Desert Peace - Nine Turkish families, including the parents of an American citizen buried their loved ones two years ago, all victims of Israeli terrorism at sea. May they never be forgotten. May their memory serve as an inspiration for all seeking Justice and Peace throughout the world. May their murderers never be forgiven for their crime against humanity.
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Putting Names To the Faces
Furkan Dogan, 19. Born in the USA with dual Turkish-US citizenship. Student at Kayseri High School, planning to study medicine. Two siblings.
Necdet Yildirim, 32. From Malatya. IHH aid worker. Married with a three-year-old daughter.
Cevdet Kiliçlar, 38. From Kayseri. IHH aid worker, former journalist. Married with two children. You can see some of his photos at Flickr.
Ali Haydar Bengi, 39. From Diyarbakir. Graduate in Arabic Literature by Al-Azhar University, Cairo. Married with 4 children.
Cengiz Akyüz, 41. From Iskenderun. Married with three children.
Fahri Yaldiz, 43. From Adiyaman. Firefighter. Married with four children.
Cengiz Songür, 47. From Izmir. Married with seven children.
Çetin Topçuoglu, 54. From Adana. Former taekwondo champion, coach of Turkey’s national taekwondo team. Married with one son. (Link to his Facebook page)
Ibrahim Bilgen, 61. From Siirt. Electrical engineer. Member of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey. Married with 6 children.
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Literally adding insult to injury, YouTube allowed the following ‘parody’ on its site despite saying it would be removed …. two years later it’s still there.
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Views of our Associate, Mazin Qumsiyeh (from the archives)
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Time to hold Israel accountable
By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Israeli government refuses an International probe into its illegal piracy and massacre of Gaza humanitarian aid ships and ‘accidentally distributed a video mocking the humanitarian activists. The Israeli occupation forces admitted doctoring one audiotape from the Mavi Marmara ship. The lies are beginning to crumple with testimonies from survivors (see below). But we will not drop this case because it may yet prove to be the straw that breaks the back of International complicity. Today in Beit Jala, we had a mock coffin, a mock ship, Turkish and international flags and of course the obligatory Israeli tear gas and harassment. One Israeli peace activist, Roni Barkan, was arrested. We are dismayed that Palestinian security in coordination with Israeli security decided to prevent us from going to demonstrate from downtown Beit Jala (or to return to downtown) but we keep going from another location and we show Israeli war criminals that we care about the land and we care about the people of Gaza and we care about the victims of the massacre committed at sea Monday.
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May they never be forgotten: Meet the victims of the Israeli massacre: names, pictures and brief biographies
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(By the way, Israeli forces have stolen passports and belongings from dozens of activists)
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Even in Israel within the green line, there were demonstrations against the massacres, this one in Tel Aviv drew 15-20,000 participants (and right-wing thugs tried to attack 86 year old Uri Avnery after the crowds dispersed)
and watch the Knesset fascists try to stop an Arab member of the Knesset from speaking and then attacking her (Haneen Zuabi has received many death threats and hundreds have signed onto a facebook page calling for her execution; so much for ‘democracy’ in the racist apartheid state)
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The protests MUST continue and grow….
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ACTIONS: Protest at Israeli missions, Israeli government appearances, and write to media, and politicians to demand that Israel be held accountable and end the siege on Gaza. Call the representative to Israel.
Call or send an email to US representatives
Call the White House: 1.202.456.1111, Department of State: 1.202.647.4000
Finally and most importantly, support the call from Palestinian Civil Society for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
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