Survivor of the Mavi Marmara Massacre; Lubna Masarwa Speaks Out

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Tuesday June 15, 2010 12:53

by TD - Free Palestine Campaign

"Blood was pouring from the bodies of the dead and the injured"

Palestinian, Lubna Masarwa was the Free Gaza Movement representative aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara which was carrying a cargo of humanitarian and construction aid - as well as letters from Turkish children to Gazan children - to illegally besieged Gaza when it was murderously attacked in international waters on May 31st, 2010. Lubna witnessed the many crimes of the Israeli military aboard that night and in a Electronic Intifada article and a video interview yesterday, she spoke out:

Lubna Masarwa and Al-Jazeera reporter Othman Abufalah

Blood was pouring from the bodies of the dead and the injured. We wanted to help them, but we had no medical equipment to treat them. There was nothing we could do. One Turkish woman was crying and saying goodbye to the body of her dead husband, petting his face and reading the Quran over him. Another man had a bullet wound in his head and was dying. They (the Israeli commandos) were standing around us with the blood of their victims on their boots, joking and making lewd sexual suggestions to each other about the female prisoners.

Lubna is currently under house arrest in Kfor Qara, Palestine and is barred from leaving the country for 45 days.

Caption: Video Id: hx68d3tUlLo Type: Youtube Video
Part 1: Lubna Masarwa, Survivor of the Mavi Marmara Massacre Speaks Out

Caption: Video Id: APK65ep4b8Y Type: Youtube Video
Part 2: Lubna Masarwa, Survivor of the Mavi Marmara Massacre Speaks Out

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Comments (3 of 3)

One Brave, Brave Woman: Huwaida Arraf

by Pulchra

Tue Jun 15, 2010 15:25

In this 2008 video, Huwaida Arraf, another survivor of the Gaza flotilla massacre, confronts Israeli Occupation Forces firing rubber bullets at protestors, grapples with one of them and repeatedly blocks the shooters with her body and the wonder of it all is that they didn't shoot her as happened to another brave woman, Caoimhe Butterly and many others.

Caption: Video Id: SQyIKyd2gqA Type: Youtube Video
Israel Soldier _Palestine Girl

Beit Jala protest (13-06-2010)

by TD - FPC

Tue Jun 15, 2010 15:04

For months now, the people of Beit Jala along with internationals and Israelis with live conscience have been vigorously protesting against the theft of their lands for the construction of a new section of Israel's illegal Apartheid-Annexation Wall and last Sunday's protest proved true to the norm when a small number of determined activists tried to stop the machinery doing the preparatory ground work but were stymied by Israeli Occupation Forces employing tear gas and violence: According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Apartheid-Annexation Wall will stretch over 4,890 meters between Beit Jala and al-Wallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition. Once completed, the Wall will isolate 3,200 dunams of the towns lands, including almost 3,000 dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery. Beit Jala lies only two kilometers from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Its name comes from Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, and means "grass carpet".

Beit Jala

Caption: Video Id: 7GdUKFUYhEQ Type: Youtube Video
Beit Jala Protest 13-06-2010

Nabi Saleh protest (11-06-2010)

Tue Jun 15, 2010 13:14

Last Friday's protest was focused on the latest threat to the village; the serving of demolition orders on eight houses, an illegal move which has deeply alarmed the villagers as the houses face the illegal Israeli "settler" colony of Halamish and is being interpreted as a sure sign of creeping annexation and the future ethnic cleansing of the tiny village. Of the eight houses, three were built prior to the 1967 occupation with the permission of the then Jordanian authorities, the owners of the houses concerned can appeal the decision but due to the irredeemable corruption of the Israeli judicial system, a positive outcome is not envisaged. Meanwhile, the IOF repression of the peaceful Friday protests continues apace with last Friday's protest noteworthy for a Palestinian activist being smashed to the ground and rendered semi unconscious with a rifle butt to the head and the arrest of three activists, one of whom, the nonpareil, Israeli Anarchist Against the Wall, Eyal Nir, was also arrested last Friday in Nabi Saleh.

All three demonstrators were later released without charge and the Palestinian, I'm happy to report, endured no serious injuries.

Palestinian protestor brought to the ground with a rifle butt to the head and then kicked