A day before the confrontation with Israel a university lecturer revealed on Hamas TV that the Gaza flotilla’s commander had announced that the participants were planning to use “resistance,” the Palestinian euphemism for violence, against “the Zionists.” He added that the participants sought to die as Martyrs, even more than they wanted to reach Gaza.

The following are the words of Dr. Abd Al-Fatah Shayyeq Naaman, lecturer in Shari’ah law at a university in Yemen, now visiting Gaza:

“The [Gaza] flotilla commander said yesterday: ‘We will not allow the Zionists to get near us and we will use resistance against them.’ How will they wage resistance? They will resist with their fingernails. They are people who seek Martyrdom for Allah, as much as they want to reach Gaza, but the first [Martyrdom] is more desirable.”  [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), May 30, 2010]

(Palestinian Media Watch – Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik)