best of luck erdogan....
i read this n wanted to share..
WONDER how many of you remember the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro way back in October 1985?
Four members of the Palestine Liberation Front took control of the liner off Egypt as it was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said.
It was a bungled operation in which the hijackers killed disabled Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and then threw his body overboard.
The incident created headlines around the world and polarised people over the Palestinian cause.
It also prompted the lawmakers to create new legislation making it an international crime for anyone to take a ship by force.
And this is the reason for the brief history lesson
under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988.
It is an international crime for anyone to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process.
The treaty necessarily adopts a strict approach. One cannot attack a ship and then claim self-defence if the people on board resist the unlawful use of violence.
In other words, according to international law, the actions of the Israeli military were beyond the law and those involved should be treated no differently than, say, the Somali pirates who are also in the habit of boarding ships by force.
Any rights to self defence in such dramatic circumstances rests purely with the passengers and crew on board. Under international maritime law you are legally en titled to resist unlawful capture, abduction and detention.
What those on board the Freedom Flotilla did was perfectly legal. I believe they acted with great courage in the face of heavily armed IDF commandos.
Now I want you to ask yourself this question
if a group of Somali pirates had forced their way onto half a dozen humanitarian aid ships from the West, slaughtering around nine or 10 people and injuring scores more what do you think the international reaction would have been?
Let me tell you. A Nato task force would by now be steaming towards the Horn of Africa accompanied by a couple of drones and various members of the press to record the occasion.
So why is Israel allowed to get away with murder? In a pre-meditated act the Zionist state showed once again its total disregard for human life and international law.
YVONNE RIDLEY
President, International Muslim Womens Union Via email
Dawn ePaper
