Israel,Turkey Brace For UN Flotilla Report

By Joshua Kolb

The UN investigation into 2010 Gaza Flotilla, set to be released August 20th, could ease, or damage, relations between Israel and Turkey. 

Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand, is leading the investigation for the UN.

Turkey has in the past played a significant role in trying to bring sides together in the Middle East conflict, but its relationship with Israel was severely strained in May 2010 after the raid of the Mavi Marmara left nine Turkish activists dead and wounded several others.

The report was initially supposed to be made available last month, but Israeli and Turkish officials have been unable to agree on a way forward in the dispute.  

In a UN press conference on July 29th, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel regretted the loss of life, but maintained that the ultimate responsibility for the violence lied with the IHH, the Turkish based group that led the flotilla, and that Israel was well within its right to prevent it from reaching Gaza.

Barak said he believed it was important for Israel to settle the dispute and move forward with its relationship with Ankara and hoped a solution could be achieved. 

Reaction to the 2010 Flotilla 

At the outset of last year’s crisis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to justify the force used by Israeli commandos against protesters but the UN Security Council, in a statement, nevertheless condemned Israel’s interception of the ships and asked Tel Aviv to immediately release passengers and crew and allow for the passage of humanitarian goods to Gaza. 

The United States, Israel’s strongest ally at the UN, supported the Security Council statement while also acknowledging the legitimate concerns of the Israeli government. The Human Rights Council also denounced the attack and called for Israel to free those who were detained and help them return home safely.

Debate intensified over the issue of the legality and effectiveness of the Gaza blockade. President Barack Obama stated at a meeting with President Abbas shortly after, “We agree that Israelis have the right to prevent arms from entering into Gaza that can be used to launch attacks into Israeli territory. But we also think that it is important for us to to explore new mechanisms so that we can have goods and services, and economic development, and the ability of people to start their own businesses, and to grow the economy and provide opportunity within Gaza.” 

Fouzi El-Asmar, an Israeli-Palestinian poet and journalist who lives in the US, says Israel could have found other more acceptable solutions, such as having an international committee search boats and ships before they reached Gaza, but that Tel Aviv was trying to make a statement about the blockade. 

“I think the Israelis wanted to have such an attack as to be a lesson for others not to come and do the same thing. They wanted it as an example for others,” he told Talk Radio News.

El Asmar says Israel would have had a legitimate reason to take preventative action if any arms, missiles, weapons and/or fighting materials were found but their actions were proved to be unjustified.

The Gaza Blockade 

In his support of the blockade, Prime Minster Netanyahu said in the weeks following that: “Israel cannot allow the free flow of weapons, rockets and missiles to the terrorist base of Hamas in Gaza … Our policy is simple. We say any goods, any humanitarian aid to Gaza, can enter. What we want to prevent is their ability to bring in war material - missiles, rockets, the means for constructing casings for missiles and rockets.”

Terri Ginsberg, an American Jewish academic and activist, says Israel’s characterization of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and threat of weapons smuggling is exaggerated. 

“Israel was really, I believe, violating international law and ethics because the ships, the flotilla ships, didn’t carry weapons at all. They were bringing humanitarian aid, and humanitarian aid can be brought anywhere. … There is no reason why humanitarian aid cannot be delivered to Gaza. Gazans need it,” she told Talk Radio News. “Israel, by attacking the flotillas, is implicitly saying, ‘Gazans don’t need this aid and we’re protecting Gazans and Gaza.’ And this is false because they’re blockading Gaza and they’re starving the people of Gaza.”

Seemingly influenced by the controversy, Israel announced later in June of 2010 that it was easing the blockade by releasing a list of all banned goods, which was then limited only to weapons and materials used to make them. All items not on that list would be allowed. The White House welcomed the change, saying that, “[the] implementation of the policy announced by the government of Israel today should improve life for the people of Gaza and we will continue to support that effort.”

The 2011 Flotilla 

At the beginning of 2011, the organizers of the 2010 Gaza Flotilla decided to launch another flotilla to breach the Gaza Strip blockade. The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation announced that it would once again participate in this second flotilla project, but later it dropped out due to alleged “technical difficulties.”

The international community, and a bipartisan group of US congressmen, spoke out against the flotilla and asked all governments to use their influence to stop it.

Eventually, on June 27, 2011, the Greek government detained six ships that were supposed to be a part of the Second Gaza Flotilla. The organizers of the movement said that the Israeli government had sabotaged the ships and needed at least a few days to repair them. During the next few days, the Greek government intercepted and arrested the captain of one of the ships, named “The Audacity of Hope;” banned the departure of another ship, the “Tahrir” and intercepted a French boat with pro-Palestinian protesters on it.