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Deputies remember Mavi Marmara victims at EP
The proposal for a minute of silence was made at the Union For Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday. Zeynep Dağı, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who represented Turkey in the meeting and played a pivotal role in securing the acceptance of the resolution, told Today's Zaman that she was glad her proposal together with the Palestinian delegation to commemorate the victims was approved by the assembly.
The victims were called “martyrs” before starting a minute of silence. While all the representatives respected the decision to have a minute of silence, the Israeli deputy Majalli Whbee refused to stand up and did not pay tribute to those killed. Whbee’s refusal to participate was roundly condemned by other deputies in the meeting. The strongest reaction came from Ivo Vajgl, a liberal member of European Parliament (MEP) from Slovenia, who characterized Whbee’s attitude as inhumane and told him that Europeans would never show such a bluntly disrespectful reaction to people who had died for a humanitarian cause.
Condemning Israel’s attempts to ban all NGOs, Vajgl said it was a huge mistake and not consistent with democratic principles. Underlining the appalling conditions in Gaza, Vajgl also argued that Israel was systematically creating the basis for an apartheid state in the West Bank.
Representing the EU term president Spain, Carlos Fernandez Arias, the Spanish representative to the EU’s Political and Security Committee, once more stressed that what Israel did in international waters was unacceptable and should not be repeated. Adding that there could be other flotillas bound for Gaza, the Spaniard said Israel would be isolated as long as it pursued its current policy.
The Union For Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs, Security and Human Rights also agreed on a resolution that strongly condemned Israeli aggression. Dağı, the chairwoman of the Turkish delegation to the union, who was instrumental in the wording of the resolution, said she was insistent on condemnation of Israel by name.
The resolution “condemns the attack by Israeli forces against the flotilla on May 31, 2010, in international waters, which is a breach of international law … [and] strongly deplores the loss of life.” Welcoming the easing of the blockade by Israel, the resolution asked for an international, impartial and independent investigation, and called on the Israeli state to lift the blockade “swiftly, completely and sustainably.”
With its resolution on June 17, the European Parliament condemned the attack without referring to Israel and called for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by mentioning his name twice. Some MEPs had criticized the condemnation as “too weak.”
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