Latest Channel 4 News:
Row over Malaysian state's coins
'Four shot at abandoned mine shaft'
Rain fails to stop Moscow wildfires
Cancer blow for identical twins
Need for Afghan progress 'signs'

Killed Gaza flotilla activist was US citizen

By Kylie Morris, Lindsey Hilsum

Updated on 03 June 2010

As the US confirms one of those killed in Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla was American, Najwa Sheikh Ahmed describes to Channel 4 News the trauma of life under the Gaza blockade.

Flotilla activists return to Turkey

One of the nine activists killed by Israeli commandos in a raid on an aid flotilla on Monday was a US citizen, the US State Department has confirmed.

Furkan Dogan, 19, was a Turkish students but had been born in the United States and had emigrated to Turkey as a child, the New York Times is reporting.

Turkish news reports say Doga, a passenger on the Mavi Marmara, was shot once in the chest and four times in the head at close range.

The Washington Post is reporting that the White House orged Israel to exercise restraint before the raid, in part because American citizens were on board the flotilla.

The view from Gaza
Channel 4 News International Editor Lindsey Hilsum, speaking from inside Gaza, told Jon Snow that Israel had taken the aid seized from the flotilla to the border post with Gaza, but that Gaza had refused to accept it.

But she explained that the situation was more complex than it seemed. An UN aid worker had told her that normally aid deliveries have to be coordinated with Israel.

She said the aid was now "sitting there" and could block further supplies which could be even more urgently needed.

UN statistics show that 80 per cent of the population in Gaza is dependent on food aid, Lindsey Hilsum said, and there was 40 per cent unemployment.

The view of several Gazans, as reported by Lindsey Hilsum, was that the fatal attack on the flotilla was typical of Israel. But one man she had spoken to told her: “We just hope they haven’t died in vain.”


Meanwhile, 37 British nationals held by Israel after the storming of the aid flotilla bound for Gaza are expected to start arriving home today.

The first Briton to arrive back in London, pro-Palestinian campaigner Sarah Colborne, gave her account of what happened on Monday, describing how she had seen fellow passengers who had been shot dead or critically injured.

At a press conference, Ms Colborne said: "This mission was a peace mission. It was to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been under an illegal siege and blockade.

"And yet our boat was attacked in international water by the Israeli authorities."

Ms Colborne told Channel 4 News's Kylie Morris she did not see clubs being used on the Israeli commandos by members of the aid flotilla. "I just saw people standing there shouting."


Hundreds of activists from the convoy were welcomed by cheering supporters in Istanbul - after they were deported from Israel.

The Turkish planes, with 460 people on board, also carried the coffins of the nine people killed when Israeli forces stormed the ships carrying aid to Gaza. Another three air ambulances carrying wounded activists arrived in Ankara earlier - they were taken for treatment at a local medical centre.

Sarah Colborne, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was one of those on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked. She said she had seen one man being shot dead, and another who had been shot in the head.

"It was just literally bristling with ships, helicopters, gunfire. The whole thing was horrific." she said.

Another Briton, Kevin Ovenden, said he had seen a man who had been pointing a camera get shot deadthrough the forehead.

Read Lindsey Hilsum's blog
- What does the raid mean for US-Israel relations?

More from on the Gaza flotilla raid from Channel 4 News
- Gaza flotilla attack: international outrage
- Gaza flotilla raid: injured Briton named
- Israel sent 'wrong' men says expert
- Israel raid on Gaza aid ships: list of Britons aboard

Other activists accused Israel of brutality, claiming they'd been abused and beaten by troops and police. Paveen Yaqub, from Manchester, told the Guardian she had been kicked and mocked by two Israeli policemen.

"They were trying to take trophy pictures with me... they took pleasure in humiliating us", she said.

As he greeted the returnees at Istanbul's Ataturk the airport, Turkey's deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Israel would be asked "within the framework of laws to pay for the murders it has committed", describing the raids as "an act of piracy".

The United Nations Human Rights council has voted to set up an independent inquiry - while the UN chief Ban Ki-Moon demanded an immediate end to the Israeli blockade.

Gaza mother Najwa Sheikh Ahmed describes life under the Israeli blockade
Sometimes I feel I have been completely drained of the last drop of any maternal feelings.

If you pass your day in Gaza safely then you are lucky. It is a place where every day survived is a blessing, no matter how much the kind of stress you have to deal with.

However, you can't stop thinking of what will happen the next day - whether you will have another "normal" day or whether you will have to face another wave of overwhelming fears, the kind that leaves you completely exhausted and tired.

Life in Gaza has totally changed since the blockade, where peole now look only to survive, unable to taste the joy of a given moment, overwhelmed by the extremely violent life and traumatic events they are forced to endure.

To read more, click here

So ar Israel has resisted calls for an investigation: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted last night that his country had 'no choice' but to storm the flotilla as part of its efforts to stop arms being smuggled into Gaza.

He insisted soldiers had faced "a vicious mob" and dismissed criticism of the raid as "international hypocrisy".


And despite its international isolation, Israel has received some support from the United States. Vice-President Joe Biden defended Israel's right to board ships bound for Gaza, telling the Charlie Rose show on PBS: "Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest."

And after suggesting the aid cargo could have been unloaded elsewhere, he went on: "So what's the big deal here?"

But behind the scenes, US officials are said to believe that Israel's blockade of Gaza is untenable, turning the territory into a symbol of the suffering of the Palestinian people. And many believe that this could be the moment to push for a completely new approach.

For it is clear that the wider issue of peace in the region is at stake: America's peace envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, insisted this morning that the crisis should not be allowed to undermine the indirect peace talks he is brokering between Israel and the Palestinians.

Despite the outcry, the Palestinians have still been taking part in the talks through Mr Mitchell, who met President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.

As for the aid from the flotilla itself - it's been unloaded and sent by land to Gaza - but today it's being reported that Hamas officials are refusing to accept the goods until Israel has freed all of the detainees.

Turkey and Israel: souring international relations
Ever since Prime Minister Erdogan stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in January 2009 following remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres, it was clear that Turkish and Israeli relations were entering a turbulent phase, writes Ziya Meral.

The rift continued to deepen when Israel refused to allow Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu to visit the Gaza strip on an official visit to Israel in September 2009.

In retaliation, Turkey cancelled Israel's participation at a joint international air exercise in October 2009. In January 2010, the diplomatic tensions rocketed when the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon summoned the Turkish ambassador to protest against an anti-Semitic episode of a popular Turkish television drama.

In a bizarre populist show of superiority, Ayalon sought to insult the Turkish ambassador by placing him on a lower chair and by urging the media to report the lower seating of the ambassador.

Verbal duels between the Netanyahu and Erdogan administrations gave way to subtle signals through cutbacks on defence trade between the two countries, something that has been a major aspect of Turkish Israeli relations.

Since 1990s, Turkey and Israel had enjoyed quiet cooperation on joint military exercises, modernisation of military equipment, intelligence sharing and arms trade in addition to investments in civilian enterprises.

Until last Sunday, there were still strong reasons to believe that Israel and Turkey will continue to enjoy these quiet exchanges but with caution and some downsizing. Things look pretty different now.

Last Sunday's events could have been prevented and Israel could have been saved from a major international public condemnation if it had not chosen to stop the vessels carrying aid to Gaza with a theatrical military operation.

Although the details of exactly what happened is far from clear, the end result is the death of at least nine activists and equal numbers of wounded Israeli soldiers. Israel is still seeking to win a moral and political higher ground by arguing that the flotilla posed a security threat to Israel, if not the entire region, by "supporting" Hamas and other terrorists.

The response of the Turkish government has been extremely strong, yet calculated and carefully ambiguous thus far. Public threats of a major overhaul of Turkish Israeli relations have only been followed by immense efforts at the UN, EU and US levels to force Israel to accept culpability.

However, with the Israeli government continuing to take a hard stance, the statements by various Turkish politicians that things will never be the same again will probably come true. Israel may have just lost its only Muslim ally, and one which is an increasingly ambitious and powerful force in the Middle East.

Ziya Meral is a London-based Turkish analyst and writer. As an expert on Turkish and Middle East politics, he has briefed various governments and spoke at briefings at the US Congress and British Houses of Parliament.

Send this article by email

More on this story

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest International politics news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

Living with the Taliban

Taliban on the Afghan frontline

A rare film of Taliban fighters on the Afghan frontline.

Pakistan appeal

image

Actor Art Malik on why he is fronting the DEC's flood appeal.

Tackling Taliban IEDs

image

Bomb disposal soldiers on lonely walk to defuse bombs.

Snowmail




Channel 4 © 2010. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.