Unredacted footage smuggled out by journalists aboard the Mavi Marmara has been posted at http://vimeo.com/....
Update: It is now being carried by The Guardian. A Times Blog has also picked it up (thanks, Charlie)
Update: the allegation of a passenger brandishing a dagger has beenrefuted.
Update: Simone Daud provides a partial translation of Hebrew and a list of names from the booklet here
Zenox provides a partial translation of Turkish comments here
Kudos to both for casting light!
Following up on a post by Phoenix Woman. Unredacted footage smuggled out by journalists aboard the Mavi Marmara has been posted at http://vimeo.com/.... My analysis of it is as follows. For the first half hour, there are photos from around the ship. Nothing special. Then (slightly edited to add links]:
The Israelis come alongside ca. 32:00. They fire something around 36:00 and what looks to be a cloud of gas appears. There could also be gunfire at this point; one can’t tell. Someone throws something, maybe a tear gas canister at the boat at about 37:20, and it bounces off near the windscreen. There is the reddish material running down near the ship ladder to the upper deck at ca. 38:00. Someone says, "This is blood." and repeats it. Someone else, who sounds Norwegian, says it’s a paintball. A laser sighting dot appears on the deck at about 39:30 and the Norwegian (?) says something about "live ammunition". Commandos come down at 41:30, so this appears to be the same/similar film as in the first tape [which does not seem to show firing or tear gas from the commandos]. One of the passengers appears to be holding a stick at 42:00. A young man shoots a slingshot at the helicopter; he is joined by another. The helicopter takes off. Sounds that could be gunshots. At 43:25, a wounded man is brought by. There are sounds that are probably gunfire. A ship warning chime sounds three times. It seems that the wounded man is an Israeli soldier in civilian clothes, since papers are shown and said to be "from the Israelis" that are said to show who they wanted to get. In this film, the pictures are at first wiped out by glare, but then the man shows them slowly. There are people on the Challenger 1 and 2. These are the ones on the Mavi Marmara (photo sharpened to try to read the writing). I don’t recognize the people. But most of them look a little elderly to be terrorists. After 45:00, one man apparently dies and others are shown with wounds.
It would help if people who speak Arabic, Turkish, Norwegian, Italian, etc. could help fill in what is being said.
Watch it. Make up your own mind what it shows.
To me, it looks like a bunch of scared people standing up to armed soldiers, displaying remarkable calm and courage. While slingshots and sticks are not non-violent means, neither are they anything compared to lethal force that kills nine people and wounds a couple dozen more. But your mileage may vary.
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Update, 3AM Eastern:
It is now being carried by The Guardian. A Times Blog has also picked it up (thanks, Charlie)
Update, 3:15AM Eastern:
Update, the allegation of a passenger brandishing a dagger has beenrefuted.
Update: 10:30 AM Eastern, 6/13: Simone Daud provides a partial translation of Hebrew and a list of names from the booklet here
Zenox provides a partial translation of Turkish comments here
Kudos to both for casting light!