A few weeks ago, I was perusing through the Georgia Straight website, and I came across the week of June 2010, when it was almost a daily routine to have stories about the ill-fated attempt by a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, to sail to Gaza. It was part of a flotilla of protest ships, and a clash between Israeli commandos and some aggressive Turkish activists on May 31 ended in an unnecessary loss of lives.

On the website, I read the repeated accusations about Israeli naked aggression against the innocent protesters, interviews and stories about our own B.C. activist on board—the perennial defender of Palestinians, Kevin Neish—who was describing the cruelty of the Israeli soldiers attacking peaceful and unarmed people, and who himself was only interested in bringing much needed help to the starving people there.

I also saw pictures of the demonstrations held by many supporters, from MP Libby Davies to local "progressive" Jews led by David Mivasair, denouncing the "illegal" blockade of the waters of Gaza.

And suddenly, 15 months later, on September 2, 2011, there was a stunning development. After a long delay, the much awaited UN report from the commission appointed by UN Secretary General—at the request of the Turkish government about the May 2010 confrontation between Israeli forces and Turkish activists on the ship trying to breach Israel's sea blockade of Gaza—was finally printed in the New York Times.

And it made waves around the world. That's because it openly declared that Israel's blockade of the Gaza shore is both "legal and justified". It concluded that "the naval blockade (of Gaza) was imposed as a legitimate security measure...and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law."

This UN commission, which started its work over one year ago following demands from Turkey and with the blessing of the full UN Security Council, was led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand. He's from the Labour (Socialist) Party there, a political organization that's often a vocal critic of the State of Israel. The commission was staffed with leading international legal experts, and Palmer himself is also a former top lawyer and professor of law.

Not to be accused of minimizing some of the findings, let me add that it also harshly criticized Israel for using "excessive and unreasonable" force to subdue the people aboard the Turkish ship, the only one in the flotilla to offer resistance to the highly trained Israel special forces, which resulted in the tragic death of nine of those on board the boat. It also requested that the government of Israel expresses its "regrets" for the deadly results of the confrontation and offers compensation, a move I wholeheartedly support.

Without justifying the killings, the report also clearly stated that when the Israeli commandos came aboard, they were met not with passive actions, as some people, including Neish, tried later to claim, but "with organised and violent resistance from a group of passengers". As one can also read in the September 1 English edition of the leading Turkish dally, Hurryiet, the report states that those on Mavi Marmara, "acted recklessly in attempts to breach the blockade", and that "there exist serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objective of the flotilla organisers, particularly IHH".

This is the same IHH with whom Neish travelled along and is proud of supporting financially.

In most of the world press and diplomatic circles, with the exception of the "usual suspects", the findings were accepted as balanced and appropriate.

This raises the question: what will happen next with our own activists here in Vancouver? Will our "protesters"—Davies, Neish, Mivasair, and their companions—recognize the UN findings, accept that the blockade is legal and justified, especially because of the recent renewed rockets attacks from Gaza, over 100 in the past two weeks, and call on the terror groups there to cease their attacks against purely civilian targets? Or will they follow the example of Turkey? After publication of the document from a commission that Turkey requested—and Turkey approved its composition—it was so stunned by the findings that it decided to freeze its relations with Israel. Turkey acted like a spoiled brat unhappy with the results of a game, taking the toys and going home.

The same Turkish government announced only a few days earlier that its air force has heavily bombarded Iraqi territory, which, combined with artillery shelling, tank incursions, and other aggressive attacks against the lands of its neighbour, resulted in the killing of hundreds of alleged "Kurdish rebels".

Davies, Mivasair, Neish, I am waiting.

Jack Chivo is a retired journalist who lives in West Vancouver.