“Funny, I thought that all this would happen in the middle of the night and it would be done by masked Israeli soldiers,” tweeted Joseph Dana, The Nation Magazine’s correspondent aboard the US Boat to Gaza.
Little could anyone predict that it would actually be the Greek Coast Guard that stopped the boat and demand its return to Piraeus Port in Athens.
Flotilla 2.0, as it is beginning to be called across the Internet, finally left Greece this afternoon after a tumultuous week of delayed departure due to multiple investigations for suspected chemical weapons, a (semi-successful) mechanical sabotage performed by deep sea divers, and the violent riots against austerity measures that erupted throughout the streets of Athens.
Thirty minutes after its long-awaited departure, the boat was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard. Not the Israeli Coast Guard. The Greeks. Commandos pointed weapons at the passengers. Greek commandos, not Israeli commandos. The Greek government then announced that all ships were officially banned from sailing to Gaza.
Wait a moment. The Greek economy is in a state of immediate crisis –the people are literally destroying central Athens. The Greek Ministry of Finance is in flames. Subway cars and shop windows are being smashed. Trashcans are being lit on fire. Ambulances are unable to enter what has quickly become a civilian war zone, due to the cloud of tear gas and chemicals. Protestors are fainting, bleeding, and in desperate need of absent medical attention. Not to mention the reasons that they are protesting –despite months of protesting, the Papandreou government has passed heinous austerity measures. These will translate to budget cuts imposed on a country where forty-two percent of the youth are unemployed and twenty-five percent of the population lives below the poverty line. How could the Greek government’s priority possibly be halting a flotilla of non-violent activists bound for Gaza?
Israel is holding Greece in an economic chokehold.
After last year’s Flotilla incident, and Israel’s consequent diplomatic and economic rupture with Turkey, Israel conveniently shifted most of its previously Turkish trade arrangements to Greece’s almost identical Mediterranean export-based economy. Greece welcomed this trade relationship, and a budding (eventually abusive) romance blossomed between the two countries. Now, Greece is in no position to negotiate, Israel threatened to revoke this trade agreement if Greece allowed the ships to sail.
Greece is in no position to negotiate. The Greek Parliament voted overwhelmingly to forbid the Flotilla from sailing any further, enforcing this ban with their own commandos.
After a half-hour long face-off, and failed negotiation with Greek commandos, the US Boat to Gaza returned to Athens. The passengers are being held in custody on the ship.
Did Israel just outsource its diplomatic and military operations to Greece?
More importantly, did it just work?
It seemed obvious before the Flotilla set sail. If something happened with this Flotilla –meaning, Israeli Defense Force soldiers stopped the boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with either actual or threatened violence –their international reputation would plummet. Even if this Flotilla never reached Gaza the political fallout was supposed to eternally condemn Israel and galvanize international support for Palestine.
But Israel was able to stop the Flotilla without deploying a single IDF soldier. This is frightening.
Although there were armed military commandos, there was no drama, violence, or bloodshed. There was no one to victimize and no one to demonize. No one will radically change their opinion of Israel after this incident. To a casual reader skimming the headlines, it appears that Greece, not Israel, was the perpetrator. The story itself lasted only thirty minutes and its political and economic framework only appeals to those with a specialized interest in politics, rather than the universal drama of a human rights catastrophe.
Amidst the confusion, disillusionment, and effort towards placing the blame, there is one key fact that many are ignoring:
Gaza is still under siege.
Photo of Greek protesters of last year’s Gaza flotilla massacre by Andreas Kontokanis, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
And Hamas still has their charter which states their goal to annihilate Israel and kill all Jews.
Gazans voted in Hamas which shot thousands of rockets into Israel.
I guess they didn’t take into account that Israel would protect her citizens.
3 simple things for Hamas to do:
renounce violence, accept past agreements and recognize Israel.
Not so hard for anyone that really wants peace.
Wow! This article is written very nicely, it shows Israel’s true actions, thanks for showing some light. But unfortunately, the Freedom Flotilla 2 is going to get attacked in one way or another by Israel and it’s ever powerful media.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xshayx/3165934347
Spidey, that’s an oversimplification of Hamas. You are absolutely right that Hamas has committed grave crimes by killing innocent Israelis. That needs to end both for the sake of Israel and for the sake of Gaza itself. But a couple of things:
First of all, yes the Hamas Charter is evil and so are many of the actions Hamas has taken against Israel, including murdering innocent civilians. But that in no way justifies what is going on in Gaza. Tit for tat is no type of morality. The blockade not only prevents weapons for entering Gaza, it also prevents necessary materials from entering at the level needed to rebuild Gaza after the 2008 massacre and generally needed humanitarian supplies. Even if you think that Israel is letting in enough supplies in, what is unique about this is that it also prevents anything from leaving Gaza so that their economy stays in shambles because they cannot engage in any form of trade, except for I believe flowers and strawberries. How does that help protect Israel? All it does is collectively punish Gaza for DEMOCRATICALLY electing Hamas (not that democratic election makes them ok, but it is a funny irony that the west has a problem with Hamas even though it was their democratic election that put them in place). Which brings me to . . .
Second, Anyone who has studied Palestinian politics know that the election of Hamas was not an embrace of violence; it was a rejection of Fatah. Fatah has failed to deliver anything politically or socially to Gazans and as a result, they lost to those who had stood up for the people. Hamas has, for 3 decades, been a source of social welfare in Gaza and with Fatah failing there and in delivering any political gains, Gaza decided to try something new. If you had no bread on the table for your children, that would be your first concern too. So while it is true that electing Hamas was not the best choice foreign policy wise, there are good reasons that that happened.
Third, again their actions often reprehensible but you’re omitting some actions. Actions speak louder than words and there are some you should note. Before the Gaza Massacre of 2008, Hamas had signed a ceasefire treaty with Israel. What does that indicate? One, an implicit recognition of Israel. You can’t make an agreement with an entity you do not recognize at some level. Second, that they are willing to negotiate. While there is more to be demanded of Hamas than that, you cannot just cite the charter and think that’s the be all and end all.
Summary: yes there are simple things to do for Hamas to get peace. But there are some simple things for Israel to do to – respect the human and legal rights of the Palestinian peoples. That is what the flotilla demands and that is a noble cause. Anna’s disgust at the inability for this group to support such a cause because of economics is completely justified (even if I disagree with her stance on the austerity measures). I think if you look at what’s going on in Gaza from both sides, you’ll realize that this is hardly a one way street.