Flotilla participant: Passengers protected injured soldier
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In a testimony in front of the Turkel Committee, Muhammad Zidan, an Arab-Israeli citizen who participated in the flotilla to Gaza in May, said the Mavi Marmara ship on which he was staying did not accept Israel's offer to inspect the cargo in the Ashdod or el-Arish ports, because the flotilla participants wanted to convey a message by breaking the naval blockade on Gaza.
Zidan told the committee that he had not heard of passengers using metal poles to hit soldiers, and recalled seeing three Turkish passengers carrying an injured soldier below deck in order to give him medical treatment."The soldier was protected by these people," Zidan told the commitee members. (Yair Altman)
