Israel remains smug and arrogant

By S.P.SETH

Israel’s response to the international outcry over the killing of nine Turkish peace activists aboard Mavi Marmara, carrying relief supplies for the besieged Gaza Strip, has been a combination of tactical flexibility while maintaining strategic rigidity. Tactically, it has agreed to modify the blockade to allow in essential civilian items into the city. But strategically, the blockade will remain in place “to prevent the inflow of weapons and war material.”

Because, otherwise, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Hamas would turn Gaza into an “Iranian port”. The message to the Western world is that Israel is the sentinel of the Western world against the dreaded ‘nuclear’ Iran, which might soon rain missiles not only on Israel but on Europe as well.

In effect, Israeli action doesn’t mean much because the Gaza city will still be at its mercy. It might at any time choke off its supplies at its whim. Israel will still be the sole determinant of what goes in and what goes out. For instance, all the essential supplies for Gaza will only be routed through Israel. Not surprisingly, the Hamas didn’t find Israeli-announced partial lifting of the blockade satisfying. They “want a real lifting of the siege, not window dressing.”

At another level, Israel has sought to befuddle the issue of an international investigation into raiding the peace flotilla, and killing nine Turkish peace activists. It has announced an internal investigation, with two international observers. But the observers will have no say in the conduct of the inquiry by a panel of three Israelis. And it gets worse. This investigation will also look into the conduct of peace activists, though they alone are the victims of fatalities by Israeli commandos.

In the circumstances, one might as well predict the conclusions of the Israeli investigation. It is likely to blame the peace activists for breaching the blockade against prior warnings and following it up with attacks on the commandos, forcing them to act in self-defense. The internal inquiry, therefore, makes Israel both a judge as well as jury. This, by any standards of jurisprudence, is unacceptable.

One lesson Israel has learnt from the international outcry over its piracy on the high seas is that in its dealings with the Obama administration, it must try to harmonize its actions with the United States. In the past, whenever Israel has come under international criticism, particularly in the United Nations, the United States has shielded it from censure or sanctions. But this time its arrogant cowboy syndrome of running amuck wasn’t appreciated in Washington. The US made two observations on the raid and the Gaza blockade. First, it said that an investigation was warranted in the killings of the peace activists. Second: it observed that the blockade of Gaza was unsustainable.

Even though Israel has generally been dismissive of international opinion rubbishing it as biased and anti-Semitic, it couldn’t do the same with mild criticism from the United States. That would leave them with no political cover. Hence, the Netanyahu government went around hysterically to elicit Washington’s approval of its remedial action to somehow deal with the situation. And the US was on course to provide political cover by approving the inclusion of two observers as fulfilling its international dimension. However, this hasn’t silenced the critics. Turkey, for instance, is insistent on an international investigation.

At another level, more and more activists in other countries are reportedly planning their own flotillas to break Israeli blockade. There are reports that an all-female boat, named Virgin Mary, might be heading toward Gaza. The Guardian newspaper reported some days ago that another aid ship named after Naji al-Ali, a murdered Palestinian cartoonist, might soon be taking relief supplies with 50 journalists and 25 European volunteers, including members of the European parliament. A heartening feature is that the peace activists come from all backgrounds, nationalities and religions, a heartening example of common humanity that we all share.

The international outcry over the killing of nine Turkish activists had Israel spooked. One retired army general opined in an Israeli newspaper that, “The long-term goal of this war [by a coalition of disparate media outlets and other civilian organizations] is to remove the state of Israel from the map of the world, or at least, to cause the state of Israel to cease to be a sovereign Jewish state.” How this will be achieved by a bunch of peace volunteers and their supporters is left unclear!

However, since drumming up some support for the partial lifting of blockade of Gaza, Netanyahu is feeling a bit more confident. We had the spectacle of the politically dead Tony Blair resurrected as the special Middle East envoy for the quartet of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union, to legitimize Israel’s action. The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said that it was a step in the right direction, while still safeguarding Israel’s legitimate security needs.

The most welcome for Israel has been the US endorsement, with President Obama now likely to grant Netanyahu a White House meeting to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (without, of course, the Hamas). It will most likely also include a photo opportunity to show that Netanyahu is no longer on the outer with the White House.

Netanyahu indeed seems to think that Israel’s partial lifting of the blockade would rob Hamas of its ability to accuse Israel of harming Gaza’s civilian population. He believes that, “Our friends around the world are standing behind our decision and providing international legitimacy for the continuation of military blockade on Hamas.”

This is the kind of smugness and arrogance that has characterized Israeli policy over the years. Will they get away with more of the same? Not if the Palestinians can build on the humanitarian support they have received lately.