AMNON & JONATHAN: Her name is- " St MARIAM "

Gaza flotilla returns to Turkey

Israeli airborne troops landed on Mavi Marmara and opened fire on unarmed but angry activists [AFP]
The Turkish ferry at the centre of a deadly raid, in which Israeli commandoes killed nine pro-Palestinian activists, has returned home.
The Mavi Marmara arrived in the port of Iskenderun on Saturday after being towed from Israel, where it had been held since the May 31 attack.Cumhur Ozturkler, the head of the port, told Turkey’s Anatolia news agency that the vessel would be inspected by Turkish officials and then by a delegation from the United Nations, which has launched an investigation into the Israeli raid.
The vessel was part of a six-ship flotilla which tried to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver tons of humanitarian aid. Two other vessels are also being returned to Turkey.Israel still holds the other three non-Turkish vessels from the flotilla, as well as an Irish cargo ship, the Rachel Corrie, that sailed a few days later.
As the ships were released by Israel on Thursday, an Israeli official said the foreign ministry had sent Ankara "a message ... expressing Israel's expectation that Turkey will prevent other Turkish vessels from violating the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.
"The message emphasises that Israel transfers equipment and goods to Gaza on an ongoing basis via the land crossings in a manner that is acceptable to the international community and which is anchored in recognised agreements," the official said.
The killings of the Turkish activists severely damaged Israel's ties with its only close Muslim ally.
The fallout from the raid has even affected Turkey's tourism, with the number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey dropping by 90 per cent.Only 2,605 Israeli citizens visited Turkey in June 2010, compared to 27,289 in June last year, the Turkish tourism ministry said.
In the first six months of the year, 75,071 Israelis came to Turkey, down 17.9 per cent from the 91,450 Israeli citizens who had travelled to Turkey during the same period last year.

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New Irish ship to join Gaza flotillaA vow to take on Israeli blockade

By DANIEL O’CARROLL, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

A new committee has been set up to raise funds for a second Irish vessel to sail in a second flotilla to Gaza.Nine died in the last attempt to reach the Gaza Strip by sea when Israeli Commandos stormed a Turkish boat involved in the attempt to carry aid into the coastal territory."The [new] committee brings together a wide range of organizations which are determined to work together to ensure there is a large Irish component in the Second Freedom Flotilla,” said one of the new flotilla’s main organizers."We believe that a breach of the sea blockade by the planned flotilla will fatally undermine Israel's illegal siege of Gaza -- the ships will be bringing aid, but the primary purpose is to break the siege," he said.Israel has eased its restrictions of what aid can pass into the Hamas-controlled Strip since the last flotilla attempt, and has agreed to a UN-led inquiry into its actions earlier this year which provoked international outrage.A spate of Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel in recent days has renewed concerns that an escalation of violence in the region is imminent.The Israeli Air Force recently targeted sites in the tiny coastal strip as part of its reaction to the rocket-fire."The attack is in response to the rockets and mortar shells that were fired at Israel and hit the southern Negev communities during the past weekend," said a spokesperson for the Air Force.A Turkish passenger ship at the center of the violence during a deadly Israeli navy raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla was towed out of a port in Israel last Thursday.Legal moves are apparently underway to have the Irish vessel - The Rachel Corrie - released from the Southern Israeli port of Ashdod.

Gaza aid flotilla to set sail from Lebanon with all-women crew

Arabic singer joins crew of nuns, doctors, lawyers and journalists for humanitarian mission despite Israeli warning

Ruth Sherlock in Beirut 6 August 2010

Israel's deadly assault on a Gaza aid flotilla in June led to anger in the Muslim world and beyond.

A ship bearing aid for Gaza is preparing to leave Tripoli in Lebanon this weekend in the latest attempt to defy the Israeli blockade – with only women on board.The Saint Mariam, or Virgin Mary, has a multi-faith international passenger list, including the Lebanese singer May Hariri and a group of nuns from the US. "They are nuns, doctors, lawyers, journalists, Christians and Muslims," said Mona, one of the participants who, along with the other women, has adopted the ship's name, Mariam.The Mariam and its sister ship, Naji Alali, had hoped to set off several weeks ago but faced several delays after Israel launched a diplomatic mission to pressure Lebanon to stop the mission.The co-ordinator of the voyage, Samar al-Haj, told the Guardian this week the Lebanese government had given permission for the boats to leave for Cyprus, the first leg of the journey, this weekend.Israel says it is concerned a flotilla from Lebanon, with whom it has ongoing hostility, will smuggle weapons to Gaza. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, has warned that Israel reserves the right to use "necessary measures" in line with international law to stop the ship.But al-Haj says the mission is purely humanitarian. "Our goal is to arrive in Gaza," she said. "It is the responsibility of the government to deal with the politics. We are not political."She said that once news of the flotilla was out organisers were inundated with requests to join the voyage, with more than 400 from the US alone. At least 10 Americans will be on board.The boat has been stocked with medical instruments and medicines to take to the Palestinians.In preparation for the voyage the participants gathered at a hotel in Beirut to discuss their plans. The logistics are many: minimal grooming, strict food rationing, and limited water supply."There will be no showers, no skirts and no makeup," al-Haj told the group.The participants are aware of the dangers, having followed the fate of another flotilla carrying aid for Gaza that was attacked by Israel in May.Israeli forces landed on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel, killing nine activists on board. Al-Haj reminded the women to be prepared for a confrontation."Have blood tests in case we come under attack from Israel and you need a blood transfusion," she said. She added that organisers were going out of their way not to provoke Israel."We will not even bring cooking knives," she said.Serena Shim, who is heavily pregnant, decided to join the voyage because of her belief that the blockade is unjust. "These people need aid,'' she said.Asked how they would react to an Israeli military assault, one activist, Tania al Kayyalisaid: "We are not planning to fight or attack – but we will not leave the St Mariam.

Ten members of medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by militants as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that they killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity."

Israeli doctors working in Congo learn locals turned out to be good hosts - but working with Western volunteers is more complicated.

"This is an emotional time, and there are obvious political sensitivities," Dr. Geert Morren, a doctor from Belgium who arrived at Uvira with MSF Netherlands, said after meeting the Israeli delegation. MSF has accused Israel of "devastating disregard" for civilians during its 2009 Gaza invasion.

"I came to save lives, but also because it's important to me to show that Israel is not the Flotilla Country that it is painted out to be,"

Israel Defense Forces IDF Harvest, Steal Human Organs in Haiti?

Was the IDF saving children in Haiti or
harvesting organs? Ask Iran. Photo: Joel Leyden

Iran: "Israeli doctors stealing Haitian organs" (& Jerusalem mayor attacks BBC "lies")

January 24, 2010

* Jerusalem mayor's office in an official statement: "BBC's Panorama by Jane Corbin is a completely and utterly false representation of the facts and a distasteful distortion of reality"
* Iranian TV: the reason Israel sent so many doctors to Haiti was "to steal more body parts"
* London Times just can't run a straight news story about Israel
* Bashing Israel for saving Haitians
* New report released today outlines "systematic bias of BBC's Jeremy Bowen"

There are two dispatches today and then there won't be any more for the next week because of other work commitments. Today's other dispatch titled "Obama: misjudging his misjudgment (& Israeli and Iranian ministers shake hands)" can be read here.

On January 20, Lebanon's Al-Manar TV reported on the mission, citing a damning You Tube video posted by an American named T. West from a group called AfriSynergy Productions.

"The video presents something to think about while exploiting the horrible tragedy that has befallen Haiti where Israeli occupation soldiers are engaged in organ trafficking."