11 juin 2010
Incomprehension
Since the Israeli raid on a humanitarian fleet, which has taken the lives of nine people on Monday, the media go wild, public opinion is shocked, and networks of solidarity with the Palestinian people are mobilizing. According to most, one thing is certain: the status quo is no longer possible. At the announcement of the tragedy that occurred in international waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip, the condemnations were quick to come from the Turkish, Arab, European and American governments. But if Ankara and the members of the Arab League did not hesitate to underline the responsibility of Israel, Western capitals have been much more cautious. The Europeans largely condemned the action but few dared to point clearly at the Israeli responsibility.
Despite the still opaque fog on the violence’s that happened on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, European media have mostly condemned the Israeli operation launched on the humanitarian fleet. The sacrosanct neutrality vis-à-vis Israel has once been ignored. In Le Monde, Dominique de Villepin calls for justice to be done to the Palestinian people as a sine qua non for Israel’s security. To this end, a united Europe must be present according to him (Le chemin de la Justice, Le Monde, 4/6/2010). According to Linda Gray in the Guardian the episode of Monday may be decisive to gain the sympathy of the international opinion for the Palestinian cause, like the Exodus episode did in the history of Israel (Israel’s vivid act of piracy may yet turn the tide of global opinion, Guardian, 4/6/2010).
On the Israeli side also, the media shows a public exhausted by the misguided political choices government. The Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston points out the absurdity of Israeli action aimed at defending not the security of Israel, but the blockade of Gaza. He said the siege of Gaza is becoming the » Israel’s Vietnam » (A Special Place in Hell / The Second Gaza War: Israel lost at sea, Haaretz (blog), 31/5/2010). In Yediot Aharonot, Avi Trengo requests the dismissal of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whom he holds responsible for the fiasco of Monday. Those events and their consequences could otherwise be only an « appetizer » (Predictable Israeli fiasco, Yediot Aharonot, 31/5/2010). The New York Times notes on its side that if on Monday Israel was still defending the blockade of Gaza as a matter of survival, the Israeli government began at the end of the week to consider other ways to control the Palestinian territory (Israel Signals New Flexibility on Gaza Shipments, NY Times, 3/6/2010).
A rumor of discontent, of need for change blows out in European, but also in Israeli public opinion. Why then do we observe this wait-and-see attitude from the Western governments?
The United States seem more hesitant than ever.When reading the Nouvel Observateur (Flottille pour Gaza : les USA vont enquêter sur la mort d’un Américain, Le Nouvel Observateur, 4/6/2010), the U.S. response seems indeed incoherent : launching of an investigation, but not a criminal investigation, on the death of the Turkish-American activist Furkan Dogan killed during the Israeli raid, condemnation by Barack Obama of the « acts that led to these deaths » without targeting the ones responsible for these acts, or the humanitarian situation deemed « unacceptable « in Gaza but understanding of the security reasons that led Israel to impose the embargo.
On the European governments’ side, the reactions are equally timid. They condemn the Israeli action but do not put anything in place to point it out to the Jewish state. During an emergency meeting on Monday, the Security Council failed meanwhile to make its members agree on a resolution and had thus to content itself with a statement calling for Israel to « launch a prompt and impartial investigation, credible and transparent in line with international standards”.
Finally, although Israel is rethinking its embargo policy, the U.S. and the EU seem to expect a green light, an approval to speak and act. What are they waiting for? Following the Lebanon War in 2006, nothing has changed. After the massacre of 1,400 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip during the winter 2008-2009, nothing has changed. Today, eight people were killed during a humanitarian mission to save a people dying because of an illegitimate blockade. Let us dare to believe that something will change.
Nathalie Janne d’Othée