Gaza I

Israeli own goal

Alan Fisher

There's been widespread international anger at the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters on Monday. The cacophony of condemnation has drowned out Israel's argument that the action was necessary to continue the isolation of Hamas and keep alive the faint hope that peace talks may actually lead somewhere.
     The Israelis – and there are credible eye-witness accounts – claim their soldiers and servicemen came under vicious and sustained attack when they attempted to mount what's been described as a 'police action' to guide the vessels to the port of Ashdod where the humanitarian cargo could be unloaded and driven into Gaza. Those on board did not want to do this. They wanted to bring aid to Gaza and make a political point in doing so.
     The Israelis say there were weapons on board the ships, which were there from the moment they set off. The Turks who carried out full security checks on the convoy and those who boarded it have dispensed with the usual polite political language and accuse of Israelis of lying. But the fact remains that peace activists, on their way to help those in Gaza with much needed humanitarian supplies, were gunned down by Israeli forces on civilian ships in international waters. It is a massive political and public relations own goal. And, more significantly, people died.
     The raid, which killed a number of Turkish activists, may damage relations with Turkey beyond repair. Ankara has in the past reached out to Israel, tried to act as an honest broker in discussions with Syria. Relations were damaged by the war in Gaza, 'Operation Cast Lead', in the winter of 2008. This has taken them to a new low.
     
When Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbass condemned the attack as a 'massacre', hopes of finding peace through the US-mediated talks receded sharply. Israel's prime minister was in Canada when the action took place. He expressed support for the military and left the country – heading home. A planned visit to the White House was abandoned, no doubt much to the relief of the Obama administration. The relationship between the two leaders has already been strained by the ongoing building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and continued construction in East Jerusalem. The two met in March. It was a meeting best described as frosty. There was no press conference, no official photograph. 
     This latest invitation was seen as an attempt by the two to make nice. It would shore up Jewish support for the Democratic candidates in November's mid-term elections, present the two as together in the search for peace and allow President Obama to put pressure on the Israelis to recognise UN Security Council resolutions and ease the blockade on Gaza.
     There are vocal critics who believe that it is American protection of Israel that allows them to act as they have done in the waters off Gaza. By giving financial, military aid and providing diplomatic cover, they argue, they allow Israel to act outwith international law time and time again. The action Israel takes becomes a direct reflection of the US because it enables and protects the behaviour, which is why it too becomes a target for the disaffected around the world. The current US administration perhaps more than any other in recent years, realises this and knows this puts American troops in many places around the world, in much greater peril.
     The reality is that any delay in peace talks – and it would only be a delay – will have little real political impact. The talks have been stop-start for almost 20 years. A few months now mean very little. But America will be quietly fuming that its efforts have again been put on hold by a country that is meant to be its friend, ally and partner.
    
The fall-out with Turkey – under whose flag the flotilla sailed – is bad news for Israel. It is seeking friends to paint Iran as the number one regional threat. Turkey currently holds a seat on the UN Security Council, and after withdrawing its ambassador to Tel Aviv, it said it would seek a resolution against Israel. It is likely to fail as the USA will abstain or veto. There had been Arab states who were concerned enough about Iran and its nuclear programme to quietly indicate support for a security council resolution against Tehran. This would be to Israel's advantage. That has now disappeared.
     There are many countries demanding to know how a so-called policing action required such military force, particularly when so many nationalities were involved, so many nationalities among the dead. This has a much wider impact – for Israel, for the Middle East and for those around the globe who want peace in the Middle East.
     Israel may believe the action was justified and necessary but it has provoked contempt and disgust around the globe. And because of the international nature of the operation, it won't be so easily forgotten.

[click here] for a poem about Gaza by Lorn Macintyre

Alan Fisher is an Al Jazeera correspondent