Summary
The civil society flotillas seeking to break the blockade of Gaza: the first, intercepted by Israeli commandos in international waters on May 31, 2010 with nine deaths on the Mavi Marmara, and Freedom Flotilla 2, expected to sail at the end of June 2011 (Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope, PDF p.74-77, p.142-152).
Details
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In the Gaza posts Falk names the Free Gaza Movement and the Freedom Flotilla as the only appropriate civil society response to the blockade, against governmental and UN silence (PDF p.76-77).
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The first flotilla consisted of the Mavi Marmara and five other ships carrying humanitarian aid; Israel’s May 31, 2010 attacks on them produced the Palmer Report inquiry and the earlier Human Rights Council fact-finding mission, which concluded Israel had violated international law by excessive force, by attacking humanitarian vessels in international waters, and by enforcing a blockade that was itself unlawful (PDF p.142, p.149-150).
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Freedom Flotilla 2, as Falk gives its plans in June 2011, was to consist of fifteen ships, including the Mavi Marmara sailing from Istanbul and vessels from several European countries, carrying as many as 1,500 humanitarian activists with medical, educational and construction materials, about double the size of the first (PDF p.148).
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Its Greek coordinator, Vangelis Pisias, is quoted: “We will not allow Israel to set up open prisons and concentration camps.” (PDF p.149)
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged member governments to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2, which Falk calls a one-sided stand disgracing his office, without an equivalent demand that Israel end the blockade and use no force (PDF p.150).
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Barghouti’s Chapter 15 treats the May 31, 2010 “Flotilla Massacre” as the turning point that produced more BDS achievements than any period since July 9, 2005, as unprecedented mainstream calls for treating Israel as a pariah state followed: Ben Saul’s legal analysis under the 1988 Rome Convention on maritime navigation, the UN Human Rights Council’s 32–3 condemnation and probe, Nicaragua’s suspension of relations, South African and Turkish ambassador recalls, Turkey’s unanimous parliamentary vote to revise relations, and Norway’s call for an arms embargo; the BNC’s June 1 statement and the Palestinian trade union movement called on dockworkers to “block Israeli maritime trade”, and SATAWU, Swedish, Indian and Turkish dockworkers, COSATU, SAMWU, Unite, Unison and the UCU responded (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.198-203). The chapter gives no death toll in this range, speaking of “the murder and injury of dozens”; see Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights Open questions for the difference from Falk’s nine on the Mavi Marmara.
Related pages
Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope, Palmer Report, Gaza, Global Solidarity, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights