Israel's unprovoked attack

It is difficult to understand the motivation behind Israel's attack on the aid flotilla this morning.

For those that haven't heard the news,the Israelis decided that it would be a good idea to board the lead ship in the "peace flotilla which has been heading for Gaza carrying essential supplies from Cyprus.

The Israelis claim that they were shot at first,but the action has resulted in at least 15 deaths.

Israel has been villified over the attack with many countries calling their ambassadors in and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Canada, having cancelled a scheduled visit to Washington on Tuesday to return to Israel.

Israel's deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon,accused the convoy of a "premeditated and outrageous provocation", describing the flotilla as an "armada of hate".

Here in Britain,William Hague has put out the following statement”I deplore the loss of life during the interception of the Gaza Flotilla. Our Embassy is in urgent contact with the Israeli Government. We are asking for more information and urgent access to any UK nationals involved.

Meanwhile hundreds of activists blocked Whitehall shouting "Free Palestine" and carrying flags and banners with slogans such as "Stop Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" and "End the Criminal Siege of Gaza".

In Istanbul, 10,000 protesters gathered outside the Israeli consulate chanting "Murderous Israel you will drown in the blood you shed!"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he described as a “disproportionate use of force.”

“All light must be shed on the circumstances of this tragedy, which underlines the urgency of resuming peace talks,” Sarkozy said in a statement.

Palestinian journalist sentenced to 18 months by West Bank court

Tareq Abu Zayd, the correspondent of Hamas-run TV station Al-Aqsa was found guilty by a Palestinian Authority military court last week.

He was found guilty of charges of seditious acts and impart information and smuggling money to parties hostile to the Palestinian National Authority in a manner contrary to the provisions of Palestinian law.

A group of Arab human rights organizations in a public statement said that the court ruling about the Palestinian journalist Tareq Abu Zeid by a special military court is illegal and unfair and considered a precedent and contrary to the standards of protection of Freedom of speech and expression.

According to RSF

The supreme court in Ramallah ordered his release on 12 January but the order was ignored. Zayd was arrested several times last year by militias loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Twitter from Cairo

Another example of the uses of twitter comes from Global Voices online.

Here a Palestinian mother is stranded at Cairo International airport

Some more comment on the reporting of Gaza

A couple of interesting posts about the media coverage of the Gaza conflict this morning.

Over at Charlie Beckett's Polis blog there is a guest appearance by Nina Bigalke who has been researching Al Jazeera's English channel for the last 18 months.

She points out the advantage that the channel has

The reason why the Israeli government’s ban was not effective in the case of AJE is strikingly simple. Their correspondents were around before the news broke. As coincidental as this may sound, it is symptomatic of a different approach to reporting where continuous presence takes precedence over momentary action.

and adds that

Those who are turning to Al Jazeera English for an entirely different kind of journalism may not find what they are looking for – but in its reporting on Gaza, the channel shows where its real potential for making a difference lies: in having a presence before news breaks in regions where other networks predominantly engage in situations of acute crisis. And in the political and cultural sensitivity on the part of the journalists that is growing out of this presence.

Whilst Reuters reports that

Israel has opened a hotline for tip-offs about uniformed officers or politicians suspected of spilling state secrets.

As the Israeli government continues its crackdown on reporting from the region it reports that

Soldiers have had cellphones confiscated to prevent them sending SMS messages about combat losses or troop deployments as they advance on Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas in Gaza.
Military censors, who avoid nosing around routine news coverage, now show their teeth. Two Israeli freelancers were arrested on suspicion they gave an Iranian TV station details about the Gaza sweep that was not cleared for publication.

Gaza reporting like a football match

Robert Fisk was on the world service last night and described the reporting from the Middle East as being like a football match.

You can read a summary transcript HERE courtesy of media workers against the War but here is an excerpt

If the western journalists were in Gaza they would be able to talk not to the man the street but to the man and the woman and the child in the hospital. And we can’t do that, none of us can. And that is the problem.
It’s not that the images are a distortion – the images are real. The distortion is when we’re told afterwards that the Palestinians deserve it or indeed that the Palestinians had it coming to them because Hamas was using them, Hamas was in the school.