There’s will be more conversations with Peter coming to VentnorBlog readers over the next few days. We hope to get to the bottom of what Peter’s experiences were on board the ship that was attacked. Ed
We spoke on the phone this afternoon with Peter Venner who was on the Mavi Marmara, the boat boarded by Israeli forces where at least nine people were killed.
We were glad to hear that he was back on the Isle of Wight and in one piece.
Peter said he was very keen to set the record straight. He felt it was shocking that the coverage that he’s seen of it – he particularly mentioned the BBC world TV service – had been shockingly uneven.
Beyond those who were physically hurt or killed, Peter said that some of those on the boat suffer physiological injury – happily he feel fine on all counts.
New revelations
Quite a few things came out in the brief conversation that we had tonight that we haven’t heard on the mainstream media – like the Israelis had three Destroyers standing-by and more.
Peter estimates that it took the Israeli security forces half an hour to board their vessel and take control of it.
Firing from helicopters
Guns were being fired from the helicopters – quite a different account than those that have been given so far.
The other boats in the Flotilla were boarded and picked-off way in advance of the taking of Mavi Marmara. They were boarded from behind, then taken without live gun fire form what he’d heard.
Peter counted 40 Israeli soldiers on-board, leading him to estimate that there were around 60 in total.
The iron bars that have often been referred to, were possibly dismantled railings from the boat and weighed no more that a light piece of copper piping.
Have a listen for yourself …
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4663767/Audio/peter-venner-just-back-on-isle-of-wight-6-jun-2010.mp3]
