Israel and the Flotilla

For the last two days most of the newspapers in the UK led with the story of the attack by Israeli Defence Forces on the Gaza flotilla. In their reporting most of the articles correctly pointed to the questionable legality of boarding of the aid ships in international waters. No doubt legal experts will debate this issue for some time to come before the general public will be able to gain a clearer picture.
What is apparent is that in the incursion nine people were killed by soldiers boarding a ship carrying humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Understandably, the Israeli government have been at great pains to portray themselves as the ‘good guys and girls’ and tried to suggest the crew and passengers on board were all Islamic terrorists intent on the destruction of their country. Whether this is true or not is an irrelevancy and should not be dignified with a response. The facts are simple – people died whilst engaging in legitimate political activity – and no matter what Israel, Netanyahu or the pro- Likud press may say, there can be no justification for their death.

If Israel is retain any level of dignity following this tragedy it must immediately hold an independent inquiry with representatives from the United Nations being allowed full access to all information relating to the raid. If, as a result of this inquiry, it is judged Israel acted illegally, or without due care to legal process, then criminal proceedings should be brought against Ehud Barak, as the Defence Minister responsible for authorising the attack, along with any others identified.

Equally of concern is the video footage of the military attack, where pro-Palestinian crew members and passengers are seen using clubs (including a suggestion by Israeli sources that some of these instruments included iron bars) and repeatedly beating soldiers as they boarded the ships. Again there can be no justification whatsoever for this action and the campaigners did nothing to further their cause by resorting to violence, no matter how badly provoked. Their defence of their ship by ‘beating up’ soldiers (who, like themselves are ordinary working class people) lacked the same level of legitimacy as the actions by Israel Defence Forces. Should an international inquiry be convened, it would be incumbent upon them to clarify whether the actions were ‘as shown’ on the video footage. If the inquiry found these accusations to be accurate, every effort should be made to identify the perpetrators and if they have been returned to their country of origin, extradition proceedings should be implemented in order to prosecute those accused.

Two further issues need to also be mentioned. Firstly, if Israel was determined to stop the Gaza flotilla, this was arguably one of the worst cases of bad military planning in their history. Even the most naive strategist would acknowledge that the people on board were passionate campaigners who would instigate every means to prevent military forces from completing their mission. Dropping soldiers one at a time onto the decks of the ships was, at best, foolhardy and ill-conceived and, at worst suicidal. If the aim was to take control of the ship, the military forces should have attacked in large numbers in order to quickly stifle opposition.

Political leaders in Israel have already acknowledged the fault does not lay with the military commanders – if this is so, there should be some serious reshuffling of ministers in the Israeli cabinet, along with the immediate resignations of Barak and Netanyahu.

All this assumes of course that it is correct and proper for Israel to prevent humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza strip. Such an approach is fraught with considerable difficulties. The Israelis and the USA have repeatedly supported the blockade on the basis that many of the ships entering the area are taking in weapons that will later be used by Hamas militants. If this is true, there is a very simple solution. UNHCR does not have a good track record of recognising the legitimate rights of the people of Israel. Nonetheless, if they gave them responsibility for administering an aid package to be delivered by Israeli and Palestinian welfare services such as Magen David Adom and Red Crescent - and independently monitored by the United Nations, several repercussions would immediately occur.

1. A natural dialogue at community level would occur between Jews and Palestinians
2. Hamas would lose much of its legitimacy as an anti-Israel/ anti-Zionist organisation because the electorate would see Israel was willing to change.
3. The reactionary Likud coalition would lose much of its authority as Israelis started to realise many Palestinians have simple, but legitimate needs.
4. Out of this aid programme could come a new beginning, with a basis for the creation of a bi-national peace accord between the two countries – both working for the mutual benefit of the other.

On Monday, Israel showed the world that violence rarely solves anything. The people of Palestine still have no medical aid, they have an inadequate water supply and innocent children regularly survive on poor standards of food and ineffective shelter. Equally, Israelis live under the constant threat of attack from Palestinian terrorists or worse, one of the nearby Arab nations. At the same time they have now found themselves largely isolated, having been described by many as a pariah or a rogue state.

For two nations populated by so many highly intelligent men and women it it bizarre that they have yet to realise it is time to put down the guns – and time for Zionists and Palestinians to listen to each other – and compromise.