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The Raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 Opinion on International Law By EJDM Europäische Vereinigung von Juristinnen und Juristen für Demokratie und Menschenrechte in der Welt e.V. ELDH European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights EJDH Asociacion Europea de los Juristas por la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos en el Mundo EJDH Association Européenne des Juristes pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme dans le Monde EGDU Associazione Europea delle Giuriste e dei Giuristi per la Democrazia e i Diritti dell’Uomo nel Mondo Professor Bill Bowring, President (London) Professeure Monique CHEMILLIER- GENDREAU, Présidente d’honneur (Paris) Thomas SCHMIDT (Rechtsanwalt) Secretary General (Duesseldorf) The raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 Opinion on international law by Prof. em. Dr. Norman Paech University of Hamburg I. The facts The raid by the Israeli army on the Free Gaza Flotilla in the early morning of 31 May 2010 aroused worldwide indignation. In the raid, nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara, sailing under the Turkish flag, died, and at least forty-five were injured, some of them seriously. While a considerable body of opinion sees this as a serious breach of international law, and even speaks of war crimes, the Israeli army regards itself as fully justified, and following an internal review has admitted only that there were some slips in the planning and execution of the seizure of the ships1. Before the events can be further analysed with regard to international law, it is first necessary to set out the sequence in which they occurred, which is constantly being described differently. Only six of the original eight ships gathered on 30 May in international waters, far south of the island of Cyprus and east of Israel. They were the passenger ships MV Mavi Marmara under the Komor flag, MV Challenger I under the US flag and MV Sfendoni under the Togo flag, the freighter MV Defney under the Kiribati flag, the MV Eleftheri Mesogeio (Free Mediterranean) under the Greek flat and the MV Gazze I Sofia under the Turkey flag. Shortly after it sailed from the Greek harbour of Agios Nikolaos, the US flagged MV Challenger II had to abandon its journey and transfer its passengers to the Mavi Marmara as the result of damage to the steerage mechanism, an obvious act of sabotage by the Israeli army2. The freighter Rachel Corrie under the Cambodia flag from Ireland did not reach the meeting place in time as a result of a number of problems. President Professor Bill BOWRING (Barrister) Secretary General Thomas SCHMIDT, Rechtsanwalt Barrister, Professor of Law Platanenstrasse 13 Birkbeck College, University of London D - 40233 - DUESSELDORF School of Law FON: + 49 - (0)211 - 444 001 Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX MOBILFON: + 49 - (0)172 - 68 10 888 Direct tel: +44 (020) 7631 6022 FAX: + 49 - (0)211 - 444 027 Law School office: +44 (020) 7631 6507 eMail: [email protected] Fax: +44 (020) 7631 6506 www.eldh.eu Mobile: +44 (0) 781 048 3439 E-mail: [email protected] 2 The raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 – Opinion on international law, by Prof. em. Dr. Norman Paech The ships sailed from Athens, Istanbul and Agios Nikolaos. On board there were a total of slightly more than 700 passengers from thirty-six countries (according to The Guardian 671 passengers; on 5 June, the Israeli ministry of the interior referred to 702 people deported), 577 of them on the Mavi Marmara alone. The freighters were carrying approximately 10,000 te of humanitarian aid, above all food and textiles, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, building materials such as 3,500 te of cement, 750 te of steel, wood, plastic window frames and glass, electric and diesel generators, toys, 20 te of paper etc3. They were not the first ships of the Free Gaza Movement that attempted to break the Gaza Strip blockade. As early as August 2008, two ships carrying forty-four activists succeeded in reaching Gaza – the first international ships in forty-two years. There followed four more successful journeys and three attempts stopped by the Israeli navy. The Spirit of Humanity, which was attacked by the Israeli army and taken to Ashdod on 30 May 2009, has still not been returned. The flotilla was assembled by a coalition of six organisations: 1. The Free Gaza Movement, 2. IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, 3. The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), 4. The International Committee to End the Siege on Gaza, 5. The Greek Ship to Gaza Campaign, 6. The Swedish Ship to Gaza. Before their journey, all the passengers were advised of possible dangers, and they had to agree in writing to observe complete non-violence in the case of a possible confrontation with the Israeli army. It was absolutely prohibited to take arms or ammunition on board, and the loading of the cargo was supervised by the port authorities. When the Israelis later inspected the passengers’ luggage and unloaded the cargo in the port of Ashdod, it was confirmed that this prohibition had been complied with without exception. The first contact with Israeli warships took place on 30 May at about 22.30 hours by radar and radio contact. On being requested to stop the journey, the captain of the Mavi Marmara replied that the flotilla was travelling in international waters, c. 70 – 90 miles off the coast, and that it would continue its journey taking humanitarian supplies to Gaza. At about 23.00 hours, the passengers were requested to go on deck and put on their life jackets, in case there was an Israeli attack. After an hour, the passengers were sent back to their lounges to sleep. The warships followed the flotilla. At this time, the satellite phones and the Türksat satellite frequency, which was used by the Mavi Marmara to communicate with the international media, but also between the ships in the flotilla, were blocked. At about 4.20 hours on the next morning, 31 May, the Mavi Marmara suddenly came under fire. At this time, the flotilla was surrounded by four warships and almost thirty Zodiacs. Three helicopters appeared, and two submarines with a total of about 1,000 soldiers are also said to have taken part in this Operation Sea Breeze4. Israeli soldiers had made an unsuccessful attempt to board the Mavi Marmara from the Zodiacs. The following attack was made with the use of teargas and stun grenades, paint ball guns and rubber-coated steel bullets5. Immediately afterwards, at about 4.30 hours, the attack on the Mavi Marmara was made from helicopters, from which soldiers abseiled onto the upper deck. According to several credible witness reports, the helicopters opened fire first, even before the commandos had reached the deck. In this process, two 3 The raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla on 31 May 2010 – Opinion on international law, by Prof. em. Dr. Norman Paech men who had gone onto the upper deck to defend the ship were killed6. In the following skirmishes, nine persons were killed and fifty-four wounded, twenty-three of them seriously. There are no figures as to how many passengers made a stand against the Israeli soldiers on the upper deck. At all events, they succeeded in disarming three soldiers and taking them to the first-aid post, which had been set up on the second deck. They were only slightly injured. They were treated and were later able to leave the post without assistance. In their struggles with the soldiers, the passengers used rods, iron bars which they said they had sawed out of the deck rail with hacksaws, firehoses, chairs, water bottles and other objects which they found on deck. They did not use the weapons they had captured; some of these were thrown overboard. The fact that the Israeli army has published no details on the soldiers’ injuries underlines the conclusion that the passengers did not use the captured firearms. After about half an hour, at about 5.10 hours, the passengers were requested by loudspeaker in English and Arabic to go to their lounges, remain calm and not offer any form of resistance. They were told that the Israelis had taken over the command of the ship. They obeyed these instructions. The women, who until this time had been confined on the lowest deck for safety reasons, were now also allowed to come up. The Israeli soldiers on the outside decks, who were called on to stop using their firearms, at first ignored these orders. They repeatedly directed their guns from outside at the windows, as soon as a passenger stood up in the lounges. After some time, the Knesset member Hanin Zoabi succeeded in contacting the soldiers. Finally, all the passengers were individually ordered to leave the lounges, examined and their hands bound by cable ties attached to their wrists. They had to kneel in rows in the outer gangways; women and the few Europeans were allowed to sit on the benches. At the same time, the flotilla sailed towards Ashdod. Helicopters brought further reinforcements, including dogs. The other ships were seized at the same time without any deaths and without serious injuries, but not without violence and aggressive insults. The Israeli soldiers used tasers and rubber bullets, hit several passengers with their rifle butts until they bled, bound them with cable ties, put hoods over their heads and bound their eyes – all this despite the fact that there was no violent resistance. Guns were used to force the crews to change course. The journey to Ashdod took more than ten hours. In this time the passengers were given insufficient water and food.
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