Israel Warns That It Will Forcibly Stop Another Flotilla
TEL AVIV Israel made clear on Thursday that if a new flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists sought to break its naval blockade of Gaza like the one a year ago when its commandos killed nine people, the Israeli military would use force again, including by boarding the ships and confronting the activists.
We will do anything we have to do to prevent a boat from breaking the blockade, a top naval official said in a briefing for foreign journalists. If there is the same violence against our forces on board, there is a pretty good chance there will be injuries. The naval official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with Israeli military rules.
The militarys chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, made a similar point on Israel Radio on Thursday, saying the army would stop any ship from entering Gaza, adding, There is an unequivocal directive from the government to enforce the naval blockade that is recognized by international law, and we will not allow it to be broken.
The statements seemed part of a heightened effort to stop another flotilla and to pre-emptively explain Israels position if violence ensues.
Groups of Palestinian advocates in chartered vessels are scheduled to depart from a number of European ports this month and assemble into a flotilla heading toward Gaza to both challenge Israels blockade and commemorate the deaths of a year ago.
Among those expected to participate is an American vessel with several dozen passengers including the writer Alice Walker and an 86-year-old whose parents died in the Holocaust.
It remained unclear whether the ship on which last years deaths occurred, the Mavi Marmara of Turkey, would join the flotilla as originally planned, because of a combination of insurance difficulties and political pressure. Israel, widely condemned for the operation, said that the ship a year ago had been dominated by a group of extremists who created the confrontations that resulted in the deaths.
A number of world leaders, including Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, Catherine Ashton, the European Unions foreign policy chief, and Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, have urged the flotilla organizers to abandon their plans or to wait and see how Gaza fares under recent changes in Egyptian and Israeli policies.
Four years ago, after Hamas took over in Gaza, Israel and Egypt imposed a closing on the territory, preventing most goods and nearly all people from going in and out. Israel added a naval blockade two and a half years ago when it started a three-week invasion of Gaza to stop the flow of rockets from there onto Israels southern communities.
But after the commando raid a year ago, international outrage over the deaths, combined with the hardships in Gaza, contributed to a shift in Israeli policy. Israel eased its blockade, allowing in more overland goods. After the revolution in Egypt this year, Egypt too changed its policy toward Gaza, partly reopening its border to people. Today Gaza has plenty of goods available although its economy remains devastated and unemployment is nearly 50 percent.
Moreover, while movement by land has eased, Israel has maintained the naval blockade. Its goal, the government says, is to prevent Hamas from importing missiles and weapons by sea. In March, Israel stopped a vessel packed with weapons that it says were headed for Gaza.
Earlier this year an Israeli commission concluded that the blockade conformed with international law, as did Israels raid on the Mavi Marmara in international waters. The commission included two foreign legal experts who agreed with the conclusions although Turkey dismissed the report as lacking credibility.
Israels navy has been training for the possibility of another flotilla and says it will use a number of tactics before boarding ships and do everything it can to avoid close contact with activists on board.
Like last time, Israel says it will ask any ships bringing aid to Gaza to dock either in Israel or Egypt, unload the cargo and allow it to be driven in. The goal of the flotillas, Israeli officials say, is not to bring aid to the Palestinians but to challenge and embarrass the Israelis.
They are not coming to help the Palestinians but to harm Israel, Yarden Vatikai, a government spokesman said on Israel Radio.
The naval officer who briefed foreign journalists said he did not believe that the coming flotilla would contain arms but that Israel needed to enforce the blockade indiscriminately to defend against weapons imports by future flotillas. He said on-board searches did not work because boats had many areas to conceal things, so the only reasonable way was for the cargo to be unloaded and driven to Gaza.
He said that many of those planning to participate in the flotilla were peace activists but he called them naïve because extremists will set the tone if Israeli commandos board the ships.
