Mairead Corrigan, Nobel Peace Laureate, Defies Israeli Blockade

Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan, who is among the 11 passengers on the MV Rachel Corrie, the Gaza-bound Irish aid ship that Israel has vowed to block from breaching the blockade, told the AP today that the group would not offer resistance if the Israeli military tried to take over the vessel.

"We will sit down," Corrigan said in a telephone interview with the AP. "They will probably arrest us ... But there will be no resistance."

Corrigan also told the AP that she has faith that Israel will allow the boat through.

As the AP explains, the Rachel Corrie is a very different endeavor than was the Mavi Marmara.

This latest attempt to breach the blockade differs significantly from the flotilla the Israeli troops intercepted on Monday, killing eight Turks and an American after being set upon by a group of activists.

Nearly 700 activists had joined that operation, most of them aboard the lead boat from Turkey that was the scene of the violence. That boat, the Mavi Marmara, was sponsored by an Islamic aid group from Turkey, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief. Israel outlawed the group, known by its Turkish acronym IHH, in 2008 because of alleged ties to Hamas. The group is not on the U.S. State Department list of terror organizations, however.

By contrast, the Rachel Corrie was carrying just 11 passengers, whose effort was mainly sponsored by the Free Gaza movement, a Cyprus-based group that has renounced violence.

Here's video of the AP interview with Corrigan.

Comments

[Macready]

05:18 AM on 06/07/2010

Bravo Mairead Corrigan! the next ships sail in September . . they need international support . . . give it to them . . .

[randyjet]

01:21 AM on 06/07/2010

Free Gaza to do WHAT? I guess she thinks that more rockets should be shot at Israel and more Jews killed. I would agree with freeing Gaza from Hamas, but I don't think that is what she has in mind.

[sawafrs]

08:44 PM on 06/06/2010

First hand testimony of what happend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeUhwELoKWo

[Jingo]

04:47 PM on 06/06/2010

A Nobel Peace Laureate? But I thought that ship was full of terrorists. Next thing you'll tell me is the guy behind the Nobel Peace Prize invented dynamite or something.

[messy]

05:00 PM on 06/06/2010

Yassir Arafat won the prize. Then he denounced everything he won it for.

[atlantis1star]

07:24 PM on 06/06/2010

Israel is supposed to get out of the Palestinian land. From a little reported story, I remember that the sticking point for peace in Israel was Jerusalem. Israel would concede everything if Palestine would give up Jerusalem. It is the long term goal of Israel to have Jerusalem as its capital.Israel is supposed to get out of the Palestinian land. From a little reported story, I remember that the sticking point for peace in Israel was Jerusalem. Israel would concede everything if Palestine would give up Jerusalem. It is the long term goal of Israel to have Jerusalem as its capital.

The Israeli government has built 3,500 housing units around the settlement to encircle Arab East Jerusalem with Jewish neighborhoods.

In Washington, State Department repeatedly objected to Israeli announcements of plans to expand Maale Adumim, home to 30,000 Israelis in the desert three miles east of Jerusalem.

Palestinians object to any Israeli construction in the West Bank by preventing creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital.

[asdusty]

10:29 AM on 06/06/2010

From the Likud Party platform:

"The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river."
http://www.knesset.gov.il/elections/knesset15/elikud_m.htm

Both sides refuse to acknowledge the existence of the other. Palestinians want to destroy the state of Israel, Israel refuses to construct a Palestinian state.
Both sides behave like terrorists.
Both sides need to change their attitudes.

"In other words, not only do Israelis, who want nothing more than to live free of missile and mortar attacks from Gaza, have no such right, but the country in which they live has no right to exist."
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-harris/to-the-free-gaza-movement_b_602061.html

How about acknowledging the Palestinian states right to exist, as mandated by UN resolutions 181 and 242? This, perhaps, may be the first step to peace.

[LinkSync]

01:14 PM on 06/06/2010

Agreed.
Lets chop off the southern third of Syria and make it New Palestine, move all the populations of Gaza and the West Bank there to build their new homes, schools, hospitals etc.
The Jews will help, as will we, and the rest of the world, and it would be quickly done.

The Palestinians must remain without military arms and be policed by the UN and as part of their Charter or Constitution they must agree that Israel has the right to peaceful existence and that for all time no political entity can exist within New Palestine that seeks the destruction of Israel.

Israel would then have defensible cohesive borders and would by treaty agree to defend New Palestine from any and all attacks, (no doubt Syrians would attack).

If the Syrians refuse the gift of land to their "brothers" we should bomb them endlessly without mercy until they do.

If they never do, then eventually ALL of Syria can become New Palestine.

You may call this The LinkSync Plan.

[belyeu]

02:52 AM on 06/07/2010

"How about acknowledging the Palestinian states right to exist, as mandated by UN resolutions 181 and 242? This, perhaps, may be the first step to peace."

Resolution 181 was accepted by Israel in 1947, how do you think Israel was created. it was the Palestinians that rejected resolution181.

If you recall the Palestinians rejected Barak's peace offer at camp David.

As far as resolution 242 goes Israel has already returned the Sinai and the Gaza but there remains a dispute over the some wording in the resolution. Please see the results of Oslo to further complicate matters.

BTW, Israel has never denied the right of the Palestinian people to exist, I guess you are forgetting the war in 1948, 67, and 73?

[cabrobst]

09:52 AM on 06/06/2010

Have we forgotten who was firing rockets willy-nilly at unarmed civilians? If Israel doesn't inspect cargos, the missiles will start coming in again and many more people on both sides will die.

[LinkSync]

01:23 PM on 06/06/2010

It is always best to "forget" what does not agree with the desire to destroy Israel, otherwise the apologists have to admit to wanting to Murder all Jews in Israel as they support the Jihadists who are more honest at least, and openly declare that intention.

That would be a bit much for them to “feel comfortable with” so they spin and spin around on "issues" and “subtexts” never admitting the fundamental truth.

As long as they mount political pressure in support of organizations like Hamas and others that seek to destroy Israel, there will be political entities that want Israel’s complete and utter destruction so of course the result will be ongoing war and misery for all concerned.

Israel has the right to exist in peace, until that is actively supported by ALL political entities war is the Jew's only option.

[atlantis1star]

02:35 PM on 06/06/2010

Israeli naval operators engaged in radio communications with the MV Rachel Corrie refused to address the ship by its current name.

The Israeli military apparently not only refuses to accept responsibility for killing unarmed civilians — it refuses to even utter the name of the killed American girl.

Rachel Corrie, 23, was killed when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer. Rachel was trying to stop the bulldozer from demolishing the home of a Palestinian doctor in the Gaza Strip.

To see what the Israel killers are doing go to..
hxxp://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0303/S00153.htm

[messy]

05:01 PM on 06/06/2010

It's amazing what kind of lies you can find on the 'net.

[banker67]

09:43 AM on 06/06/2010

Courage is what you need when you don't have body armor, attack helicopters, missiles, machine guns and 1000 heavily armed, combat-trained soldiers to protect you.
Courage is what you need when you know those soldiers are very likely to hurt you a great deal or kill you as you stand unarmed before them.
Israeli soldiers have the weapons. Too bad they don't have the courage of their forebears to stand up for humanity and basic human decency.

[LinkSync]

02:16 PM on 06/06/2010

Agreed.

When all the Arab/Muslim nations surrounding Israel told the Palestinians to get out of the way as they attacked and destroyed Israel the Jews in their little communes, with their little pop guns, defeated the entire onslaught of the “courageous” Arabs and Muslims in short order because they had no choice.

They had to win or they would ALL be killed.
Women and Children included.

They face that reality still today.
And still the "courageous" Jihadists seek to murder civilians in righteous religious fanatical fashion.
Such courage!

Let us send our “courageous” children to blow themselves up in pizza parlors and on busses and in hospitals.
Let us throw missiles and rockets and bombs into the places where the Jewish children live.

Then let us whine and whimper in “courageous” declarations of being wronged by the Jews as we are defeated again, and again, and again.

[messy]

05:02 PM on 06/06/2010

Have you ever been hit by a rock?

[pfsdetroit]

11:59 PM on 06/06/2010

Yes...and my tax dollars pay for F-16's and white phosphorous.

The rock is painless by comparison.

[FACTISFACT]

02:47 AM on 06/06/2010

The mission of Free Gaza movement was to unmask Israel and show the international community its actual dreadful image and from their point of view their mission has been successful. And in this respect both Politically and diplomatically the battle of Gaza Blockade has been own by the protesters smearing the image of Israel very badly in front of the world the intelligentsia Opined.

The Handling of such a delicate issue by Israel government was catastrophic. Over and above, advancing lame excuse on the eve of International out cry against the commando raid was again very wrong on the part of the PM. And finally to say "self Defense" exposed the shallowness of understanding of Self defense in its legal sphere of the term, Which in this case was untenable as was untenable in the case of committal of genocide previously by Israel, opined the Political Analysts.

However, the commando and the issuing authorities to carryout the raid and subsequently killing innocents wittingly or unwittingly have committed crime against Humanity. In addition, its follow up against will be terrible for Israel. At present Israel's reliability among the community of nation is at the lowest ebb.

Audacity, obstinacy and complacency on everything do not hold good in international Politics and Diplomacy, which Israel has to learn opined the eminent Political Observers and Reputed Diplomats.

The Presence of the Nobel Prize Laureate on the AID vessel is enough to say in support of the above claimed the veteran Human Rights Activists.

[LinkSync]

01:39 PM on 06/06/2010

In all wars, crimes are commited on ll sides.

Right now an American soldier is on trial for murdering 3 civilians in Afghanistan for example.

The underlying war only exists because of political commitments by political entities to the complete and utter destruction and Genocide of Israel.

Until the people of Gaza and the West Bank and of all the surrounding Arab/Muslim nations work to give Israel her right to peaceful existence there will be war.

All the emotionally involved armchair warriors that speak of courage and so on are really, at root, enjoying the hate and the resulting war.

Meanwhile Hezbollah, in schools it provides in Lebanon, is teaching the children to hate all Jews and to approve whenever one is killed for any reason. This is their version of humanitarian aid.

If I was the King of Jews I would already have nuked Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Then again, the King of the Jews taught us to love each other didn't he?
That is going very well no?

[messy]

05:03 PM on 06/06/2010

Roberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize for a fictional autobiography. It was a hoax.

[FACTISFACT]

01:08 PM on 06/07/2010

Hi! My Friend Messy, thanks a lot for your comment on FACTISFACT'S placement of opinion and views of experts, prominent, eminent and observers for the readers. FACTIS FACT made noted your points raised and pin pointing the misuse of the Nobel peace prize awards given as charity gift to the liars of peace in all sense of the term as mention in your comment or words to that effect. Any development after reviewing your comment will be intimated to you through FACTISFACT.

However, thanks a lot once again. Take Care.

[LemonGrass2]

09:44 PM on 06/05/2010

Who cares? There's a sucker born every minute, Nobel Laureates included.

[justitia]

12:05 AM on 06/06/2010

There's a Glenn Beck sucker every second too. Guess who?

[takeabigdeepbreath]

12:05 PM on 06/06/2010

So by your reasoning, anyone who challenges Israel's policies is being duped by people who....what? See two sides of an issue?

[LinkSync]

01:42 PM on 06/06/2010

The first "issue" is and always will be if Israel has the right to peaceful existence or not.

Most folks that seek to censure Israel will not even clearly state their position on that "question".

Go figure...

[JerryLevy]

08:11 PM on 06/05/2010

“MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE "AID FLOTILLA"

Seems that 100 of the people on the ships headed to Gaza were from the Muslim Brotherhood, an affiliate of IHH, the Turkish Islamic "charity." They had recorded jihadist martyr testimonials advising relatives and friends that they were now in heaven. Many of them had left wills in case they did not come back. Gee---some insight on why the organization refused to take the "aid" to any of the approved Egyptian or Israeli ports when offered the chance to deliver the aid. Get the feeling delivering aid was not the objective of the "peace activists" on the aid flotilla?”

[baba2nde]

08:57 PM on 06/05/2010

Uh, Jerry, isn't it abusive to post the same thing, word for word, three times in less than an hour?

[LemonGrass2]

09:43 PM on 06/05/2010

I'm quite glad he did. This way it was on top by the time I read the article.

Very insightful, Jerry!

[JerryLevy]

10:27 PM on 06/05/2010

Uh, baba2nde----it was not posted 3 times on the same thread and it is very insightful material you are not getting on this blog. Further, it does not say anything abusive so the short answer to your question-----no

[justitia]

12:07 AM on 06/06/2010

Where did you get the info, from Glenn Beck?

[LinkSync]

01:43 PM on 06/06/2010

I saw CNN reporting it yesterday.

[sagondo]

07:24 PM on 06/05/2010

Are the Israelis our friends. you decide?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OqcOahetwI

[LinkSync]

01:45 PM on 06/06/2010

Does it matter if they are or not?

The real "question" is do they or do theynot have the right to peaceful existence as a Jewish State.

What is your take on THAT "question"?

[MVeeh]

03:43 PM on 06/05/2010

jam, tin fruits, chocolate are some of what is banned by Israel blockade for import into Gaza. This is a rascist repressive doctrine of punishment of the Palestinians. If we accept this type of thing as Americans we must therefore accept that we do not believe in human rights and stop saying that we uphold the principals of freedom and equality.

[LinkSync]

02:03 PM on 06/06/2010

This blockade is an effort to push Palestinians in Gaza to taking POLITICAL control away from Hamas, which is openly declaring that the destruction of Israel is their goal, and work to give Israel her right to peaceful existence.

If they do that, Israel will embrace and befriend them and help them beyond anyone’s expectations or understanding.

America did that with Germany and the Japanese after WWII.

The Jews will do it even better when they are given the chance.
The haters of Jews that want only Israel’s destruction will never admit that.

So endless war results and will continue to result.
America will never forget 9-11 and will forever prosecute a war on terrorism from then on, how much more urgent is Israel’s situation then? She will fight forever, to live, to just be.
I applaud her restraint as if it were for me to decide, I would wreck destruction on my enemies without mercy until they surrendered or all were dead. Gaza would already be empty farm land with ocean side resorts. The West Bank would be a modern metropolis of thriving high tech industries and universities and farmland. The Golan Heights would be a play ground and an Airbase. The borders would be walled and defended very well indeed. Then I would seek to trade with all my neighbors as that is the natural relationship that should already exist.

But then Jews are more moral than I.

[nrglaw]

02:08 AM on 06/07/2010

A really good post.

[only livin boy in NY]

02:30 PM on 06/05/2010

how dare she...must be anti-sem....

[mikefina]

12:11 PM on 06/05/2010

Peace Prize sure ain't what it used to be...

[only livin boy in NY]

02:31 PM on 06/05/2010

tis better

[mikefina]

03:38 PM on 06/05/2010

Sure, if you prefer to limbo the bar--rather than raise and clear it.

Arafat won the Prize more recently than Ms. Corrigan. It's downward trajectory has continued.

Kofi, ElBaradi, IPCC, Carter the UN, etc.. A rogues gallery of inept failure. Naked pander to the feel-gooders, not the actual good-doers in the world. A pitiful fall for this once truly great honor.

[Imago]

03:39 PM on 06/05/2010

What is that supposed to mean?

She's on a rescue mission supported by an organization that has renounced violence and is trying to bring aid to people who are suffering, regardless of what you think about the political struggle.

How is this behavior not worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize?

[mikefina]

03:51 PM on 06/05/2010

She won the prize in 1976. Then, it still meant something. Since the mid-80's it has cut a steadily declining arc. THAT'S what it means.

[stardust835]

11:58 AM on 06/05/2010

The Twilight Zone - US Cogress, your tax dollars & Israel
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqrKY2pPPIc