The Mavi Marmara Affair

When Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, Israel marched right into a public relations minefield. What everybody forgets is that the commandos initially assaulted the Turkish vessel with paint guns, but then had to turn to Uzis with live ammo when they found out that the people on board the Mavi Marmara were armed with machetes and possibly even guns rather than paint brushes. Except for people in Israel, the world also forgets that an Israeli member of the Knesset, the Right Honourable Hanin Zoabi (who is an Arab) was also aboard, though she says that she was down in the hold at the time the commanders assaulted the ship and therefore wasn’t wielding a machete. Not everybody on board the Mavi Marmara had time to grab a machete.

What the world remembers is that the Mavi Marmara was trying to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Ms. Zoabi says that she was on aboard to dramatize the plight of the people in Gaza. Under the terms of the military embargo, it seems that Israel has a very board definition of what is “contraband.” For instance, PCV pipes are usually used for indoor plumbing in houses, apartment buildings and office buildings, but they can also be used to make pipe bombs. The members of Hamas have proved that they can effectively launch pipe bombs into Israel with rocket launchers. Therefore, the Israeli Defence Force considers PVC pipes to be contraband.

Nobody denies that the embargo has been catastrophic for the people of Gaza. Though food is getting into the Gaza Strip, an estimated 83 per cent of the people (according to a recent Time Magazine article) are on some form of public assistance. Stores are stocked with food stuffs, but most Gazans are unemployed and can’t afford to shop at these stores. People who give money for the people of Gaza risk being accused of giving money to a terrorist organization, since Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States State Department and undoubtedly has been involved in charity. (As Muslims, the members of Hamas have to pay what is called zakat, or a “poor tax.”)

There’s the danger of a cholera outbreak, since Gaza has become an open sewer. People have had to deal with bathtubs, toilets and sinks backing up. That’s where the pipes come in. In some cases, you can deal with sewage and plumbing problems by replacing the pipes. But if plumbing materials have been declared contraband by an enemy that is blockading your cities, chances are that you will be unable to deal with raw sewage in the streets and bathtubs overflowing at home.

All of this calls into question the morality of blockading civilian populations in time of war. Here, Ms. Zoabi deserves credit for drawing attention to this crisis by exposing it to the light of public opinion throughout the world. As well, she has shown the world that Israel is a functioning democracy that has at least some respect for minority rights, since she is an Arab serving in the parliament of a country that is predominantly Jewish. In most Arab countries, she probably would have been executed for giving aid and comfort to the enemy, but she has been allowed to hold onto her seat in the Knesset, at least so far.

However, blockades have been proven to be an effective military tactic. Ideally, you would like to defeat the enemy on the battlefield badly enough so that he will raise a little white flag and surrender. However, wars usually don’t end until one side has been crippled so badly that it no longer has the capacity to fight. That’s why military planes bomb factories, bridges and railroads. That’s why naval vessels blockade the enemy’s ports and turn back nonbelligerent ships trying to enter and sink enemy ships trying to leave. If you can destroy a few strategically placed dams in an area that is prone to draught in the summer and make agriculture impossible, so much the better, even though famine may result.

In war, all casualties, both military and civilian, are collateral damage. The purpose of warfare is not to kill soldiers or civilians but to destroy the enemy and cripple his capacity to fight so that he will sue for peace. Because of the very brutal nature of war, only the immature or the religious fanatic think that it’s something glorious. However, there are lots of immature people and religious fanatics about. The members of Hamas see themselves as brave mujahidin waging war against the infidel. They don’t seem to care that people are suffering in the Gaza Strip in large part because of their religious fanaticism.

The United States and other friends of Israel can try to broker a peace in that region, but President Barak Obama will probably conclude that neither side is serious about peace and decide to go on to other more pressing issues in the region, like Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, it’s up to the Israelis and the Palestinians to show the world that they are serious about peace before it becomes worth while for the rest of the world to involve itself in the peace process (sic).

I have a suggestion for the leaders of Hamas like Ishmael Haniyeh. If you want to end the suffering of your people, why don’t you admit that you are defeated, raise the white flag, and surrender? If you want the conflict to continue, keep launching rockets into Israel and sending suicide bombers to discotheques and Jewish delicatessens. Then, when the Israelis eventually retaliate, more people in the Gaza Strip will die outright due to the bombings, and thousands more will die due to disease and starvation because of the blockade. If this seems inhumane, Mr. Haniyeh, please remember that this is war and this is what you and your followers wanted. If you expected Israel to give up, your tactics are not working.

Meanwhile, Turkish prime minister Recap Tayyip Erdoğan has been having a field day. Because of his expressions of outrage over the storming of the Mavi Marmara, he has probably never been more popular at home. Turkey has long been Israel’s most reliable ally in the region; the two countries’ air forces have even conducted training exercises together over Turkey until now. But why shouldn’t Mr. Erdoğan be outraged? Most of the 28 people killed were Turkish citizens. Over 99 per cent of all Turks are Muslims, like the people in Gaza.

Mr. Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party is Islamist rather than Kemalist or secularist in ideology. While they might not want to bring back Sharia, they don’t mind their daughters wearing the head scarf either. The head scarf is a compromise between a black table cloth and full frontal nudity in that part of the world. To the horror of the U.S. State Department, Mr. Erdoğan has even sought a rapprochement with Iran. Together with President Luis Lula Mendes of Brazil, Mr. Erdoğan sought but failed to prevent nuclear sanctions against Iran before the United Nations Security Council.

However, Ishmael Haniyeh and Hamas should not count on Israel being dragged down by the public relations disaster that is the Mavi Marmara for too long. The hawks and the doves will stage protest rallies and shout at each other in the Knesset, and some will even call Hanin Zoabi a traitor. There may even be a commission of inquiry. But within six months, only the families of the slain Turkish sailors aboard the Mavi Marmara will remember this incident. People will have forgotten about Ms. Zoabi and Mr. Erdoğan.

It will be same old shit, just a different day.