The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

COMMENT: Israel’s flotilla fatalities

On Monday the Israeli Defence Force attacked a flotilla of ships headed for Gaza resulting in the deaths of nine people and the injury of many others. The flotilla was carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza who live under an illegal blockade that only allows one fifth of the supplies necessary through. While the flotillas mission was ostensibly to deliver this aid, a more political end was clearly intended, and that was to break the blockade.

BY BEN FINCH

Despite failing to achieve either, the flotilla has been more successful at achieving its political goals. Israel’s reaction has been condemned by all of their allies. It has massively increased tension with Turkey, their only Muslim ally. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raged, “It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel’s lawlessness. This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse.” Israel’s closest friend in Europe, Italy, “deplored” the violence and the only nation not to call for the blockade to stop was the US.

Israel’s silent partner in the blockade of Gaza, Egypt, immediately opened the border crossing, with Gaza and Israeli newspapers, while showing support for the IDF’s intentions, called the assault a “fiasco”. The IDF’s tactics have been criticised and they were either naive not to expect resistance or trying to use the operation for their own political ends. Following the events, the incredibly efficient Israeli PR machine leaped into action, and footage was released that showed activists attacking the boarders but none of the fatal firefights.

The assault took place in international waters, where the law onboard a ship is that of the flag it flies. This also means that it is illegal to take prisoners. While over six hundred activists detained have now been deported, Israel’s actions are in clear defiance of International Law, which they hold very little respect for. The activists were forced to accept they had entered Israel illegally, despite their transport from international waters by the IDF. In theory, the perpetrators of the deaths may be open to prosecution under Turkish law as the Mavi Marmara, on which the deaths occurred, was flying the Turkish flag.

The final ship of the flotilla, the MV Rachel Corrie, is currently approaching the area of Israel’s disastrous raid on Monday. It is named after an American peace activist killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Turkey has said that the ship will have a military escort and many other governments have called for the ship to be allowed to land in Gaza. The Rachel Corrie is out of Dundalk, flies the Irish Flag and is carrying Mairead Maguire, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts in Ireland.

Following the widespread condemnation of the first attack, Israel’s hands are surely well and truly tied. They will have to let the ship land or risk turning a crisis into international war. The problem is that Israel tends to take the most offensive course of action and their current, unrelenting stance indicates that this will be the case. While they may not expect much resistance from a 66 year old woman and four other crew, if there is a military escort the results will surely be even more disastrous than Monday.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.