Age of madness: The Flotila attack

It appears our idiocy, apathy and complete disregard of logic has no bounds. We truly live in a dark age where conformity to the status-quo is commended while any resistance, any show of bravery in the face of injustice is condemned as extremism. The most recent incident in the Middle East with the Israeli attack on a humanitarian vessel and the media bias following the incident only serves to prove that we are living in the age of madness. An age where men in uniform are more valuable than ordinary people, an age where we twist logical and reality and serve our apathetic, middle class lifestyles.

Following the Israeli raid on the Turkish humanitarian vessel, the Mavi Marmara, a music video was released by the Israeli government press office which attempted to demonise the activists on board, creating a fictional link between Al-Qaeda and the free Gaza movement. In went on claiming there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza: "We must go on, pretending day by day, that in Gaza there is crisis, hunger and plague". I feel there is no point even trying to make an argument against such an obscene disregard for reality. Let’s dissect the history of the situation and analyse why Gaza is under siege in the first place.

Following the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, the Islamic party Hamas, achieved 44% of the popular vote, emerging as the largest party in the in the national authority. It subsequently renounced its calls for the destruction of Israel and replaced it with the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital (the exact same position as the Fatah movement). Immediately following the results, Israel refused to recognise the election results while the United States under the direction of the former secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, planned a covert operation to remove the Hamas government. At the same time, the Quartet on the Middle East threatened to cut funds to the Palestinian authority, all for participating in a system the United States claims to fight for, resulting in the deaths of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan; Democracy. The covert operation failed and spiralled into an armed conflict which resulted in Fatah retreating from Gaza, leaving Palestine divided into two mutually hostile camps. Following economic sanctions against the PA, Israel and Egypt commenced a merciless siege on Gaza, reducing the region to a large, open air prison.

Whatever one feels about the politics of the situation, it is clear the siege is nothing short of collective punishment, intended to starve off the 1.5 million residents of Gaza. On 7th march 2008, several international aid groups including amnesty international and Oxfam described the siege as “collective punishment”, reporting that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached its most acute point since the beginning of the Israeli occupation. According to the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs: “everything from wheelchairs, dry food items, and crayons, to stationary, soccer balls, and musical instruments is being stopped”. There is a blanket ban on construction materials and basic food produce, and situation reached critical levels just before the 2009 conflict where the government of Gaza could no longer provide access to adequate food supplies, clean water and medical services. The United Nations Human Rights council issued 15 separate statements in a two year period calling for the lift of the siege to allow basic humanitarian aid into Gaza. Of course this was boycotted by the United States every time. Driven to desperate measures, Palestinian militants began launching raids and rocket attacks into Israel, triggering the 2009 war on Gaza. The situation continues to deteriorate while only 20% of the needed humanitarian aid according to the UN is allowed in by Egypt and Israel.

Now that we’ve established the fact that there is, indeed a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, let’s deal with the accusations that the flotilla was not trying to deliver aid, but make a political statement. I have a problem with this view. What exactly is wrong in highlighting the complete injustice and barbarity of the situation? Aid is only limited and its effects aren’t enough to alleviate the mass suffering Gazan’s deal with on a daily basis. The true evil, in my opinion, would be to strip the movement from any political goal and have it as a purely humanitarian effort. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if aid ships were sent to apartheid era South Africa to deliver supplies to impoverished Black communities without even acknowledging that the poverty is largely a result of the existence of a brutal, racist regime?

So we’ve established that there is a clear political issue going on is Gaza. What about the violence displayed by the extremists on board? What about the IDF videos which show Israeli commandoes being attacked with metal rods while boarding the vessel? That fact that this is an issue to so many people is simply depressing. First Israel imposes a brutal siege on Gaza intending to brutally punish a population enclosed in a small area, completely disregarding any notion of human rights. A humanitarian vessel arrives in International waters to break an illegal siege and deliver much needed supplies. It is threatened by Israeli warships, bombarded by tear gas and sound bombs, and then boarded by Israeli commandoes. So defending an aid ship against naked piracy becomes a terrorist activity?

Yet Israel continues to insist it’s compliance with international law. It made a statement calling on aid flotillas to deliver their goods to Israel and Egypt for inspection which would then be delivered to Gaza. I don’t even have to bother explaining why the aid will never reach Gaza for the reasons above. Handing the aid over to Egypt and Israel is as futile as dumping it all in the sea, all essential items will be banned and the issue will never receive international attention, exposing the reality of the situation. The tragedy of the situation is that the freedom flotilla has to be defending against the bias shown in the media which continues to portray activists as violent supports of terrorism.