Restrictions To Security Clearance

Gaza not Represented in Blockade Whitewash

(LONDON) - "Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law... the flotilla acted recklessly in attempting to breach the naval blockade."

That’s the conclusion of the Palmer inquiry, brought to you by that freak-show the United Nation, under its Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

It’s completely at odds with what other experts have said. The UN itself has already accepted that Israel's blockade is illegal. One of its own fact-finding missions declared that it constituted collective punishment of the people living in the Gaza Strip and thus was illegal and contrary to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The action by Israel’s military in intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high seas was "clearly unlawful" and couldn’t be justified even under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations [the right of self-defence]. “No case can be made for the legality of the interception and the Mission therefore finds that the interception was illegal”.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights also concluded that the Israeli blockade was illegal. “Due both to the legal nature of Israel’s relationship to Gaza – that of occupier – and the impact of the blockade on the civilian population, amounting to ‘collective punishment’, the blockade cannot be reconciled with the principles of international law, including international humanitarian law... The flotilla did not seek to travel to Israel, let alone ‘attack’ Israel… Israel could have diplomatically engaged Turkey, arranged for a third party to verify there were no weapons onboard and then peacefully guided the vessel to Gaza."

Craig Murray also knows a thing or two about such matters, having headed the Maritime Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was responsible for giving political and legal clearance to Royal Navy boarding operations in the Persian Gulf following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, to enforce the UN authorised blockade against Iraqi weapons shipments. He commented: "Right of free passage is guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas... Israel has declared a blockade on Gaza and justified previous fatal attacks on neutral civilian vessels on the High Seas in terms of enforcing that embargo, under the legal cover given by the San Remo Manual of International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.

Pakistan imposes travel restrictions on U.S. diplomats – CNN ...

Pakistan has restricted travel for U.S. diplomats in the country, the State Department said Monday, and the U.S. ambassador, Cameron Munter, was temporarily detained at the Islamabad airport last week as he tried to fly from Islamabad to Karachi.

State Department Deputy spokesman Mark Toner said Munter was not carrying a certificate that Pakistani authorities now are requiring for American diplomats to travel within Pakistan. Ambassador Munter “returned to Islamabad without incident,” Toner said.

Toner said the Pakistani government informed the U.S. of the restrictions last week. Asked why the restrictions were put in place he said “You'll have to ask the government of Pakistan.”

Ina separate incident last week U.S. diplomats were prevented from traveling between Islamabad and Peshawar. “We obviously raised our concerns,” Toner said. The State Department, he said, has met with Pakistani officials on travel issues, both in Washington and in Islamabad and, he said, “We feel that we're making progress towards resolving the issue.”

“The issue is the right for our diplomats, according to the Vienna Conventions, to travel freely within the country where they work…we're working cooperatively with the government of Pakistan to resolve the issue,” Toner said.

A senior administration official tells CNN that, technically, the travel restrictions have been on the books for many years but have not been enforced. The official said several countries in South Asia have similar travel restrictions in effect for diplomats.

The restrictions, the official said, have been in place so that diplomats do not travel to dangerous un-administrated tribal areas like the Fatah or Baluchistan.

"So they don't want us traveling to these areas, okay," the official said. "What is not okay is when they give us a problem when we are traveling from our embassy to our consulate.

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