Much media attention is being paid to the flotilla crews being arrested and held by Greek authorities on Israel's behalf. Sadly, few journalists are examining the blockade of Gaza, and the humanitarian disaster, the flotilla was meant to illuminate.
Or, put another way: few journalists are asking – so caught up with the drama of conflict – this question: is Israel's blockade of Gaza is in reality a collective punishment, illegally denying millions their basic human rights?
Edith Garwood, writing today on Amnesty International's Human Rights Now blog, takes the issue of the blockade, and the civil disobedience it is inspiring, head-on. And she doesn't pull any punches:
The blockade does not target specific individuals, but collectively punishes the entire population which contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention. It violates the Gazans’ right to health (including access to clean drinking water and sanitation), education, work, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement. It violates their basic dignity; their basic human rights.
As Garwood points out, these points are completely missed by Greece's recent offer – accepted by Israel and the U.N. – to transfer the flotilla's aid through "existing channels."
See, the issue isn't whether or not the aid aboard the flotilla's boats should be let into Gaza. Rather, the issue is whether or not any boat should be prevented from sailing freely to Gaza. The issue is whether or not the blockade chocking the Strip should be lifted, so that any boat carrying aid or imports or tourists can access a functioning port.
There are many reasons Gaza has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world
– currently around 45% – and a significant one is the blockade and the lack of an essential, functioning port.
Which is why the flotilla was initiated last year, and again this year. Not to transport aid, per se. And not to support Hamas (though U.S.and Israeli leaders might like to say otherwise.) The flotilla is an act of civil disobedience in the face of government actions that seem, to many, as injurious. It is a response to governments and institutions that have colluded to deny Palestinians their right to the basic necessities of life, time and again.
Why? Because Hamas, as the institutional organization governing the Strip, is a designated terror organization by the U.S. Forget that support for Hamas is at an all-time low in Gaza. And forget that the most of the millions of citizens packed into the Strip are not political entities, but men and women and children just trying to get by.
The U.N. and the Obama administration have been pressuring governments not to allow the flotilla to sail toward Gaza.
But when those same powerful institutions say nothing about the actual blockade itself, is it not up to citizens to, in acts of civil disobedience, take matters into their own hands, peacefully?
Garwood writes:
If governments turn their backs on those who have no voice or power; have had their economy decimated, homes destroyed, and basic human rights violated at every turn, including the ability to escape such harsh conditions, then doesn’t civil society have the right, if not obligation, to intercede?
Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ argues that when government produces injustice, even disguising injustice behind laws, then it is the duty of every conscientious citizen to resist, disobey, stop the “machine”.
There are arguments to be made for the blockade. Namely:
1. Israel is worried about weapons being shipped freely into Gaza, where Hamas militants have been shown to be more than willing to use them against Israeli civilians.
2. With the partial opening of the Rafah border crossing by Egypt, more goods can now enter Gaza.
However, neither reason – and I say this as a Jew invested in Israel's security and success – justify Israel's blockade from a humanitarian perspective, for:
A. As Garwood writes, "Israel is a sophisticated, militarily advanced country that should be able to effectively meet their national security needs without unjustly punishing an entire population."
B. The Rafah crossing is not consistently open, and even when it is, the amounts of goods that enter through it daily do very little to alleviate the gross shortages that exist in Gaza for basic food supplies.
I was never a big fan of the flotilla from the outset, for I viewed the initiative as confrontational and, sadly, I predicted it would end up working against its own goals of shedding light upon the actual blockade.
That said, I agree with Yitzhak Lahor of Haaretz that the "siege of Gaza has become a moral blockade of Israel."
And I agree that continued acts of civil disobedience by Israelis and Palestinians and others, in the face of what is occurring in Gaza, are needed.
So long as they are peaceful.