Do you know that Gaza is not a sovereign state? Do you know that despite the withdrawal of the military presence and expulsion of the Jewish settlers from the Gaza region, Israel remains the sovereign authority in Gaza? It appears that even the Israeli government is confused, citing the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/560?OpenDocument (1994) as the legal basis for their action. In truth the San Remo Manual is irrelevant in this case. As the ruling sovereign power over Gaza, Israel has the obligation to enforce customs and other standard inspections of all goods destined for Israel, including Gaza. Attempts to bypass customs is of course pure and simple smuggling, an ancient and well known criminal activity that is punishable by law etc. etc.
Having established the State of Israel's obligation to filter all imports to its territories through customs, the issue now becomes one of the methods used to halt the flotilla and direct it to the nearest port with customs facilities. All but one ship complied with the directions given them by Israeli commanders and off-loaded their cargoes at the Ashkelon port in Southern Israel. One ship. the Mavi Mamara ignored the command to heave to and sail to Ashkelon. The classic response to the refusal to obey the order to sail to a port with customs facilities is a warning shot across the bow which, if proven ineffective, is followed by a concerted effort to disable if not sink the ship.
For whatever reason the commander of the intercepting Israeli naval or some other still to be determined authority called for the occupation of the ship by 6 Israeli commandos. Apparently the decision was made without taking into account the preparedness of the Mavi's passengers to physically fend off any effort to occupy the ship. Reviewing the videos made throughout the attempt by the commandos to occupy the ship (and despite assertions to the contrary by some of the correspondents to this forum these are available on U TUBE) this small force was under attack while at least some of them were still attached to the safety lines by which they were lowered to the deck. Again, according to the videos this small force was attacked by densely packed assailants armed with pipes, bats, and reportedly also with knives and axes. Again the Israelis seem to think that most of the world is aware of the deadly possibilities of pipes, axes, and knives, particularly when used by massed assailants. They assume that showing these objects which may or may not have been found on the ship suffices to explain the defensive action taken by the commandos. After all how many of Israel's critics have faced an angry and armed mob with the minimal protection of an automatic handgun. The sorry fact is that when faced with densely packed assailants at very close quarters (again, see the relevant videos) the only possible target is the head shot. Actually, pistols are not really very effective under the conditions faced by the occupying force, combat knives and sharped trench shovels would have been a messier but better choice of weapons. It probably would have been wiser to fire a rocket across the bow followed, if necessary, by another in the engine room.
There can be no doubt that the "blockade" of Gaza is collective punishment, and even more doubtful that it has been the least bit effective in loosening the strangle-hold of Hamas on the people of Gaza. Quite the contrary has occurred, link between the beleaguered citizenry and the obscurantist religious party has become far tighter than would be the case had the Gazan's been able to realize a better future without a final victory over the Zionist beastie. On the other hand the likelihood of Israel's abandonment of the security fence and the reopening of the crossings to allow large numbers of Gazans to find work in Israel is unlikely. True, the TV viewing public has a short attention span and the memory capacity of sufferers from advanced Alzheimer, so it's probably necessary to remind your readers that the fence and the closing of border crossings was a much delayed response to repeated fatal attacks on - mostly - Israeli citizens by the human missiles exported from Gaza to the Jewish heartlands. The alternative to the fence would have been something more like the Singhalese solution for the Tamil Tiger conflict - a fight to the finish with extensive civilian losses and the concentration of the offending population in what are euphemistically called refugee camps.
Alas, Sharon's evacuation from Gaza was only half a solution, and like most incomplete solutions it creates more problems than it solves. The optimal solution would be for Israel to formally give Gaza the status of a free state - it is my general impression that the Gaza govt. will only accept statehood over the whole state of Palestine - accompanied by the discontinuance of the current obligations of the Israeli State to provide the district with fuel, power, and water. In the event that the now independent state of Gaza would continue a belligerent stance towards Israel, the San Remo Manual would justify a blockade of Gaza's ports at least as regards military imports, and, of course any attack on Israel originating from Gaza would then be an overt act of war by one sovereign state against another which would justify whatever military response Israel would regard as necessary to her security. Equally, it would justify a Gazan military response to unprovoked Israeli violence within Gaza, e.g. the continued murder of prominent Gazans by airship and teams of assassins.
The conflict here is no more or less a morality play than similar conflicts around the world, and the justifiables and unjustifiables are well distributed among all the participants in the conflict. Such is the nature of war and would that we could dispense with its practice the world would be a better place for all.
Peace,
On 5 June 2010 16:05, Bhaskar Sunkara <bhaskar.sunkara at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://theactivist.org/blog/a-collage-of-lies
>
> hat-tip to Ibn Kafka
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-- Victor Friedlander