by Ray Cook

<http://view. picapp.com/ default.aspx? term=aid% 20trucks& iid=3468048>
Humanitarian Aid Allowed Into Southern GazaWhilst the world rushes to
judgement on Israel's interception of the Freedom Flotilla and the deaths of
9 Turkish nationals, the actual humanitarian aid languishes in Israel.

Why?

MissingPeace have just issued a report
<http://missingpeace .eu/_download/ MP-00008- EN-20100609_ humanitarian- aid-on-t
he-flotilla. html%20%20> after they inspected the aid along with members of
the media at the Tzifrin army base.

Their report is vital in understanding the true intentions of the Turkish
organisers and also the disgusting way that the IHH hijacked the cause of
the real humanitarians in the convoy.

Journalists including international news media were taken to Tzifrin on June
7th. Only the cargo of one of the ships was at the stage where it had been
processed and unloaded and awaiting delivery. Other ships' cargoes had
already gone through this process and 45 trucks of aid had been loaded ready
to be sent, but not delivered, of which more later. Most of the unloading of
other ships was completed.

The ship in question was the Defne Y.

So you are thinking, ' three ships? But there were six' (Rachel Corrie
arrived later). So here goes:

A breakdown of the cargo found on the ships shows that of the six ships of
the flotilla only three had humanitarian aid aboard:

Gaza ship: building materials, cement, iron - The ship has not been fully
unloaded.

Sofi ship: building materials, iron

Defne Y ship: clothing, humanitarian aid (roughly 40 trucks worth), and
games, building materials, wheelchairs.

The "Marmara": carried only passengers and their personal belongings. Many
passengers carried large sums of money on their body. There was no
humanitarian aid on this ship.

The other two ships did not carry humanitarian aid [either].

There were 600 people on board the Mavi Marmara, mainly Turkish, but no aid.
What then, was their purpose?

This was the largest boat by far. Why fill it with hundreds of people and
their belongings but no aid? Why was the aid, the real aid from the Free
Gaza Movement, on the small ships only?

No aid whatsoever on the largest Turkish boat. It could have taken hundreds
of tonnes. Nothing. Why? Because it was never an aid ship, it was a
blockade-breaking ship. It was an IHH propaganda weapon. It was a political
demonstration. Well that's fine if that is your purpose.

But this ground, the intention of the 'activists' [read: terrorists] who had
taken over the Mavi Marmara in Istanbul and the subsequent lethal
confrontation, is now the subject of an enquiry and has already been covered
ad nauseam.

Let's look at the fate of the cargo.

The humanitarian aid on all the ships was not packaged and not placed on the
ship in an organized way, as one would expect from an organized humanitarian
aid cargo. Everything was in individual units thrown on to a pile on the
ships. This was not only unsafe, but it also caused a lot of damage to the
objects, since the weight crushed a lot of things and since a lot of the
things were just thrown on board.

So even where there was aid, no great care was taken. No-one thought to make
use of an experienced aid agency to advise on loading. Hundreds of people
gave money and aid items which were carelessly loaded. Does this tell us
anything about the real priority of those involved?

And now what rogue/terrorist/ racist/apartheid Israel does:

To deal with the cargo on the ships, here are the stages that it must
undergo by Israel:

1. Israel scans all the cargo and sifts out the humanitarian aid. The
aid is then placed on trucks.

2. The aid goes through x-ray machines to see that everything is indeed
safe.

3. Since nothing was packaged and organized, Israel did this.

This entire procedure costs a lot of time and a lot of money.

They actually package it up!

When asked how many tons of aid [were] on all the ships, the spokesman said
they don't know yet, since the only way one can weigh something is if it's
packaged, compressed and sealed. He showed a stack of wood boxes with labels
and said that this was done by Israel ...

But Hamas still try to smear Israel, accusing them of taking batteries out
of the electric wheelchairs (part of their excuse, no doubt for not letting
the aid through).

The spokesman said that first of all, Hamas can't know what Israel is doing
because they are not allowing the aid into the Strip. Secondly, one needs to
take out the batteries from the wheel chairs because if they are stored for
a long time in the heat with the batteries, the batteries get ruined. He
then took the journalists to the inside storage space, which is kept cool.
There all the batteries were neatly placed in boxes all lined up. He said
that the minute they will get a green light from Gaza, Israel can transfer
everything into the Strip. Then the batteries will be transferred together
with the chairs.

The batteries for the electric wheel chairs are gel batteries. Hamas says
that Israel does not allow the entry of batteries into the Gaza Strip. Asked
what the problem is with batteries the spokesman said the problem is not
with gel but with liquid batteries. This is because 1 liter of this battery
liquid can produce 50 kilos of nitroglycerin which is an active ingredient
in the manufacture of explosives, specifically dynamite.

One can't avoid the conclusion that Hamas invented a serious need for
wheelchairs specifically because they wanted the liquid batteries to make
explosives and if Israel didn't allow them in they can accuse them of
callousness. But this time Hamas weren't quite clever enough. They should
have been more specific when they asked for wheelchairs.

For me the story of the wheelchairs shows exactly why there is a blockade
and exactly why even items that look innocent, such as wheelchairs, have to
be checked and why Israel insisted that the ships dock at Ashdod.

Some of the cargo was expired medicine and worn goods. Only 1 per cent of
the goods by weight was medicine.

A Japanese reporter who visits Gaza regularly, said that what is needed in
Gaza is hospital/medical equipment and medicine. He said that if the
flotilla would have been really concerned about what is needed in Gaza, they
would have made sure to send more medical things.

Indeed. But even these expired medicines were being stored by Israel in a
cool indoor space.

And then finally, there was a complete fiasco concerning what to do with the
aid because Hamas refuses to accept it. Hamas says the aid is tainted by its
passage through Israel, even though hundreds of tonnes come through via
Israel every day. The other reason is that they are waiting for Turkey to
decide what to do with it.

The Japanese reporter was trying to unravel the reasons for the delay in
delivering this so-called vital aid.

He spoke with the PA civil-committee about this issue. They said that it is
the responsibility of UNRWA. Then he called UNRWA and he was told that they
are not in contact with Israel and that it is not in their power to decide,
but that it is the responsibility of UNSCO.

UNRWA also said that they received a message from Hamas telling them that
they should not allow any humanitarian aid from the flotilla to enter the
Gaza Strip. UNSCO also said that they are not in charge of the flotilla
aid. They said that UNRWA deals with it, when confronted with the UNRWA
reference to them, the man on the phone laughed and said this is not the
case.

Next was COGAT, they first refused to give specific names and said "you can
imagine who these international authorities are". When pressed they said
they are in touch with UNRWA, the Red Cross and "other powerful players such
as the USA", The COGAT official did not want to get more specific because he
did not want to blame any particular organization until things are sorted
out. The International Red Cross in Gaza told that they have their own
projects and bring in their own aid.

They said they have nothing to do with the flotilla. When asked if they have
met with Hamas about the flotilla, IRC said that they have had discussions
with Hamas who told them not to accept any of the aid...

... [The Japanese journalist] said that if there is a real need for
humanitarian aid in Gaza then everyone would work quickly to allow the entry
of the aid into the Strip. Furthermore he said that if in Africa they need
food, no one waits to deliver it.

Yet these very same international relief agencies are the first to accuse
Israel of causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

This is beyond belief.

*See also the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs report:
www.mfa. gov.il/MFA/ Government/ Communiques/ 2010/Equipment_ aid_Gaza_ flo
tilla_7-Jun- 2010.htm

_____

Copyright 2010 by the author. This work is posted at
www.raymondc ook.net/blog/ index.php/ 2010/06/10/ hamas-israel- and-the-fl
otilla-aid/