Mavi Marmara Flotilla Ship (AP)
Below are a few pieces analyzing yesterday’s events and their repercussions:
After the Raid, Israel Needs a New Way Forward
by The Baltimore Sun
Despite the release of videos from both sides in the conflict between protesters and Israeli soldiers aboard a freighter off the Gaza coast, the precise nature of the incident that left nine civilians dead and several soldiers wounded is unclear. … Ultimately, it will probably be impossible to arrive at answers to those questions that will be universally accepted. And in the immediate term, trying to answer them may not matter. The more important problem is that, regardless of the motives of those involved, the results of the incident have left Israel deeply isolated, and that is a much graver threat to its long-term security than whatever those ships were carrying. …
What Israel needs is a way forward. Insisting on a continued blockade of humanitarian supplies is unsustainable. Instead, it should work with the international community to find a way to allow those supplies to reach Gaza without completely abandoning its efforts to isolate Hamas, perhaps by seeking the assistance of the United Nations or some other international body to organize the effort. No matter how justified Israelis may believe their actions to be, they have handed their opponents a massive public relations victory, and continuing the blockade in its present form is only going to make matters worse.
Raid Jeopardizes Turkey Relations
by Sabrina Tavernise (The New York Times)
The Israeli commando raid on Monday on an aid flotilla, which left at least nine people dead, has dragged relations between Israel and Turkey to a new low, political experts here say, threatening to derail diplomatic relations between two close American allies. … The situation is difficult for the United States, which has close relations with both countries and is now in the awkward position of devising a reaction that avoids alienating either side. Both the United States and Israel use Turkish airspace for military exercises. The United States transports the majority of supplies for Iraq from a military base in southern Turkey.
Straight Into the Trap
by Amos Harel (Haaretz)
The Israel Defense Forces had little trouble explaining the naval commando raid yesterday to the Israeli public. The troops slid from helicopters into a violent crowd, which attacked them with sticks. It’s no wonder the troops opened fire in self-defense. The situation in the international arena, though, is the diametric opposite. No matter how much effort it invests, Israel will never be able to explain to the world how nine civilians were killed, without a single death on our side - and the dead are citizens of the country that was until recently our best friend in the region. The consequences of this incident will necessitate a far-reaching investigation of the decision-making process and the execution.
Israeli spokesmen repeatedly stressed yesterday that the demonstrators went into a violent frenzy that endangered the soldiers’ lives. This argument, however, should not detract attention from the question of why these things happened, and whether an alternative had been possible. Ultimately, Israel walked straight into the trap that the flotilla organizers set, and has found itself in a massive diplomatic mess.
Activists Send New Boat to Challenge Gaza Blockade
by Amy Teibel (The Associated Press)
Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists. The raid provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel, raised questions at home, and appeared likely to increase pressure to end the blockade that has deepened the poverty of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip. Turkey, which unofficially supported the flotilla, has led the criticism, calling the Israeli raid a "bloody massacre" and demanding that Washington condemn the raid. The White House has reacted cautiously, calling for disclosure of all the facts.
