi reported from New York and special correspondent Damianova from Vienna.

German President Koehler resigns suddenly amid Afghanistan dispute

 

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Koehler is the first German president to resign

German President Horst Koehler stunned the public by suddenly stepping down amid an ongoing controversy over comments he made about Afghanistan. He is the first German president to ever resign his post.

 

In a move that took just about everybody by surprise, German President Horst Koehler stepped down on Monday, citing comments he made about Afghanistan, which he said had been misconstrued.

A visibly emotional Koehler, with his wife at his side, resigned in a televised press conference, saying: "I am resigning my post as federal president with immediate effect."

"It was an honor for me to serve Germany as president," he said. "I thank the many people in Germany who have put their trust in me and supported my work. I ask for you to understand my decision."

Bildunterschrift: His wife Eva Luise was by his side during the announcement

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he "deeply regretted" Mr. Koehler's decision and had tried to change his mind, but the president "decided otherwise."

Bavarias's State Premier, Horst Seehofer, said Mr. Koehler "had won the sympathies of the German people and was widely respected abroad."

The president's resignation caught Germany's political parties completely off guard. Chancellor Angela Merkel was reportedly only informed of the decision shortly before the public announcement.

After she was informed of his decision, Merkel cancelled a planned afternoon visit to the training camp of the German national soccer team, which is currently training in northern Italy for the World Cup games next month.

At a press conference in Berlin some two hours later, the chancellor said was stunned and surprised by Mr. Koehler's decision and had "unsuccessfully tried to get him to change his mind." She also said "the people of Germany would be very sad about the resignation."

Koehler said, besides Merkel and Westerwelle, he had also informed the president of the Federal Constitutional Court, Andreas Vosskuhle, and Jens Boehmsen, the president of the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.

The resignation comes at an extremely inopportune time for the chancellor, whose center-right coalition recently lost an important state election in North Rhine-Westphalia and suffered another resignation of a key ally, Hesse State Premier Roland Koch, just last week.

Bildunterschrift: Koehler recently visited ISAF troops

Announcing his decision, Mr. Koehler refused to defend himself against accusations that he would use the military unconstitutionally and for economic reasons, saying that to do so was unworthy of the high office he held.

In the past few days, Koehler had been under fire for saying that a country like Germany, which was heavily reliant on foreign trade must know that military interventions could be necessary to uphold German interests.

Koehler said his comments were "misunderstood" and that his remarks were not meant to refer to the mission in Afghanistan, where Germany has 4,500 troops in a NATO-led force fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.

Polls show that a majority of Germans are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan. But the government has not yet fixed a date for withdrawal from the unpopular mission.

A former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Koehler was elected to the post of president in 2004 and re-elected in 2009.

According to the German constitution, Boehrnsen will temporarily take over the president's duties. A new president will need to be sworn in by June 30.

gb/afp/AP/dpa
Editor: Rob Turner

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5635018,00.html

THE FLOTILLA - A Made for TV Production

THE FLOTILLA - A Made for TV Production

Will all the actors take their places on stage, please?

The stars take center, front stage.

The "atmosphere" mill around in the background.

The cameras begin to roll. Action! THE FLOTILLA Take one.

(It even sounds like a portmanteau of Frankenstein and Godzilla).

Some wrote a hyper emotional diatribe against Israel as a result of
this story. He told me this "turned his stomach".

This was my answer to him:

Have you watched television so much that you cannot recognize a PsyOp,
made for TV production when you see one?

Are you really so stupid that you cannot see that this was staged
together with the foreign agents in our government who work to make
Israel look bad playing their roles to the hilt?

There used to be a take off on a soap opera: "As the Stomach Turns"

If your emotions can be so easily engaged and manipulated to the point
of experiencing physical symptoms: you are in dire need of
deprogramming.

The system call always count on the public's stupidity and desire to
condemn someone, preferably the Jews.

Nothing has changed since the Middle Ages when the goyim were supplied
with all the cheap hooch their alcoholic hearts desired, then told
some kind of BS story about the Jews and the mobs went out with swords
and torches in hand.

YOU PEOPLE ARE AS STUPID AS YOU ARE REVOLTING.

What you addled with hatred goyim don't gork is that there would be no
more incidents like this if you didn't lap it up like dogs.

If just once you would react with intelligence and let the press know
this has NOT moved you to hatred it would be all over.

People die because you are VAMPIRES, because you LOVE the taste of
blood and beg for more.

HOW DISGUSTING YOU ARE.

I'm really considering going back to my studies and you gentiles be
damned. I've had a belly full of you. The vast majority of you are
incorrigible, mentally and emotionally defective barbarians.

BUT HOW CAN I LEAVE THE FEW OF YOU WHO ARE HUMAN TO YOUR FATE ALONE
AMONG THE BEASTS?

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com

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