Two boats full of courageous passengers were on their way to Gaza when they were intercepted on Friday, November 4, by the Israeli military in international waters. We call the passengers courageous because they sailed from Turkey on November 2 with the knowledge that at any moment they might be boarded by Israeli commandos intent on stopping them -- perhaps violently, as the Israeli military did in 2010 when they killed nine humanitarian aid workers on the Turkish boat named Mavi Marmara.
The boats -- one from Canada and one from Ireland -- were carrying 27 passengers, including press and peace activists from Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia and Palestine. They were unarmed, and the Israeli military knew that. They were simply peace activists wanting to connect with civilians in Gaza, and the Israeli military knew that. Yet naked aggression was used against them in international waters -- something that is normally considered an act of piracy.
The passengers on the boats were sailing to Gaza to challenge the U.S.-supported Israeli blockade that is crippling the lives of 1.6 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They were sailing to stand up against unaccountable power -- the power of the Israeli government -- that has been violating the basic rights of the 5.5 million Palestinians that live inside Israel's pre-1967 borders or in the Occupied Territories. They were sailing for us, civil society, who believe in human rights and the rule of law.
The Arab Spring -- which has now spread to cities across the United States in the form of the "#occupy" movement, and has been echoed in protests against economic injustice in Europe and Israel as well -- has fundamentally been a challenge to unaccountable power. Some countries experiencing this protest wave are dictatorships under military rule or ruled by monarchies; others are generally considered "democracies." But in all instances the majority feel that they have been shut out of decision-making and have been harmed by policies benefiting a narrow elite with disproportionate power.
The blockade of Gaza's civilians is an extreme example of unaccountable power. Palestinians in Gaza aren't allowed to vote for Israeli or American politicians. But due to political decisions taken in Israel and the United States, Palestinians in Gaza are prevented from exporting their goods, traveling freely, farming their land, fishing their waters or importing construction materials to build their homes and factories.
We have been to Gaza before, where we have seen the devastation firsthand. We have also been to Israel and the West Bank, where we have seen how the Israeli government is detaining Palestinians at checkpoints, building walls that cut them off from their lands, demolishing their houses, arbitrarily imprisoning their relatives and imposing economic restrictions that prevent them from earning a living. We have seen how Palestinians, like people everywhere, are desperate to live normal and dignified lives.
A UN Report released in September found that "Israel's oppressive policies [in Gaza] constitute a form of collective punishment of civilians", that these policies violate both international humanitarian and human rights law, and that the illegal siege of Gaza should be lifted. The International Committee of the Red Cross also called the blockade of Gaza a violation of international law because it constitutes "collective punishment" of a civilian population for actions for which the civilians are not responsible. The Red Cross is a neutral humanitarian organization. It doesn't usually go around making pronouncements on matters of public policy. The fact that it has done so in this case should be a strong signal to the international community that the blockade of Gaza is extreme and must fall.
History has shown us again and again that when political leaders decide it's in their interest, then peace, diplomacy, negotiations are possible. Recently, Israel and Hamas -- with the help of the new Egyptian government -- successfully negotiated a prisoner exchange that had eluded them for five years. In speeches, the Israeli government "opposes negotiations with Hamas," and in speeches, Hamas "opposes negotiations with Israel." But when they decided it was in their interest, they had no problem sitting down at the table and hammering out an agreement.
If Israel and Hamas can negotiate an agreement to release prisoners, then surely Israel and Hamas can negotiate an agreement to lift the blockade on Gaza's civilians.
But the people of Gaza can't wait for political leaders to decide it's in their interest to negotiate, so it's up to us -- as civil society -- to step up the pressure. That's what these waves of boats are doing. That's what the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is doing.
More than a year ago, President Obama called the blockade unsustainable. "It seems to us that there should be ways of focusing narrowly on arms shipments, rather than focusing in a blanket way on stopping everything and then, in a piecemeal way, allowing things into Gaza," he said. That hasn't happened. Why not? Why shouldn't it happen now? What does blocking Palestinian exports from Gaza to Europe or keeping people from getting medical treatment abroad have to do with arms shipments?
The Israeli military stopped these two small ships carrying peace activists to Gaza, but they won't stop the Palestinians who are demanding freedom, and they won't stop the solidarity movement. We won't stop challenging the blockade on Gaza's civilians -- by land and by sea -- until the blockade falls. And we won't stop challenging the denial of Palestinian democratic aspirations until those aspirations are realized.
Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange. Robert Naiman is the Director of Just Foreign Policy.
Follow Medea Benjamin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@medeabenjamin
"They were unarmed, and the Israeli military knew that"
Not really. How could they possibly know that before the boats were inspected??
"Yet naked aggression was used against them in international waters -- something that is normally considered an act of piracy."
Naked aggression?? They were stopped (as they knew they would be), detained and they will be released. If that is "aggression", the word no longer has meaning.
"They were sailing for us, civil society, who believe in human rights and the rule of law."
Also they were sailing to provide aid and comfort to an internationally recognized terrorist regime.
"History has shown us again and again that when political leaders decide it's in their interest, then peace, diplomacy, negotiations are possible."
Good point. And what are they doing to make Hamas decide that diplomacy is in their best interests?? Oh, right...bringing aid to them, despite their refusal to abandon terrorism. That'll teach them.
Do any of these activists realize that everything they are doing for 'peace' is encouraging Hamas to never make peace??
do yu know anything at all about the children of sderot….
or is it just that yu don;t care….that the only lives that matter are
those of that attempt to slawter innocent izrali children.
http://froÂntpagemag.Âcom/2011/0Â3/31/the-cÂhildren-ofÂ-sderot/
from today….
"QassamCouÂnt" from Sderot
QassamCounÂt: 7:13am: 2 rockets fired from Gaza hit...
QassamCounÂt: 00:09: Rocket fired from Gaza hits south...
QassamCounÂt: 9:23pm: Rocket fired from Gaza hits Eshkol...
QassamCounÂt: 8:08pm: Qassam rocket fired from Gaza...
QassamCounÂt: 10:56pm: Rocket fire from Gaza explodes..Â.
QassamCounÂt: 7:05pm: rocket explosion (fired from...
QassamCounÂt: 6:51pm: At least two rockets were fired...
QassamCounÂt: 3:56pm: Rocket fired from Gaza hits Ashkelon..Â.
QassamCounÂt: 00:19am: Qassam rocket fired from Gaza...
QassamCounÂt: 11:50pm: 3 rockets fired from Gaza hit...
Deflect, deflect, deflect.
Does anyone really buy that tactic anymore?
This certainly was an act piracy. And unfortunately, Israel has a long history of piracy.
"Threatening to hijack boats in international waters and kill or kidnap passengers is, of course, a serious crime. But Israel’s threats and actual uses of force are nothing new. For decades, Israel has been hijacking international vessels throughout the Mediterranean and kidnapping or killing passengers." See:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/15-5
Using overblown (and false) rhetoric is fooling no one who wasn't already fooled.
How is it that lies and fabrication of facts qualify as an article? The blockade is only enforced by sea. Gaza is accessible by land; and import/export everyday.
In addition, Israel has not held any power in Gaza for 6 years. Gaza is completely run by the Palestinians. If you, Ms. Benjamin, want to point your finger at someone for the plight of the innocent people living in Gaza, then point them at the terrorists and inept politicians and leaders in their own communities.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross also called the blockade of Gaza a violation of international law because it constitutes 'collective punishment' of a civilian population for actions for which the civilians are not responsible. The Red Cross is a neutral humanitarian organization. It doesn't usually go around making pronouncements on matters of public policy. The fact that it has done so in this case should be a strong signal to the international community that the blockade of Gaza is extreme and must fall."
And the sum total of your response to Ms. Benjamin is that these are "lies and fabrication of facts?" Really? Which ones?
And you support your assertion with "the blockade is only enforced by sea?" Really? So Palestinians can bring in the embargoed goods by land, and Israel is OK with that?
While your response may fly with those who already agree with your treatment of the Palestinians, it won't in any way help you convince anyone else.
I agree. Support BDS.
http://www.bdsmovement.net
Those who REALLY care about the plight of gazan civilians should demand an end to Hamas's berserk aggression against Israel -- the real cause of the blockade. En-route to that anti-hamas demonstration, they might wish to protest against the Syrian government, which is holding its own "subjects" hostage and has (so far!) killed several thousands of them.
Also reactionary hatred of the Jewish State of Israel is considered to be fashionably chic in certain bourgeois liberal quarters.
Concern for Palestinians has absolutely nothing to do with it.
If there was even a miniscule concern fro Palestinian, these flotillas would not turn blind eye to the serious human right violations and poverty happening in squalid Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria.
But total disinterest in Arab-on-Arab crimes conclusively proves my point
Israeli navy-- legally and lawfully detained these provocateurs trying to violate it.
Catch-and-release was a humane policy.
Next subject...
Every so often people become dissatisfied with their situation and when circumstances become oppressive enough, demonstrations follow. The entire world is presently in a depressed economic situation due to over consumption, and a WIDE variety of inequitable conditions, many unsustainable. For instance, when a few large US banks decide that it is more profitable for themselves if their shared clients/customers loose points off their credit scores, the result is higher interest rates and less alternatives for just about everyone. This in turn damages the entire housing market since so few people can thereafter qualify for lending.
The "Arab Spring" commenced when one produce vendor in Tunis set himself on fire to protest the local government extorting his money by confiscating his business equipment. So as a general principle, the "Arab Spring" and the OWS protests share a common thread. Both economic situations are similar in nature., However, beyond that similarity, these events share exactly nothing else in common.
One did not give rise to the other. The exact same conditions existed for the past few decades because overall economic circumstances were tolerable enough.
That is no longer true.
Don't those young people deserve the assistance of the "progressive" members of society in Europe and North America...??
Or, perhaps, these people are not as "progressive" as they claim to be, and human rights is not what motivates them, but rather the confrontation with the Jews does...??
And they know full well, the Jews will not imprison them and will not torture them, and will not slaughter them as they would be if they sailed to Syria...!!