Of course there were and I forced that admission. The fact that Israel withdrew from Gaza cannot be hidden for long. People will question as to why would a blockade be imposed on Gaza if Israel withdrew.
First of all, the withdrawal of IDF land forces from Gaza in 2005 has not changed much in terms of hardship imposed upon the Gazans.
Yet nowhere do I seem to recall that I have denied IDF withdrawal from the land on Gaza in 2005, contrary to your belief.
Forced my admission?
Be honest here my friend, where have I said that IDF did not withdraw its infantry in 2005 from the Gazan land?
At the end of day, much has been made about the legality of the blockade and its alleged 'illegality' died a quick analytical death. Next was supposedly 'disproportionate' force.
Regarding the disproportionate force, it is a fact not fiction.
There are countless examples of this by IDF and I have pasted the excerpt of one such report by UN which investigated the events in Gaza.
IDF claimed that there was no possibility of deliberate targeting of civilians and its target was Hamas.
Sadly this was proven to be untrue and UN fact finding committee gave an entirely different account.
I posted it before, highlighting some important parts and yet you seem to have ignored it because we are still arguing about the legality of Israeli actions pertaining to Gaza, despite clearly falling in line with the very definition of war crimes.
Here is the link for detailed reading, maybe it makes you understand why the legality of Israeli actions has been in question.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/9B63490FFCBE44E5C1257632004EA67B?opendocument
Deliberately killing civilians whom the IDF troops themselves gathered at a location, deliberately targeting a hospital, etc. These are results of UN fact finding missions and not references that have no significance.
This implicates Israel in crimes that make its operations illegal due to deliberate intent to target civilians and innocents on top of the militant heads that it collects.
This is where the legality of Israeli actions comes into question; this is where most of the world sees the blockade as an extension of the same oppression which Israel has been perpetrating in the name of self defense.
Regarding the particulars of the blockade and its legality, IDF has withdrawn from the Land but it is not like they have left Gaza alone and just resort to the blockade and inspection of goods.
IDF has practically saved itself from bloody urban battles and yet can bombard any area at any given time by using its air assets, naval vessels and its heavy artillery, which it does without any restraint. Hamas is dealt with by using maximum force resulting in a lot of collateral so IDF has not given any respite to Gazans by reducing the military approach.
To pretend that the blockade is a more peaceful posture is not correct.
Blockade currently serves as an additional means to target Gazans as a whole regardless of militant or civilian; it is not an alternative to the bombardment carried out by IDF.
The fact remains that Israel has blockaded Gaza and does not let in ample provisions as per UN and other independent sources. There is a severe shortage of provisions for the use of ordinary Civilians who are all suffering as a result.
This diet program of IDF to slim down the Gazans as a whole may seem Justified to you, to me it is an illegal act of collective punishment of innocents, a war crime against a whole people and has to be condemned.
Here is what ICRC has to say about it.
BBC News - ICRC says Israel's Gaza blockade breaks law
The ICRC, a traditionally neutral organisation, paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption.
"The whole of Gaza's civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law," the agency said in the statement.
And the ICRC blames differences between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for some of Gaza's shortages.
But the key message from the body which rarely publicly criticises governments is that Israel's blockade of Gaza must be lifted.
That message is yet another indication of growing international concern over conditions in Gaza - just last week US President Barack Obama called the situation there unsustainable.
The alleged illegality of the blockade has certainly not died an analytical death as you have commented.
The flotilla raid has actually highlighted the very fact that things in Gaza are not sustainable and what Israel has been doing up til now is certainly not acceptable and in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
The blockade is not legal since it is a deliberate attempt to harm non combatants and innocents.
It is not just being used to screen for weapons or contraband as per comments by Israel on the purpose of the blockade.
At the end of the day, it is deliberately being used against all Gazans to regulate everyday items and create a shortage of these items; it is being used to let in not more than 25% of what was the requirement in 2005.
The intent therefore is to deliberately and directly make life difficult for the ordinary civilian living in Gaza.
The intent is to deliberately make the non combatants suffer.
The intent is criminal, not legal.
The action is in violation of international humanitarian law and hence it is not legal.
If this was not the intent then Israel would have had no problem in satisfying UN and other neutral parties over the amount of provisions it lets into Gaza, the policy of depriving a people of basic provisions of life in adequate quantity is not something we can allude to as legal or justified.
The population density of Gaza is extremely high and a high percentage of the area has been damaged and needs repairs. 60,000 homes were destroyed in the recent years fighting and need to be repaired as well; hospitals were deliberately targeted by IDF and shall need to be repaired as well.
All in all, there is an urgent need to restore some sort of normalcy in Gaza, which is impossible with the blockade in place.
But then these 'peace activists' shot themselves in the foot by posting their own videos that clearly showed assault troops wielding paintball guns, making the Israeli military the laughing stock of the militaries of the world.
Regarding what really happened during this particular episode, the facts have yet to be established regarding who started the violence. Surely relying just on IDF accounts and a brief video processed by Israel is not enough evidence in a court of inquiry.
The peace activists give a different account. The video released so far by Israel stops before the soldiers in the video open fire. The other videos are in bits and pieces as well.
The activists were killed by bullets and not paintball guns, the IDF did not just use paintball guns at the end of the day.
Lots of videos were confiscated by IDF which brutally beat up many journalists/activists during the post operation investigation.
Certainly there needs to be a proper inquiry to establish what happened and more importantly in what order.
Things need to be verified and not just in light of what Israel has to say or offer as evidence or bits and pieces analyzed in isolation.
Were the Israeli commandos in a do or die situation prior to killing the activities?
Were the dead activists attacking IDF soldiers when they were shot? What were the dead activists armed with when they were killed? When did IDF first shoot at the flotilla?
If IDF did nothing wrong and all evidence is in its favor as you so vehemently have been advocating, then surely Israelis have nothing to fear from an independent inquiry by UN.
A UN inquiry is something very much valid here since this was an event which occurred in international waters and with many nationalities involved. What better way to exonerate its soldiers than a UN inquiry?
Surely it would only help Israel if it has not done wrong. Instead as per its norm, Israel has constituted its own commission to investigate the raid.
The defendant shall be both the prosecutor and the Jury.
That has mostly been the way with Israel; it is accountable to no one and has friends in high places to block any attempt to check this tendency of zero accountability.
That is the reason Israel will never be trusted by the Palestinians and most of the world.
I would not be a betting man if I were you.
I am not a betting man, but i can bet one thing.
The day USA stops shielding Israel in the UN security council, the situation will start to improve, otherwise it is a highway to hell for the Palestinian people.
. Who knows what they will say and do and blame on next.
to GAZA!!!! THE CAPITAL OF PALESTINE!!!!!
