After carefully studying the eyewitness accounts, it can be concluded that "the fighting" on the Gaza Peace Flotilla between heavily armed Israeli commandos and unarmed civilians was deliberately instigated by the Israeli military.
The actions of the Israeli commandos ordered by the Israeli government were characterized by cold-blooded murder and executions. According to testimony of the passengers, individuals who surrendered were killed, while a white flag was flying. Because some activists in critical condition were refused aid by the Israelis, they also died.
The civilian passengers of the Mavi Maramara included academics, parliamentarians, artists, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and representatives of human rights organizations. Amongst them was the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. Israel and the U.S. also pressured Cyprus into preventing 30 parliamentarians from across the E.U. and a Jewish Holocaust survivor from boarding the Gaza Peace Flotilla.
Confronted by the Israeli commandos, the civilian passengers were involved in desperate acts of self-defence, to protect their lives after fellow passengers had already been killed by Israeli sniper fire. All members of the Gaza Peace Flotilla from the German parliamentarians to Turkish aid workers have testified to this.
The Israeli commandos, through their actions, deliberately triggered these acts of self-defence, with a view to demonizing the passengers and justifying Israeli brutality.
COMPILATION OF SELECTED WITNESS ACCOUNTS1. Algerians activists give accounts that IDF forced passengers to fight in self-defence and kidnapped the captain's child:
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48995420100602
..."We used sticks and all what we could find to defend ourselves to stop the assault. During the second assault, they succeeded in kidnapping the young son of the captain, and then we found ourselves obliged to give up."
2. Kuwaiti activists give details that fighting started because IDF killed humanitarians by firing before boarding vessel and give accounts of abuse:
..."Our original plan was to stop there and ask for Israeli permission before we entered and, if they refused, to stay at sea in protest ... but they attacked us before we had a chance to do that," Abdullah added."
3. Israeli parliamentarian, who was on board the Gaza Peace Flotilla, refutes Israeli claims:
4. Greek passenger gives account of beatings, excessive firing, torture, electric shock, and ridicule by Israelis:
5. Greeks, Germans refute IDF claims; Greek activists beaten by Israeli police in prisons, German parliamentarians speak of abuse:
6. Swedish activist, Mankell, says IDF attacked sleeping activists:
7. Swedish activists give account of abuse and humiliation (Mankell: "Will Israel drop Atom Bomb Next Time?"):
..."The Israelis did all they could to humiliate us... They wanted to scare us into obedience,"
"We were witnesses to premeditated murders," said historian Mattias Gardell who was on the Mavi Marmara along with his wife, fellow historian Edda Manga, when Israeli commandos attacked the ship early Monday, killing at least nine people.
"This was a military attack on a humanitarian aid operation far out in international waters ... It was a very surprising and aggressive overreaction by Israel," he told Swedish public radio upon arrival in Istanbul with planeloads of nearly 500 activists, including seven Swedes, early Thursday.
...Asked about why activists on the Turkish ship had attacked the Israeli soldiers, Gardell stressed "it is not as if Israel is a police officer who no human being has the legitimate right to defend him or herself against."
"If you are attacked by commando troops you of course must have the right to defend yourself ... Many people on this ship thought they were going to kill everyone. They were very frightened ... It's strange if people think one should not defend oneself. Should you just sit there and say: 'Kill me'?" he said.
10. Canadian activist talk about IDF killing other passenger and beatings:
11. Irish activist hurt while getting into fight with Israelis in airport during their deportation in airport, being treated in Turkey:
12. Irish activist refutes Israeli claims of weapons and says journalists were targeted first by the Israeli military:
...“Any of the weapons I have seen demonstrated by the Israeli defence forces were typical equipment that you would have on a ship,” said Mr Dillon, a member of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“There was a knife for a galley. They also showed a sledgehammer, which would be on a merchant vessel for anchor cables etc. There was nothing on display to show there were any weapons.”
...He said the Israeli’s initially focused their attention on the journalist onboard as it appeared they did not want footage, photographs or reports of what had transpired to be released.
13. British activists give details about attack and abuse while in Israeli custody:
14. Australian photojournalist tasered:
...Another person on the MV Samoud, Shane Dillon, told The Age that when Israeli forces boarded, they directly approached McGeough and Geraghty. He said that the Israeli personnel had immediately sought to seize all electronic equipment from the vessel, including those of the journalists.
15. Australian photojournalist's account, other Australian shot in leg
16. American linguistics professor abused (e.g., cut, beaten, tasered) in Israeli captivity:
...“I was treated pretty rough,” said Larudee. “Basically any part of my body that could be hit was hit; any joint of my body that could be twisted was twisted.”
18. Accounts by former U.S. ambassador and U.S.S. Liberty veteran of Israeli about use of force on Sfendoni and false Israeli CLAIMS that activists had violated Israeli laws in high seas; People put in crutches, bandages, arms in slings, and the captain's neck in a brace;
...Ambassador Peck this morning described the Israeli commando raid on the Sfendoni, the Freedom Flotilla ship he and other FPM delegates were aboard: "The first thing we knew was the sound of footsteps, and my eyelids flicked open, and there they were, heavily armed. The Israeli government keeps referring to the paint guns, but the paint guns were attached to the automatic weapons and the stun grenades and the pepper spray and the tasers and everything else that these guys carry. ... And it was all over in the inside of the ship, where I was. But up on the upper deck, where some people had been sitting and sleeping, they made an effort to peacefully prevent the Israelis from taking over the wheelhouse, and we had a number of people injured in that. Nothing of a critical nature, but we had people on crutches and people with bandages and peoples with their arms in slings, and the captain had his neck in a brace."
"I was deported for having violated Israeli law," Peck added. "I asked [the Israeli official processing his deportation], 'What law have I violated?' He said, 'You have illegally entered Israel.' I said, 'Well, now, wait. Our ship was taken over by armed commandos. I was brought here at gunpoint against my will, and you call that illegally entering Israel?'"
..."As a survivor of the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty," Meadors said, "I am fully aware of the tactics the Israelis are capable of and willing to use with impunity and without remorse. That time they fired machine guns, cannon, rockets, napalm, and torpedoes on us, then deliberately machine-gunned life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship. And the only response from the American government was to impose a gag order on the crew of the USS Liberty."
20. VIDEO: German parliamentarians accounts of IDF attacks, refute Israeli claims about violent activists:
21. VIDEO: Husband of arrested activist (Huwaida Arraf) gives detail of physical abuse of wife and other activists from Greek ship while they were held in captivity by Israelis:
22. VIDEO & Transcript: Activists, Huwaida Arraf, gives account of how Israelis started violence, used dog(s), and human rights abuses:
