reply to post by Britguy
OK after removing name calling and opinions and just sticking with the facts in the stories, here what I distilled from:
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LInk #1 (from Brit Guy)
...No-one was injured in the incident...Israel says patrolling these waters is a vital security measure to stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
Muncie, 34, of Dalbreagha, Spean Bridge, is working with the Free Gaza movement ...in an attempt to breach Israel's blockade
The Gaza Strip's waters have been patrolled by the Israeli navy since a blockade was imposed after Hamas took control of the Strip... Israel allows
in limited supplies of food, fuel and aid but last year tightened economic sanctions in response to rocket attacks by militants on Israeli towns near
Gaza.
the gunboat's heavy machine gun opened up, spraying the wake around our hull with bullets (I Notice they were *** intentionally trying not to hit the
boat ***... --- that means they are WARNING shots to not approach any further. - I have no problem with that.)
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Link #2 (from Brit Guy)
(THe first 80% is.. "life is hard for us Paliestine Fishermen" but what blows my mind is he goes on to say at the last paragraph: )
He argued Hamas bears little responsibility for the crisis and had no criticism of their rocket fire into Israel, even though it kills civilians and
has provoked Israel into its blockade. But later Hissi said that life was better in the 1980s when Israel had a full military occupation in Gaza, even
with the thousands of settlers, soldiers and checkpoints that entailed, and that the Palestinian Authority, the creation of the Oslo accords, had
proven "useless."
"We were expecting a real Palestinian state and that we'd be able to work and move freely but it never came," he said. "Now instead they've put
Gaza under siege."
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Link #3 (from Brit Guy)
(Removing more name calling and opinions and sticking with the facts here...)
[Israel]...continued to seal off the Gaza Strip for the thirteenth day in a row, allowing only a limited number of trucks loaded with commodities and
food to enter the Strip.
The Israeli gunboats surrounded the fishing boats and arrested Andrew Muncie, 34, an Irish supporter, and four Palestinians.
(OK so these guys head directly into a blockade and get arrested.. No KIdding? It's a blockade - Why? Because Hamas is attacking Israel with bombs
and rockets again! )
He said the incident with the Israeli navy took place four miles out to sea at 9.30am. "We had barely left Gaza's coastline behind when the
gunboat's heavy machine gun opened up, spraying the wake around our hull with bullets."
I've been out with the fishermen on several occasions and seen them the Israeli navy also use explosive shells fired from a cannon, and explosive
charges flung into the water near a boat," he said.
(Again... Gunfire and nobody is killed = warning shots to stay away from the blockade.)
Muncie ***claimed*** that in a separate incident on September 3, two fishermen were hospitalized and another fishing boat had been rammed and badly
damaged in a separate incident last week.
(OK I'm fair, it ***sounds*** like someone got hurt, and if you plot a course straight into a blockade, I consider them lucky they didn't get
themselves killed.)
Israeli gunboats open fire towards them (again warning shots) and throw sewage water at them. (LOL was that your noxious chemecals??? LOL well I
didn't see that at all in the video but if it *did* happen It sounds more like a Monty Python prank - and if it *did* happen I admit that is
DEFINITELY NOT NICE, it was non-lethal revenge and and WAS a hit below the belt - no pun intended LOL)
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Link #4 (from Brit Guy)
The Israeli navy [was](Opinions and name calling removed) using live ammunition (nobody was killed - that's warning shots) and a high-powered water
cannon containing a noxious chemical substance.
(Again, was this sewage or something like teargas? Just like the above artcle? I ask because here in America the police routinely use tear gas and
that is DEFINITELY noxious, but I'm alive after breathing it... no problems so far, but I admit it made me want to run away at the time! LOL)
International Human Rights Observers (HROs) accompanying several fishing boats off the coast of Gaza approximately 8 nautical miles from shore
reported that the Israeli navy constantly shot live ammunition extremely close to the boats, damaging many of the fishing nets in the process. (Again
warning shots)
(OK THEY SAIL INTO THE BLOCKADE --- AGAIN!!! damn...)
The international HROs also reported the use of a high-powered water cannon that was continuously used against the boats. Not only does this water
cannon regularly damages the fishing boats themselves, the HROs have reported that recently the water has contained a foul smelling chemical
substance. It is assumed that this substance is the same that has been frequently used by Israeli forces against the non- violent protests against the
construction of the annexation barrier in the West Bank villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin. The substance have however been taken for separate chemical
analysis.
(OK - nobody was killed - so it is a deterrent - like tear gas... maybe if you didn't sail straight into a blockade - OH- what's the use, they are
slow learners.)
The use of chemical substances by the Israeli navy on Gazan fishermen outside of internationally recognized Israeli territorial waters, such as that
occurred today, also directly contradicts the Chemical Weapons Convention that took force in 1997 and that is ratified by 149 countries. Within the
convention it is detailed that "Each state party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare."
(Perhaps.. But I have to ask... do rockets fired by palestine/Hamas into Isreal towns violate the any treaties, or is that OK?)
[edit on 14-12-2008 by ATS4dummies]