Israel intercepted a group of ships headed to Gaza with relief aid and lives were lost. That is enough to set everyone with an interest either direct or peripheral to their blogs, twitter accounts and streets. I'm a lagging behind but will give my opinion on the issue. The first thing i wanted to know was whether the blockade is legal. The United Nations Charter section section 7 deals with acts of aggression and threats to peace. Article 42 of that section recognizes that blockades may be imposed on offending members. When I read this section the implication was that any action must be approved by the security council, the Israeli action is not sanctioned by the U.N.. I found story in Reuters that answered the question a little better. I will not assume that this piece is part of an agenda aimed at legitimizing Israel's action in the Eastern Mediterranean, but i will leave open the possibility that all the questions needed to be asked in order to assess the legality may not have been posed. The questions that were asked an answered in this article do address the legality of the blockade in terms of international law and treaty (excluding the U.N.).
It is reasonable that when a state of war exists between two nations that blockades maybe imposed. It may be undeclared but a state of war does exist between Israel and Hamas(Gaza). Hamas attacks Israel with rockets on a routine basis. These attacks damage property and rarely take lives, but they are attacks by one state on another, however ineffectual. This provides Israel with the choice of whether to act and how. Mostly Israel will reply in kind. Last year they replied with disproportional force resulting in 1300 Palestinian deaths. Hamas takes this chance every time they fire a home made rocket. Hamas can goad Israel into action but once initiated it's out of their hands.
In an effort to control the influx of material used to make weapons Israel initiated a full blockade of Gaza. It is not quite complete. The border with Egypt is more or less porous depending on the mood of the Egyptians. The upshot is that everything that goes into Gaza must go through Israel. This puts Israel in complete control of Gaza, and responsible for the conditions found therein. Yes Hamas is the architect of this situation, but like the rockets, after helping to create this circumstance they immediately lost control of process. Since Israel is in control of Gaza they are responsible for the conditions found inside Gaza. This may be unfair to Israel, since their stated aim was to reduce to zero the rocket attacks, not the occupation of Gaza. Unfair or not Israel is running the show deny it all you want.
Having a legal right to engaged in the blockade does not confer on you the right to do as you please, proportionality matters to the legitimacy of any given action. Though they live under almost complete control of a foreign power in most ways that matter, Gaza isn't starving, even if life is very hard.
Showing posts with label Israel and Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel and Palestine. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Israel and Palestine
Today Israel attacked a convoy of peace activists headed to Gaza. These ships were carrying the usual array of peace protesters including a Nobel laureate and a Holocaust survivor.
Israel has blockaded the ports of Gaza for some years now. All aid must pass through their hands before it heads to the Palestinians. A reasonable procedure if you don’t want the people you are fighting with to restock their weapons supply. Also a good strategy if you are trying to bring a reluctant party to the table. A table where presumably you want to come to some lasting terms on a lasting peace. It occurs that this method comes with draw backs. The people you are trying to bring to the negotiating table are usually unaffected by privation and so undeterred. The general population which has less real power to effect a change of mind among their leadership suffers the most. Incidentally they are often left with the option of supporting either the people who have precipitated the blockade or those running it. Bad choices all around but predictable. What get is a stalemate, one that seems to help both sides. Israel gets a intractable opponent that will never seek peace so Israel never has to make a peace it doesn’t like and certain Palestinian parties get a perpetual threat that helps them maintain power without ever having to deliver anything resembling a future to their people.
So what we get is an Israeli attack in international waters on unarmed vessels carrying relief supplies to Gaza. Reports have 4 injured Israeli’s and 10 to 16 dead activists. The usual accusations are made Israel killed unarmed protesters or Israeli soldiers were protecting themselves from violent attack by the blockade runners. I image that both sides will lie about what happened. I expect that the side that did the most damage is inclined to lie the most.
What I see the most clearly is that the interests of Israel and that of my country Canada have parted ways in most places. Keep in mind that when I speak of “interests” I am confined to my on view on this. I can assure any one reading this post that Canada is divided on this the Israel/Palestine issue. Divided along all the usual fault lines political , social ethnic ,religious. It is an issue that has too many hangers on.
It is in Canada’s interest to be pursuing in everyway possible an equitable peace between the warring sides. That is what good countries do, promote peace. Before anyone says but it’s complicated I’ll stipulate that peace between Israel and Palestine is and will be a complicated process and more blood will be split before a concluding chapter is written.
I see the grindstone strategy being employed by both sides continuing for sometime. I believe that each side thinks the other will break. Is that how you begin set upon the road to peace , by first breaking your enemy? Not if you want it to last.
It is clear that the aggrieved parties have other interests at stake than just peace. If people want to stop fighting they find away, just like they find excuses to keep the violence going.
That is the why I write of diverging interests. Canada should not care who has Jerusalem other than that it’s allocation be equitable. Canada should not care about settlements other than the rule of law be applied. Canada should care only that civil and human rights are enshrined in any deal signed and that the parties keep their word. When Canada speaks on the issue of Palestinians it must be a voice for reason. It can not ignore the reality but in acknowledging situation must be prepared to help move that reality in another direction. It is not in Canada’s interest to support without equivocation either Palestine or Israel. We are not directly affected by the rockets and bombs that are routinely traded by these warring parties. But we are affected by terrorists that draw power from this conflict. By ending the violence in creating an equitable peace, Canada’s interests are being served. By allowing the fighting to continue we are placing others countries interests ahead of our own. I can assure you that neither the Palestinians nor Israelis spend much time thinking how to promote our interests.
As long as these two so similar peoples refuse to look past their on noses for a solution, we have to help them. The way we help them is by refusing to take sides, refusing to accept that one party is more aggrieved than the other. I know that this can’t be easy but it’s the only way I see that a bridge towards peace can be built. Let everyone acknowledge that harm has been done and let everyone understand that it should not be a barrier to peace.
Israel has blockaded the ports of Gaza for some years now. All aid must pass through their hands before it heads to the Palestinians. A reasonable procedure if you don’t want the people you are fighting with to restock their weapons supply. Also a good strategy if you are trying to bring a reluctant party to the table. A table where presumably you want to come to some lasting terms on a lasting peace. It occurs that this method comes with draw backs. The people you are trying to bring to the negotiating table are usually unaffected by privation and so undeterred. The general population which has less real power to effect a change of mind among their leadership suffers the most. Incidentally they are often left with the option of supporting either the people who have precipitated the blockade or those running it. Bad choices all around but predictable. What get is a stalemate, one that seems to help both sides. Israel gets a intractable opponent that will never seek peace so Israel never has to make a peace it doesn’t like and certain Palestinian parties get a perpetual threat that helps them maintain power without ever having to deliver anything resembling a future to their people.
So what we get is an Israeli attack in international waters on unarmed vessels carrying relief supplies to Gaza. Reports have 4 injured Israeli’s and 10 to 16 dead activists. The usual accusations are made Israel killed unarmed protesters or Israeli soldiers were protecting themselves from violent attack by the blockade runners. I image that both sides will lie about what happened. I expect that the side that did the most damage is inclined to lie the most.
What I see the most clearly is that the interests of Israel and that of my country Canada have parted ways in most places. Keep in mind that when I speak of “interests” I am confined to my on view on this. I can assure any one reading this post that Canada is divided on this the Israel/Palestine issue. Divided along all the usual fault lines political , social ethnic ,religious. It is an issue that has too many hangers on.
It is in Canada’s interest to be pursuing in everyway possible an equitable peace between the warring sides. That is what good countries do, promote peace. Before anyone says but it’s complicated I’ll stipulate that peace between Israel and Palestine is and will be a complicated process and more blood will be split before a concluding chapter is written.
I see the grindstone strategy being employed by both sides continuing for sometime. I believe that each side thinks the other will break. Is that how you begin set upon the road to peace , by first breaking your enemy? Not if you want it to last.
It is clear that the aggrieved parties have other interests at stake than just peace. If people want to stop fighting they find away, just like they find excuses to keep the violence going.
That is the why I write of diverging interests. Canada should not care who has Jerusalem other than that it’s allocation be equitable. Canada should not care about settlements other than the rule of law be applied. Canada should care only that civil and human rights are enshrined in any deal signed and that the parties keep their word. When Canada speaks on the issue of Palestinians it must be a voice for reason. It can not ignore the reality but in acknowledging situation must be prepared to help move that reality in another direction. It is not in Canada’s interest to support without equivocation either Palestine or Israel. We are not directly affected by the rockets and bombs that are routinely traded by these warring parties. But we are affected by terrorists that draw power from this conflict. By ending the violence in creating an equitable peace, Canada’s interests are being served. By allowing the fighting to continue we are placing others countries interests ahead of our own. I can assure you that neither the Palestinians nor Israelis spend much time thinking how to promote our interests.
As long as these two so similar peoples refuse to look past their on noses for a solution, we have to help them. The way we help them is by refusing to take sides, refusing to accept that one party is more aggrieved than the other. I know that this can’t be easy but it’s the only way I see that a bridge towards peace can be built. Let everyone acknowledge that harm has been done and let everyone understand that it should not be a barrier to peace.
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