Dozens of Britons have been detained by the Israelis after the assault on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla. They have been given the choice of being deported or standing trial in Israel.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that it was “urgently seeking access” to the Britons who are being held in the town of Beersheba. It is believed that 28 people from the UK were taking part in the aid effort when it came under fire.
Foreign Office sources said that many of those detained had refused to give their names to the Israelis, making it hard to give firm numbers of Britons involved.
It was confirmed earlier that one Briton was injured in the attack and had received medical treatment.
Israeli officials said that about 50 of the 671 activists have been taken to Israel’s international airport for deportation. They say others have refused to identify themselves and will remain in detention.
The list so far of those on board
The author
Henning Mankell, 62, Swedish author of the Inspector Wallander books. He was on board with eight other Swedes and had still not been contacted last night. Mankell is married to the daughter of the film maker Ingmar Bergman.
Anders Joerle, the Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that they were not all being held at the same place and some had been imprisoned while others had simply been taken into custody. “I think Henning Mankell is just being held in custody. I’m not sure. The Israelis have him in some kind of detention,” he said.
Some of the Swedes had been very slightly injured, Mr Joerle said. They have reportedly been given the choice between accepting deportation or to be tried in an Israeli court.
The former US Ambassador
Edward Peck, 81, a former US Ambassador to Mauritania, was expected to arrive home today after the Free Palestine movement ship that he was on was seized by Israeli commandos.
Ann Peck, his wife, said that she received a brief e-mail from the Israeli Foreign Ministry yewsterday informing her that her husband was fine and on his way home. The e-mail said he was likely to arrive today, but that did not have a mobile phone with him and would call from an unnamed New York airport when he landed, she said.
“He gets himself into these messes, and the phone is going to ring,” she joked.
Mrs Peck said that as of yesterday evening she had not spoken to US officials, nor had she been able to talk to her husband, since the raid. She had last spoke with him briefly by satellite phone just as the aid ships were leaving their rendezvous point.
“Knowing him I doubt there are regrets,” she said. “I think he was really hopeful of it making a difference.”
Mr Pek served as deputy director in President Reagan’s White House Task Force on Terrorism.
The US Navy veteran
Joe Meadors, 63, of Texas, is a navy veteran. His wife Jean said yesterday evening that she believed he was safe, “but I’d like to hear that from him”.
She said his exact status, whether under arrest, detention or otherwise, was unclear.
Mr Meadors served aboard the US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty that was attacked by Israeli forces in 1967, killing 34 crew members.
“He hasn’t had much luck with the Israelis,” his wife said.
The television producer
David Schermerhorn, retired television commercial producer of Washington state, was also on the flotilla as an activist with the Cyprus-based Free Gaza Movement, his daughter told The Seattle Times.
Kate Schermerhorn said US Embassy officials had told her that the 80-year-old was taken into custody by Israeli officials and was unharmed.
The MPs
Three German MPs and a Swedish MP were among those heading to Gaza with aid.
The Britons
Peter Venner, 63, a father of two from the Isle of Wight. He runs a wood yard and became involved in delivering aid to the Palestinians three years ago and last January drove a truck full of humanitarian supplies overland to Gaza. This was his first journey by sea.
His partner Rachel Bridgeland, 51, told the Daily Mail: “Peter is definitely not a violent man — in fact he is exactly the opposite. The last time I heard from him was Saturday. He was in high spirits. He told me he knew the Israelis would try and stop them. But no one knew it was going to be like this.
“I do not know what has happened to him. I am desperately worried that he may have come to harm.”
Denis Healey, 55, from Portsmouth, was the skipper of the Challenger 1 boat that carried 20 passengers including three German MPs, a Swedish MP and a former US colonel.
He has a longstanding involvement in the Palestinian movement and has captained boats on previous aid journeys into Gaza, including one two years ago in which the boat was rammed by an Israeli gunboat.
He is a marine engineer and now lives in the Cypriot port of Limassol with his British partner, Ruth Baker.
Paveen Yaqub, 39, from Huddersfield is a council worker and was on board Mavi Marmara, the lead boat in the flotilla.
The last message Paveen wrote on her Facebook yesterday read: “Something has kicked off; I gotta run up deck.”
Minutes later she wrote: “We are now surrounded by Israeli warships with helicopters circulating and following the convoy of ships heading for Gaza still. “We will not be stopping unless we are forcibly made to do so.”
Noreen Sheikh-Latif, a friend from Slaithwaite, said she was “extremely worried” about Paveen whom she looked on “as a sister”.
She told the Liverpool Daily Post: “We were in contact with Paveen until two or three hours before the boat went under siege and nobody has heard from her since.
“Paveen had been saying that they were very conscious that they were being followed by the Israeli war ships.
“On her Facebook page she was saying that she could see helicopters flying overhead.
“In another one she said she thought there was something going on up on the deck.
“She was asking for everybody’s prayers.”
Ms Yaqub is a Muslim and raised £8,000 to fund her trip to Gaza.
Kevin Ovenden, 40, from London, is a former member of the Socialist Workers’ Party and an aide to George Galloway, the former Respect MP.
He has written a book on the American black power leader Malcolm X and has travelled on previous aid journeys to Palestine. He is described as a leader of the relief effort.
Theresa McDermott, 43, is a postal worker from Edinburgh. Her friend Carl Abernethy said that she had travelled on three previous voyages to Gaza and was involved in training some of the activists who were new to such missions.
“Theresa takes these risks knowingly because she believes so passionately in the rights of the Palestinian people and the people of Gaza in particular, who have been suffering horrendously for years,” Mr Abernethy said.
Alex Harrison, 32, from London, describes herself as a “solidarity worker” who is based both in Britain and Palestine. She has family in the Palestinian territories and was on board a previous maritime mission to Gaza that was intercepted by the Israeli navy.
Baboo Zanghar, from Bolton, was said to be carrying supplies worth £32,000 donated by people from the town. Attempts to reach him proved unsuccessful last night.
Sakir Yildirim, from Fishponds, and Cliff Hanley from Southville, both Bristol, were also not contactable. They had been part of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign team.
The Irish
The group of Irish activists held in Beersheba includes Paul McGeough, 56, an Irish-born journalist and chief correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. He has reported from the Middle East for two decades.
Dublin-based Shane Dillon, 36, first mate on the Challenger 1, was being deported today. He has served as chief officer on Irish and British merchant ships. He is the brother of the musician Eoin Dillon from the traditional band Kila.
Dr Fintan Lane, 43, is a historian, political activist and spokesman for the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He is the author or editor of seven books on modern Irish history.
Fiachra O Luain, 28, is peace activist from Donegal who stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the 2009 European elections. He was one of the first people to protest over the US military using Shannon Airport.
Two naturalised Irish-Libyans and one person of Irish-Polish dual citizenship were also on board
The Turks
Of the nearly 600 people on the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara roughly 400 were Turkish citizens, according to Yavuz Dede, deputy director of Insani Yardim Vakfi, İHH, which organised the trip. He said that the passengers included men, women, and an 18-month-old baby.
Mehmet Ali Akdeniz, 34, was on board. His wife Aynur told the Hurriyet daily news in Turkey that she had been planning to travel to Gaza with her husband, but they decided against it because of the young age of their children.
“My son is 4 years old and my daughter is 6. They packed 300 lollipops for their father to take to Palestinian children in Gaza,” she said through tears. “I did not expect that much cruelty. My husband even did not have a pocket knife on him. It was a strict rule for all of them not to have anything that might be used as a weapon. But Israel was afraid of a few civilian people.”
Demet Tezcan’s 15-year-old daugther, Sümeyye Sena, saw her mother in television images on board the aid vessel. “She was running during the attacks and was helping wounded people,” she said.
Şahin İbrahim Güleryüz, 42 was seen by his sister Selma Erkal on board the ship. “He had fainted, his head fallen on his chest, and there were people trying to help him,” she said. “We wanted to believe that he is only wounded, but he could also be dead. He has two sons and we did not tell his wife what we saw. We wouldn’t know what to say.”
Hatice Çorluk, whose son Fevzi Çorluk, 24, was on the ship, said she had expected the Israeli army’s response and accused Turkey of abandoning those on board. Neslihan Üstündağ, Fevzi Çorluk’s sister, said those on the ship had called for help many times during the night before the attack occurred. “But Turkey did not do anything. It could have sent a ship to help them.”
Hayrünnisa Abdurrahman, a mother of four, said she was afraid that her husband, Abdülahad Abdurrahman, 40, could be dead. “He is a man who cannot stand injustice. I fear that he might have intervened during the attacks to save people from Israeli soldiers,” she said.
Before leaving home, Mr Abdurrahman told his wife that the journey could be potentially fatal and asked for her blessing. He was not carrying anything that could be identified as a weapon except a sewing needle with which to repair any tears to his trousers, she said.
Nilufer Cetin, a Turkish activist and her one-year-old son have returned home after being released by Israeli authorities. They were among the first Turks returning from Israel after the flotilla was seized by Israeli commandos. She said she agreed to be extradited from Israel after being warned that jail conditions would be “too harsh” for the baby.
Ms Cetin and her son, Kaan Turker, were on the Mavi Marmara. She said the two were hiding in their cabin’s bathroom during the raid.
“The ship turned into a lake of blood,” Nilufer Cetin told reporters. “We were aware of the possible danger; in joining the trip, but there are thousands of babies in Gaza. If we had reached Gaza we would have played with them and taken them food.”
Her husband Ekrem Cetin is the ship’s engineer and was still in Israeli custody today. Turkey said that it was sending three ambulance planes to Israel to pick up 20 more Turkish activists injured in the operation.
Three Turkish Airlines aircraft were on standby waiting to fly back other activists, the Prime Minister’s office said. Meanwhile in Turkey’s main cities of Ankara and Istanbul, people staged a second day of protests in front of Israeli missions to denounce the raid.
The Greeks
Six Greeks, including a crew member, returning to Athens today told reporters that Israeli commandos boarded the boats in international waters about 80-90 miles off the Israeli coast.
They said that the Israelis beat activists with clubs and used electric shocks, and said they had heard shooting on board the Turkish boat ahead of theirs.
The journalists
Two Australian journalists and two other Australian women were being detained in Beersheba and their safety had been confirmed, Australian officials said.
An Australian man on board the ship underwent surgery after being shot in the leg.
. . . and still to arrive, the Nobel prizewinner and the UN diplomat
Mairead Corrigan-Maguire is on board the Irish-Malaysian ship MV Rachel Corrie, which is currently off the coast of Libya and due to arrive off Gaza tomorrow with another load of aid. Last year the peace activist from Belfast was arrested and detained in Israel after attempting to defy the blockade by sailing a boat load of aid into Gaza.
Also on board is Denis Halliday, former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations. After more than 30 years in the UN, Kofi Annan appointed him Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq in 1997. He has been a strong opponent of the war in Iraq.
