From Mazin Qumsiyeh's journal

First I must apologize for the formatting received in my last email where
many links ran on two lines and thus clicking on them did not result in
linking to the page (copy and paste of entire link would work). The message
was important as it linked to videos and testimonies repudiating the flimsy
lies being spread (and unfortunately swallowed) by many people about the
Israeli attack and massacre on the humanitarian aid ships. The material is
in better format and workable links at
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/rightsblog2010/

Our demonstrations here continue as does the Israeli repression. On Friday,
demonstrations in Al-Ma'sara, Wad Rahhal, Bil'in., Ni'lin and elsewhere.
Injuries and arrests (including our dear friend Hassan Breijiya from
Al-Ma'sara). On Sunday, at Beit Jala demonstration, Israeli occupation
soldiers were acting crazy, hitting and shoving people. Local organizer Imad
was detained and roughed up. I was arriving a bit late and was prevented
from entering the site. I tried to go down through the hills and was
spotted by an Israeli soldier who pointed his gun at me and said he would
shoot if I do not go to him and then proceeded to abuse me physically and
psychologically. He only released me after the end of the demonstration (45
minutes later).

In good news, the chorus of decent people and groups speaking out about the
illegal Israeli attack and massacre of the Gaza freedom flotilla activists
has grown: The Episcopal Church, the Pope, the United Methodist Church,
Presbeterians, Congregationists, Lutherans, Quakers, Palestinian Christians,
Churches for Middle East Peace, National Council of Churches, Sabeel, trade
and civil organizations, and many political leaders (although the political
leaders are merely trying to be political). Shimon Peres and other Israeli
criminal leaders have become persona non grata around the world. Israel's
response to this growing chorus of condemnation is to dig its heels in its
policies. Even Apartheid South Africa would never have thought to
criminalize within its borders dissent by its own citizens (see
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/06/israel-about-to-criminalize-bds/)

The crimes I saw on the Mavi Marmara. Lubna Masarwa writing from Kfor Qara,
Live from Palestine, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11327.shtml

Israel's Siege of Gaza and Attacks on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla - Legal
Background
http://imeu.net/news/article0019152.shtml

Coincidentally the attack on the humanitarian ships happended near the
anniversary of the Israeli attack on USS Liberty (and one passenger was
victim of both attacks). The video watched by 580,000 people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRZSzdQuOqM
&NR=1
and a documentary on the event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj9VjNRpn4g

ACTION CALL From Free Gaza Movement

Please TAKE ACTION and DEMAND that the United Nations launch an independent
investigation into the Israeli attack against unarmed relief ships in the
Freedom Flotilla. DEMAND that the international community stop simply
condemning Israel's brutal and illegal blockade of Gaza - and
start doing something to end it!

CONTACT
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, The United Nations, New York NY 10017
tel: +1 212 963 5012, fax: +1 212 963 2155 email: sg@un.org

For three days as they were held in captivity last week and unable to speak
on their own behalf, Israel presented the massacre against civilian
passengers on the Mavi Marmara as self-defense against a "lynching." Now
that the passengers are returning to their home nations, the global
community is hearing a much different story, not just regarding the May 31st
attack but also new allegations of brutality in the treatment of several
passengers afterwards once they were in custody inside Israel. Free Gaza is
posting these survivor testimonies on our website, and we
will continue to provide updates as more passengers share their experiences.

As the passenger accounts trickle in, survivors portray the Israeli military
as using excessive and disproportionate force against activists not just on
the Mavi Marmara but the other passenger ships as well. Use of tasers,
electric shocks, rubber bullets and live ammunition (both on board and from
the helicopter hovering above) are documented. Multiple passengers tell
eyewitness accounts of soldiers refusing to allow medical treatment of
injured passengers, specific and focused targeting of journalists on board
and beatings of passengers after their arrival in
Israel, causing at least two passengers to need hospitalization.

"Keeping passengers held in captivity so that they could not share their
perspective was a deliberate attempt by Israel to cover up what really
happened on the Mavi Marmara that fateful night," notes Free Gaza co-founder
Greta Berlin. "They knew what the passengers would be
recounting, but they hoped that by delaying the release of their testimony
until days after the immediate incident, media coverage would be buried as
backpage follow-up stories or dismissed purely as old news." She adds.

In her testimony, Annette Groth, a German Parliamentarian who was a
passenger on Mavi Marmawa validates that assertion saying "The scandal is
that we have to fight the Israeli images only with words. The Israelis
confiscated all the activists' cameras, computers, and mobile phones."

These accounts reveal an "alternative narrative" of the attack on the
Freedom Flotilla that cannot be reconciled with the Israeli version. CONTACT
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon today and DEMAND an independent investigation!
========
Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org