Israeli forces yesterday boarded a second aid vessel, the Rachel Corrie, after it ignored orders not to head for Gaza, but there was no repetition of the bloody violence when commandos stormed an aid boat earlier this week.
The military said its troops had boarded the ship “with the full compliance” of the crew and passengers in a peaceful operation in which there was no use of violence by either side.
“Our forces boarded the boat and took control without meeting any resistance from the crew or the passengers. Everything took place without violence,” a spokeswoman said, adding no shots had been fired.
The ship and the 15 people on board, most of them Irish or Malaysian activists, was being escorted into the southern Israeli port of Ashdod from where the aid would be transferred to Gaza through land crossings, the military said.
Army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitz said in Ashdod the operation had been conducted peacefully.
“They didn’t storm the ship — they boarded it with the agreement” of the people on board, she said. “They are on the way here and it will probably take a few hours.”
The decision to commandeer the Rachel Corrie came after the vessel refused to respond to four requests to head for Ashdod.
UN COMMISSION
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said yesterday Israel’s blockade of Gaza is illegal and should be lifted, and reiterated calls for an investigation into Israel’s raid on aid supply ships.
“International humanitarian law prohibits starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and ... it is also prohibited to impose collective punishment on civilians,” Pillay said. “I have consistently reported to member states that the blockade is illegal and must be lifted.”
YOUTUBE BATTLE
Israel may have lost the initial PR battle over its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, but it is fighting back with a barrage of video clips in a bid to prove activists initiated the violence.
Days after the botched attack that killed nine Turks, the fight over what exactly happened on board the ferry is still raging on YouTube, with both sides posting more and more clips on the video-sharing Web site to support their case.
It was chaotic footage of Israeli troops storming the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara that first caught the world’s attention.
Streaming Internet video of bloodied passengers and reporters issuing urgent calls for help were transmitted in real time from the deck of the ship.
The commandos eventually disconnected the feed, but the damage was done, provoking a wave of global outrage that has dealt a harsh blow to Israel’s image.
Israel says its troops were attacked as they dropped onto the Mavi Marmara, and only shot back in self-defense. The activists say the commandos started shooting as soon as they arrived, prompting those on board to act in self-defense.
Faced with a diplomatic backlash, Israel cranked up its propaganda machine, uploading a slew of video clips to YouTube to support its version of events.
Grainy images of elite commandos taking a beating at the hands of Turkish activists turned out to be one of Israel’s most unlikely propaganda successes.
“Over 1.6 million people watched that footage. You also saw it used on blogs and in forums,” said Lieutenant Aliza Landes, head of the Israeli military’s new media desk.
SECURITY SUMMIT
Meanwhile, Turkey wants the upcoming summit for a 20-member security group for the Asian region to condemn the recent Israeli raid on an aid flotilla that had been headed to Gaza.
A government official says the deadly raid will be discussed during the Conference on Interactions and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, or CICA, tomorrow and Tuesday.
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