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Will Israel’s impunity continue?
Will Israel’s impunity continue?
Gaza sinks slowly
Will Israel have to pay a price for its latest assault? Despite international opinion and damage to relations with Turkey and the Arab world, the answer is likely to be no
by Alain Gresh
The Israeli assault on the flotilla bringing aid to Gaza on 31 May has been generally condemned. It is hard to support an act of piracy in international waters, especially when it kills 10 people. The disproportionate force and the deliberate nature of the assault rightly make us indignant.
How can we comprehend Israel’s so-called mistake? There is now an unprecedented offensive against human rights organisations in Israel, both international and Israeli; these organisations are now considered a strategic threat to Israel, second only to that of Iran, Hamas and Hizballah. There is a serious attempt to delegitimise them, using groups backed by the Israeli government and the far right (for example, NGO Monitor). It is therefore unsurprising that Israeli soldiers saw the activists who came to bring supplies to Gaza as “terrorists” and treated them as such.
The first and most immediate question, though, is will Israel have to pay a price for this crime? And will the world’s governments, especially those of Europe, react with more than words? The answer to both questions is likely to be no.
The UN Security Council, which met on 1 June, was unable to adopt a resolution and had to make do with a declaration by its president. This mentioned the creation of an “independent and impartial” commission, but failed to state that it should be international. That will allow the Israeli government to set up its own enquiry, which will lead nowhere. The head of the Security Council reminded the world of the need to lift the blockade of Gaza, but that was no different from the unanimous resolutions adopted by the Security Council more than three years ago and never applied.
Israel is rewarded for its intransigence by both the US and the European Union. Only recently it was admitted to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), the club of the most developed economies. The Israeli prime minister marked this event with a triumphant visit to Paris. With hindsight, we might see the OECD admission was a green light for Israel’s 31 May assault. In December 2008 the EU decided to upgrade bilateral relations with Israel, giving it a status equivalent to that enjoyed by some great powers. Two weeks later, violating the ceasefire with Hamas, the Israeli army began its assault on Gaza, which had already been blockaded for several months. Europe’s decision could be seen as a green light for the attack, which was marked, according to Judge Richard Goldstone (1), by war crimes and crimes against humanity by Israel, and also by Hamas. The report’s conclusions have not as yet been put into effect and the blockade continues.
Israel’s action is likely to have serious repercussions. First, on international opinion, especially in the West, which sees Israel as an outlaw state that violates all the rules of international law. Then on bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel, which is losing its most powerful ally in the Muslim world. The crisis could have repercussions in the Arab world too: Egypt’s decision to open the Rafah crossing is a sign of real alarm among moderate governments who see their peace strategy trampled by Israel. But will they go further? It seems unlikely.
The media talks of Israel’s “mistake” and its deteriorating image (sometimes that is the only criticism). But we need to remember that the real war crime, in the proper sense, is the blockade. This April, only 2,647 trucks crossed into the Gaza Strip from Israel. Before Hamas took control of the territory in June 2007, the figure was on average 12,000 a month. Gaza today receives around 22% of what arrived before June 2007 (2).
The late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin once admitted that he dreamed of seeing Gaza sink into the Mediterranean. This fantasy is becoming a kind of reality. Despite international condemnation, Gaza goes on sinking slowly.
http://mondediplo.com/2010/06/01gazasinks
Will Israel’s impunity continue?
Anger in Turkey
by Jasmin Ramsey
In Istanbul and Ankara, protests erupted as soon as news of Israel’s assault on the peace flotilla broke; thousands of outraged Turks took to the streets and gathered outside the Israeli consulates. The Mavi Marmara had left Turkey with hundreds of passengers of many nationalities on board, including the famous Swedish detective storywriter, Henning Mankell. He is among those who insisted that the passengers did not have weapons, despite Israeli spokesman Mark Regev’s claim that shots were fired
by activists.
In the days that followed the mood remained tense, especially after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s impassioned address to the nation in which called Israel’s actions a “bloody massacre” that violated international law. Stressing the growing rift between Israel and Turkey, Erdogan also warned that Turkey would not “sit by in silence after such events”. Turkey began lobbying UN and Nato member nations to respond to Israel. Israel, a master of state lobbying, also swiftly went to work.
While Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued the most damning statements, Erdogan’s words were more important because of the previously good relations between Turkey and Israel. Even far-right commentators agree that severing ties would leave Israel without a strategic ally in the region.
According to Ari Shavit, a columnist for the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz: “Even a child would have seen the imbalance in the risk-threat assessment in overpowering the flotilla ships. Any smart kid would understand that you don’t sacrifice what is important for what is not. But the cabinet did not understand. Under the leadership of Netanyahu, Barak and Ya’alon it came to a patently unreasonable decision. It was a decision by complete fools.”
While Syria, Germany, France and China all issued statements condemning the raid, the US remained rather quiet, with Vice President Joe Biden initially claiming that he needed to learn more before commenting. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton avoided any condemnation of Israel by stating that the events require “careful, thoughtful responses from all concerned” and reiterating US calls for an Israeli investigation, which goes against calls by other nations for an independent one.
A long emergency meeting of the UN in New York produced a carefully worded statement including commentary on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and… condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families… The Security Council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable… In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza, as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.”
Since Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in less than a month, Turkey’s relationship with Israel has deteriorated. At a discussion on Gaza in Davos shortly after Israel’s bombing campaign, Erdogan stormed off stage after Israeli president Shimon Peres and moderator David Ignatius tried to cut him off in mid-sentence. This January, Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, was deliberately given a lower seating position than Israel’s deputy foreign minister during a meeting in Jerusalem. Does Erdogan’s speech on Tuesday indicate that relations have deteriorated beyond repair?
Israel’s siege of Gaza is at the heart of this story. Turkey acknowledges this. Were it not for Israel’s continued occupation of Gaza’s airspace, land and waters, imprisoning more than 1.5 million people in one of the mostly densely populated areas in the world, Israel wouldn’t have to deal with strained relations or a declining public image. As Bradley Burston, a declared Zionist, argued in a recent Haaretz blog post, Israel’s actions in Gaza since 2008 are not self-defence and its policies defeat its own security interests. “Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: we are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel’s Vietnam.”
In the days that followed the mood remained tense, especially after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s impassioned address to the nation in which called Israel’s actions a “bloody massacre” that violated international law. Stressing the growing rift between Israel and Turkey, Erdogan also warned that Turkey would not “sit by in silence after such events”. Turkey began lobbying UN and Nato member nations to respond to Israel. Israel, a master of state lobbying, also swiftly went to work.
While Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued the most damning statements, Erdogan’s words were more important because of the previously good relations between Turkey and Israel. Even far-right commentators agree that severing ties would leave Israel without a strategic ally in the region.
According to Ari Shavit, a columnist for the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz: “Even a child would have seen the imbalance in the risk-threat assessment in overpowering the flotilla ships. Any smart kid would understand that you don’t sacrifice what is important for what is not. But the cabinet did not understand. Under the leadership of Netanyahu, Barak and Ya’alon it came to a patently unreasonable decision. It was a decision by complete fools.”
While Syria, Germany, France and China all issued statements condemning the raid, the US remained rather quiet, with Vice President Joe Biden initially claiming that he needed to learn more before commenting. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton avoided any condemnation of Israel by stating that the events require “careful, thoughtful responses from all concerned” and reiterating US calls for an Israeli investigation, which goes against calls by other nations for an independent one.
A long emergency meeting of the UN in New York produced a carefully worded statement including commentary on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and… condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families… The Security Council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable… In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza, as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.”
Since Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in less than a month, Turkey’s relationship with Israel has deteriorated. At a discussion on Gaza in Davos shortly after Israel’s bombing campaign, Erdogan stormed off stage after Israeli president Shimon Peres and moderator David Ignatius tried to cut him off in mid-sentence. This January, Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, was deliberately given a lower seating position than Israel’s deputy foreign minister during a meeting in Jerusalem. Does Erdogan’s speech on Tuesday indicate that relations have deteriorated beyond repair?
Israel’s siege of Gaza is at the heart of this story. Turkey acknowledges this. Were it not for Israel’s continued occupation of Gaza’s airspace, land and waters, imprisoning more than 1.5 million people in one of the mostly densely populated areas in the world, Israel wouldn’t have to deal with strained relations or a declining public image. As Bradley Burston, a declared Zionist, argued in a recent Haaretz blog post, Israel’s actions in Gaza since 2008 are not self-defence and its policies defeat its own security interests. “Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: we are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel’s Vietnam.”
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