Atrocities against Palestinians must end

Israel has been carrying out such calamitous attacks for decades with impunity. Israel's siege since 2006 has caused immeasurable hardships to Gazans who refuse to surrender to the brutality of their occupiers, and remain steadfast in their search for justice and freedom.

How can Israel claim to respect the rule of law and profess its desire to reach peace with its Muslim neighbours while at the same time continues to commit a litany of grim violations of human rights and international humanitarian law?

It is time for the Cameron/Clegg government to show its mettle and bring an end to the ongoing colonisation of Palestinian land along with an end to the Israeli occupation.

MUNJED FARID AL QUTOB

Tela Al Ali

Amman

I have just learned that the ships heading for Gaza, taking relief supplies and supporters of Palestine hoping to lift the siege of Gaza, have been fired on by Israeli forces.

Can the British government now accept any excuses for this breach of international law? I hope The Scotsman will follow up the story of this outrage. I have a good friend on one of those boats, and I am determined that the Israelis will answer for their actions.

GORDON DAVIE

May Court

Edinburgh

I bitterly regret the loss of life, and the necessity for Israel to have to forcibly stop the publicity-seeking convoy.

The day before the attack, footage was circulated of many of the men on board psyching themselves up with songs and chants calling for death to the Jews, and a Muslim woman saying they were ready for one of two victories, reaching Gaza or becoming martyrs.

I wish I could turn the clock back and that the commandos had been better prepared for the events that unfolded.

But the blame for the loss of life and tragic ending to this attempt to break a non-existent siege of Gaza lies fair and square on the soldiers of those who planned this so-called 'Freedom Flotilla'.

JOY WOLFE

Marchbank Drive

Cheadle, Cheshire

I refer to the convoy called the "Freedom Flotilla" which sailed to Gaza. While it is unfortunate that there were deaths, the activists aboard the convoy – some armed and many far from naive – were less interested in bringing aid to Gaza than in promoting the Hamas agenda.

They talked, too, of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and they talked of the suffering of the Palestinian people, but what suffering, and what humanitarian crisis? Since the Israeli attacks on Gaza last year, over one million tons of supplies have entered the area and, in a typical week, 15,000 tons make the controlled crossings.

Shops and souks in the entity are bulging with food, bottled goods, clothes, toys, sweets and cakes.

All in all the deaths on the convoy were futile. It has been a sad propaganda coup, and not for Israel.

GRAEME D EDDIE

Bothwell Gardens

Dunbar, East Lothian

The Israeli government's response to the killing of civilians on board the Gaza aid flotilla has a familiar sound to it. A group of armed Israeli soldiers boarded a civilian boat in international waters (which is against international law), in the middle of the night, yet it is those on board who tried to repel the attack who are in the wrong.

Similarly, they invaded and occupied Palestinian land, ignored numerous UN resolutions calling for an end to the occupation, transferred numbers of their population to settlements in the occupied land (which is against international law), but it is Israel who is defending itself against Palestinian terrorism.

JAN BENVIE

Inverkeithing

Fife