Freedom Flotilla: Long Story Short

Early Monday morning people all over the world woke up to the news of Freedom Flotilla being captured by the "Israelis". However, the information of what happened was blurry and inaccurate, since the "Israelis" themselves recounted the story.

What really happened? How many were hurt? How many were killed? What is to happen now? All were questions most people asked, yet did not have a trustworthy source to go back to, especially since the "Israelis" took hostage the activists on the ships. It was not until after the freedom flotilla passengers were released, when the real story came into light.

Ahmed Farouk Unsal from the "Mazloum Der" association, a Turkish association for human rights and solidarity with oppressed people was present on the Marmara ship. It was his third time in sailing to Gaza. Abbas Nasser from Al Jazeera TV station was covering the activities on the European ship from Athena. Each from a different ship, Abbas and Ahmed had the same story to tell.

In an interview with moqawama.org, Ahmed Farouk said, "We were performing morning prayers, it was about 4:30, and it very was dark. The "Israelis" suddenly came by very speedy ships, and they tried to hook to the ship and climb by ropes. But all of us were very careful about this issue and did not let them, we actually unhooked the ropes and they did not achieve to climb"

"We heard sounds of echo bombs (but I don't know if it was actual echo bombs) and in about half a min we saw the soldiers go down from helicopters to the Marmara ship", he stated.

Ahmed Farouk added that the "Israeli" soldiers then began shooting using plastic bullets. He went on saying that passengers on the ship defended themselves because they were in international waters, so "Israel" does not have the right to do so.

"We used our right of self defense, so our brothers took iron bars and wooden bars for defending", Farouk Added.

Regarding the shooting and "Israeli" attacks, Farouk said, "They began shooting everybody so when we saw that they are killing our brothers we revealed our white shirts and started calling them to please stop shooting. After we put our shirts on again they continued shooting. When the shooting stopped we saw that there were deaths and others wounded on our ship".

He continued that they were handcuffed and taken out to deck, where "Israel" practiced psychological torture, as keeping them in the sun for 6 hours, in addition to physical torture used, when two Flotilla organizing men were interrogated.

Commenting on the current situation in Turkey regarding the Flotilla attack, he expressed that everybody is very angry, putting across their eagerness to join in other ship convoy to Gaza if organized.

"First we must see what kind of judicial law can be taken against the "Israelis", for they committed crimes, they killed us in international waters, they took our belongings (money, personal computers, and cameras), and wounded many", Farouk said.

The Turkish activist also stressed that this should be investigated and trialed, and because turkey has the right for international jurisdiction, they will try to use this instrument.

"Of course nobody is scared or afraid, our first attempt is to end the siege on Gaza, so our duty has not been done yet, it's still our goal, and we will try to end the siege", Farouk said with determination.

As for Abbas Nasser, he told moqawma.org about his experience on the flotilla. "I was on the ship with the European activists, which came from Athena. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, the captain told us that the "Israelis" are close, so we went up on deck, and in about 5 minutes we see a vast expansion of the "Israeli" navy in the sea with big war ship, they pass by us and gather around the Turkish ship, Mavi-Marmara".

Abbas continued that after that, the enemy navy came to the European Ship, on which he was aboard, where the activists tried to form a human shield chain to protect the ship.

Abbass Nasser reported that the "Israelis" used electric shocks, paint balls, and echo bombs, continuing to some clashing causing the severe injury of the captain as well as others.

Al Jazeera reporter revealed the brutality of the "Israeli" soldiers, saying that the torture was psychological, especially at the time of interrogations.

Although a reporter of the most-watched satellite Arabic-speaking TV station Al Jazeera, as a Lebanese citizen, Abbass Nasser received a very "special" treatment from the "Israeli" navy.

"They isolated me before the time of leaving hitting me a little and they began threatening me that I will not be going home, yet we were the last to return", Abbass Nasser said about his experience.

The long story of Gaza did not end with Freedom Flotilla and its events; it is just a beginning for the end of the siege, especially since now another ship from Ireland is heading to Gaza in the name of Rachel Corrie. Other ship convoys are also being organized to set sail to Gaza in upcoming few weeks.