Gaza

News of the Israeli seizure of the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza will be controlled by the Israelis, since they have taken over the ships, have transferred the wounded to Israeli hospitals and are moving the entire flotilla to Ashdod. They are already claiming that their soldiers were violently attacked, though what is the boarding of ships in international waters if not an attack - indeed piracy!? We can safely assume that what Israel tells us will be propaganda. Only an international enquiry can establish the truth.

A little history: the UN Partition Resolution of 1947 (which was contrary to the UN principle of self-determination, since the Palestinian majority were never consulted) divided the coast into three areas, only the central one being for Israel. In the subsequent war, Israel grabbed the northern part, as well as Jerusalem and everything else except the West Bank. Gaza became an island, into which poured hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. Since the Egyptian agreement with Israel, it has been effectively cut off from the outside world, all movement in and out being controlled by Israel and its Egyptian cronies.

For the three years since they elected Hamas in a process that was attested free and fair, the people of Gaza have been under siege, malnourished and deprived of essential medical supplies and energy sources. Since the Israeli invasion of January 2009, they have not been allowed the materials to rebuild their shattered towns and infrastructure. However, this is only the latest phase of a 62-year torment. Successive Israeli governments have seemed ready to accept only total submission, in exchange for which they offer nothing. There will be protests all over the world against this latest atrocity. Find one near you and join it!