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Victory for civil society and Palestine
Victory for civil society and Palestine
Monday, July 05, 2010
Praful Bidwai
The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights
When Israel s leaders ordered their commandos to attack the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza in international waters, they couldn t have imagined they would have to relax the three years-long blockade in less than three weeks. Yet, the global public revulsion at the murderous assault on the Mavi Marmara even among Israel s allies and supporters forced them to do so.
Two-thirds of Israelis disapproved of the attack more because it disgraced their country, than out of moral outrage at its illegality and brutality. Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disowns the three-year-old blockade as an inheritance from the past. This is a clear confession by a macho Right-wing leader that Israel s Gaza strategy has politically failed.
This is a major victory for the international civil society mobilisation against Palestine s occupation by Israel. The fact that 600 activists from over 50 countries organised the flotilla impressed many people. Says Phyllis Bennis, a West Asia expert and an organiser of the US Palestinian solidarity movement: The fact that so many non-Palestinians were killed highlighted the willingness of global activists to take risks on behalf of human rights that governments and the UN were unwilling to defend. It provided a powerful image of an increasingly empowered civil society with the capacity to transform events directly.
What gave the peaceful mobilisation special moral legitimacy was its basically non-violent character and its advocacy of international law. Bennis says: Israel was not condemned because its commandoes were mean and brutal, [but] because the attack on a civilian ship carrying certifiably humanitarian goods in international waters, was a violation of international law. [T]he flotilla held Israel s entire blockade of Gaza up to the scrutiny of international law and found it wanting .
Also on the winning side is Turkey. Unlike the Arab states, it translated its tough anti-blockade stand into active solidarity with civil society organisations. Nineteen Turks (including a Turkish-American) were killed in the attack. Turkey acted firmly and convincingly. It recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, cancelled military exercises with Israel, and demanded and obtained the immediate release of all those captured.
Turkey has emerged from the crisis as a self-confident Middle Power with the courage to confront the US. Turkey s stock has risen politically. It is looking to a more ambitious role in regional affairs. Turkey and Brazil recently agreed with Iran to give it medium-enriched material for its research reactor in return for low-enriched uranium. This will promote accountable behaviour on Iran s part. Until recently, Turkey had good economic and military relations with Israel both within and outside NATO. Turkey even voted for Israel s entry into the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Now, Israel has lost Turkey, its only friend in the Muslim world.
Turkey s changed posture may motivate other countries to play a less pro-US role. As will the raid s condemnation even by the conservative UK and French governments, which declared it indefensible . The UN Security Council chair statement also unequivocally criticised the attack. Malaysia and Ireland have stepped up humanitarian efforts for Gaza. The first ship to carry aid to Gaza after the flotilla was received peacefully. It was named the Rachel Corrie, after the young woman mowed down by Israeli bulldozers in 2003 for peacefully protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes.
By not condemning Israel s flotilla attack, the US lost an opportunity to earn goodwill in the Islamic world. If the US persists with its present policy, including a $30 billion 10-year aid package to Israel, the political costs of apologising for and cleaning up after Israel could become exorbitant. This may hopefully drum some sense into Washington s policy-makers.
The relaxation of the Gaza blockade won t change ground realities barring a minor improvement in food availability and living conditions. Israel will still control Gaza s borders and airspace, and movement of people and goods. But as a Gazan puts it: We don t need food or clothing; we don t want money. We need to be free to come and go. We need to feel human. People in Gaza are like you not from another planet.
The real impact of the relaxation of the blockade will be political. Israel will increasingly be seen as a state with roguish proclivities. This will accelerate worldwide recognition that Israel s occupation of Palestine is unjust, illegal and cruel, and reinforce its isolation.
Israel has long behaved like a lawless state. It has ignored the highest number of Security Council resolutions among all countries. It has invaded its neighbours and occupied territories in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It assassinates political opponents and massacres refugees. Israel has at least 200 nuclear weapons. It had nuclear-weapons collaboration with apartheid South Africa. Israel wrecked the Oslo peace process and continues to expand its illegal settlements in Palestine, including East Jerusalem.
The process of Israel s international isolation began with the bestial Sabra-Chatilla massacres in Palestinian refugee camps in 1982. A turning point was the first Intifadah of the late 1980s, during which Palestinian children fought Israeli tanks with stones. Those images transformed the world s perception of Israel: from a tiny nation threatened by hostile Arab states, to a ruthless aggressor. The 2008 Gaza invasion further confirmed Israel s criminality. After the flotilla episode, Israel will be increasingly regarded as a pariah or outlaw state, which must be reined in just as apartheid South Africa was.
UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Richard Falk, an eminent US jurist, whom Israel has barred from visiting Palestine, puts the issue in perspective: In the end, the haunting question is whether the war crimes concerns raised by Israel s behaviour in Gaza matters, and if so, how. I believe it matters greatly in what might be called the second war the legitimacy war that often ends up shaping the political outcome more than battlefield results.
The US won every battle in the Vietnam War and lost the war; the same with France in Indochina and Algeria, and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Shah of Iran collapsed, as did the apartheid regime in South Africa, because of defeats in the legitimacy war. Adds Falk: It is my view that this surfacing of criminal charges against Israel during and after its attacks on Gaza resulted in major gains on the legitimacy front for the Palestinians. The widespread popular perceptions of Israeli criminality, especially the sense of waging war against a defenceless population with modern weaponry, has prompted people around the world to propose boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS).
The BDS campaign is gathering strength in many countries but regrettably, not in South Asia. India in particular is building close relations with Israel. It is allowing its arms purchase relationship to guide its foreign policy. This is a historic blunder. New Delhi must correct course radically and quickly. To start with, India, along with other South Asian states, must demand an independent external inquiry into the flotilla attack. As argued earlier, Pakistan must cease and desist from making clandestine contacts with Israel. However, none of this will happen unless political parties and civil society organisations build a BDS campaign in South Asia, which educates the public and mobilises strong, principled support.
Email: prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in
Victory for civil society and Palestine
Monday, July 05, 2010
Praful Bidwai
The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights
When Israel s leaders ordered their commandos to attack the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza in international waters, they couldn t have imagined they would have to relax the three years-long blockade in less than three weeks. Yet, the global public revulsion at the murderous assault on the Mavi Marmara even among Israel s allies and supporters forced them to do so.
Two-thirds of Israelis disapproved of the attack more because it disgraced their country, than out of moral outrage at its illegality and brutality. Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disowns the three-year-old blockade as an inheritance from the past. This is a clear confession by a macho Right-wing leader that Israel s Gaza strategy has politically failed.
This is a major victory for the international civil society mobilisation against Palestine s occupation by Israel. The fact that 600 activists from over 50 countries organised the flotilla impressed many people. Says Phyllis Bennis, a West Asia expert and an organiser of the US Palestinian solidarity movement: The fact that so many non-Palestinians were killed highlighted the willingness of global activists to take risks on behalf of human rights that governments and the UN were unwilling to defend. It provided a powerful image of an increasingly empowered civil society with the capacity to transform events directly.
What gave the peaceful mobilisation special moral legitimacy was its basically non-violent character and its advocacy of international law. Bennis says: Israel was not condemned because its commandoes were mean and brutal, [but] because the attack on a civilian ship carrying certifiably humanitarian goods in international waters, was a violation of international law. [T]he flotilla held Israel s entire blockade of Gaza up to the scrutiny of international law and found it wanting .
Also on the winning side is Turkey. Unlike the Arab states, it translated its tough anti-blockade stand into active solidarity with civil society organisations. Nineteen Turks (including a Turkish-American) were killed in the attack. Turkey acted firmly and convincingly. It recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, cancelled military exercises with Israel, and demanded and obtained the immediate release of all those captured.
Turkey has emerged from the crisis as a self-confident Middle Power with the courage to confront the US. Turkey s stock has risen politically. It is looking to a more ambitious role in regional affairs. Turkey and Brazil recently agreed with Iran to give it medium-enriched material for its research reactor in return for low-enriched uranium. This will promote accountable behaviour on Iran s part. Until recently, Turkey had good economic and military relations with Israel both within and outside NATO. Turkey even voted for Israel s entry into the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Now, Israel has lost Turkey, its only friend in the Muslim world.
Turkey s changed posture may motivate other countries to play a less pro-US role. As will the raid s condemnation even by the conservative UK and French governments, which declared it indefensible . The UN Security Council chair statement also unequivocally criticised the attack. Malaysia and Ireland have stepped up humanitarian efforts for Gaza. The first ship to carry aid to Gaza after the flotilla was received peacefully. It was named the Rachel Corrie, after the young woman mowed down by Israeli bulldozers in 2003 for peacefully protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes.
By not condemning Israel s flotilla attack, the US lost an opportunity to earn goodwill in the Islamic world. If the US persists with its present policy, including a $30 billion 10-year aid package to Israel, the political costs of apologising for and cleaning up after Israel could become exorbitant. This may hopefully drum some sense into Washington s policy-makers.
The relaxation of the Gaza blockade won t change ground realities barring a minor improvement in food availability and living conditions. Israel will still control Gaza s borders and airspace, and movement of people and goods. But as a Gazan puts it: We don t need food or clothing; we don t want money. We need to be free to come and go. We need to feel human. People in Gaza are like you not from another planet.
The real impact of the relaxation of the blockade will be political. Israel will increasingly be seen as a state with roguish proclivities. This will accelerate worldwide recognition that Israel s occupation of Palestine is unjust, illegal and cruel, and reinforce its isolation.
Israel has long behaved like a lawless state. It has ignored the highest number of Security Council resolutions among all countries. It has invaded its neighbours and occupied territories in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It assassinates political opponents and massacres refugees. Israel has at least 200 nuclear weapons. It had nuclear-weapons collaboration with apartheid South Africa. Israel wrecked the Oslo peace process and continues to expand its illegal settlements in Palestine, including East Jerusalem.
The process of Israel s international isolation began with the bestial Sabra-Chatilla massacres in Palestinian refugee camps in 1982. A turning point was the first Intifadah of the late 1980s, during which Palestinian children fought Israeli tanks with stones. Those images transformed the world s perception of Israel: from a tiny nation threatened by hostile Arab states, to a ruthless aggressor. The 2008 Gaza invasion further confirmed Israel s criminality. After the flotilla episode, Israel will be increasingly regarded as a pariah or outlaw state, which must be reined in just as apartheid South Africa was.
UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Richard Falk, an eminent US jurist, whom Israel has barred from visiting Palestine, puts the issue in perspective: In the end, the haunting question is whether the war crimes concerns raised by Israel s behaviour in Gaza matters, and if so, how. I believe it matters greatly in what might be called the second war the legitimacy war that often ends up shaping the political outcome more than battlefield results.
The US won every battle in the Vietnam War and lost the war; the same with France in Indochina and Algeria, and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The Shah of Iran collapsed, as did the apartheid regime in South Africa, because of defeats in the legitimacy war. Adds Falk: It is my view that this surfacing of criminal charges against Israel during and after its attacks on Gaza resulted in major gains on the legitimacy front for the Palestinians. The widespread popular perceptions of Israeli criminality, especially the sense of waging war against a defenceless population with modern weaponry, has prompted people around the world to propose boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS).
The BDS campaign is gathering strength in many countries but regrettably, not in South Asia. India in particular is building close relations with Israel. It is allowing its arms purchase relationship to guide its foreign policy. This is a historic blunder. New Delhi must correct course radically and quickly. To start with, India, along with other South Asian states, must demand an independent external inquiry into the flotilla attack. As argued earlier, Pakistan must cease and desist from making clandestine contacts with Israel. However, none of this will happen unless political parties and civil society organisations build a BDS campaign in South Asia, which educates the public and mobilises strong, principled support.
Email: prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in
