The Philippine Online Chronicles

Israel and Palestine have been at an impasse for over half a century, their hot and cold wars a rich source of human misery. As the oil flows all around these two nations, so too, it seems, does the blood. All too easily the conflict might be misconstrued to be rooted in religion, as often protagonists invoke the name of the Almighty in all its permutations. In the name of Allah, in the name of Yahweh, in the name of God, flags have been waved, battles waged. These kinds of assumptions do not form the whole picture however, and may even be precarious assumptions to make. Because in dealing with absolute faith, it would be difficult to find a resolution based on reason.

Like many conflicts around the world today, the Israeli-Palestinian question is a question of land. Statehood, after all, is a privilege of nations with territory. And on that strip of land on which civilizations of old have inhabited, there are two modern nations fighting for the right to call it home.

These maps show the changes in territorial composition of present-day Israel. In 1937, the Palestinians controlled most of the territory (Green zone) while the Jews were concentrated in the north (Yellow zone). In 1947, the year before the formal creation of the Israeli state, the landscape had much altered. Presently Palestinians are confined in the West Bank (the dark beige dotted area bordering Jordan) and the Gaza Strip.

How these changes came to pass is a long history of European colonialism, advances and retreats of borders through force and policies of relocation and internal colonization. But while the roots of this conflict over land may be traced to over a hundred years ago, the dilemma remains unresolved to this day.

The Gaza Strip Blockade

In the 2006 elections, the Palestinian electorate overwhelmingly voted for Hamas, defeating the incumbent Fatah. Hamas is a militant movement, classified as a “terrorist organization” by many governments around the world. The movement derives its popularity, and some say even its legitimacy from its social, educational and other welfare programs. But while it presents its benevolent face to fellow Palestinians, it maintains its militant stand against its enemy – the state of Israel. It has and continues to use armed force to wage its war of resistance.

The election of 2006 was the first time Hamas engaged in parliamentary politics. They won 74 of 132 seats, gaining majority rule. Hamas’ victory shocked the world community. But what made the popular Palestinian choice so unpalatable for many powers who have a stake in the region is that unlike the more moderate Fatah, Hamas refuses to acknowledge the Israeli State’s right to exist. Others, however, saw this first parliamentary foray for Hamas as a step in the right direction, that is, a step away from religious demagoguery to an explicitly political ideology.

In June 2007 Israel, along with the aid of Egypt, unilaterally imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip. Many interpreted this move as Israel's punishment for Palestinians electing Hamas the year before. Senior Israeli official, Dov Weisglass, said "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet..."

The three-year siege has seen bodies pile up on either side. Rains of mortar could not of course be counted on to distinguish between combatant and civilian, the able-bodied and the feeble, the adults and the children.

Apart from the body count, the blockade has effectively crippled the local economy. A recent United Nations press statement claims over 60 percent of households in the strip are food. The blockade exacerbates the food insecurity as Gaza's agricultural sector is hampered due to import restrictions. The livelihood of people also saw a "dramatic downturn" as the labor force working in agriculture shrank from 12.7% in 2007 to 7.4% in 2009. Fishermen have also been restricted to a 3 nautical mile fishing zone. Those who went beyond the Israeli-imposed limit found themselves arrested and questioned.

In total, the blockade has cut down Gaza's import volume to only a quarter of 2005 supplies. Israeli authorities would allow only basic humanitarian supplies. Israel has been questioned for its seemingly arbitrary ban on items as innocuous as coriander and children's toys. The government would not reveal, however, the 'logic' behind its ban on certain goods over others as it would compromise national security. Recently the BBC, through its contacts with international aid agencies, received information on 81 goods allowed into Gaza.

Since the blockade, the Gaza Strip has also seen water and energy shortages as well as an overall decline in the health and well-being of its inhabitants. The number of families dependent on food aid has increased ten-fold. By 2008, over 1.1. million of the population were dependent on food aid. The reports reveal the three-year blockade has put Palestinians in Gaza on something more than “a diet.”

Global Civil Society to the Rescue

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was organized by the Free Gaza movement, a coalition of pro-Palestinian human rights activists from all around the world. The Flotilla's mission was to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and to raise awareness of the plight of its people since the blockade. Since 2008, these activists have been trying to get aid to Gaza, their attempts not always so successful.

The six-ship Freedom Flotilla was the largest humanitarian aid effort it could organize to date. Its lead ship, the Mavi Marmara set sail from Cyprus on May 29, carrying over 500 activists, government officials, diplomats, media practitioners along with supplies and aid. On May 31, sixty-four kilometers out to sea, the Mavi Marmara was boarded by the Israeli Defense Force to prevent the ship from breaking the blockade. The ensuing scuffle caused the death of nine Turkish activists and the injury of at least forty other people including Israeli soldiers. The latest reports show these nine men were shot 30 times at close range.

The news wires have since been rife with claims and counter-claims from either side. Who resisted whom, who attacked whom first, who said what to provoke whom. The UN Security Council, along with other governments have condemned the acts leading to the casualties and have also called for an independent investigation of the forcible boarding of the Mavi Marmara.

The second ship in the flotilla, the MV Rachel Corrie, set sail from Malaysia shortly after its predecessor. It, too, was boarded by the IDF before it could reach its destination. This time those on board did not resist arrest and have since been deported to their respective countries by Israeli authorities.

From the Strip, to the Region to the World

The incident on the Mavi Marmara has indeed called the international community’s attention to the plight of Palestinians on the Gaza Strip. In that regard, the campaign has been successful. But this little incident reveals the running tension not only between Israel and Palestine but the region as a whole.

Turkey has been in the limelight as those who died were its citizens. Following the incident, Turks have rallied in protest of the blockade. As a long-time NATO member and a country which has repeatedly applied to join the European Union, Turkey may be at an impasse itself, now having to negotiate its Euro-Arab identity. The Mavi Marmara incident may well have rejuvenated Turkey’s affinity for the rest of the Muslim world even as it avows to have a secular government.

Egyptians opposed to their government’s support of the blockade have also protested by the thousands, shouting pro-Hamas slogans. The strongest opposition group against the incumbent Egyptian government is led by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization operating across Arab countries.

Recently Iran volunteered to send the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to escort the next flotilla intent on breaking the Israeli blockade. This would not be a welcome turn of events as it would turn a relatively peaceful resistance movement, organized by global civil society, to a potentially bloody confrontation between Israel and Iran.

Marwan Bishara, blogging for Al Jazeera, sees a game-changing realignment in the Arab world. She claims recent visits of high-level officials, underlined by the flotilla attack, show a rapprochement among Turkey, Iran and Syria. This new alignment might replace the old trio of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria as the glue that holds the Muslim world together. If this were truly the case, other powers such as the United States and Europe will find the Middle East to be a very different terrain on which to navigate. And Israel will continue to do what it will to survive surrounded as it is by potential enemies.

In Conclusion

While images of blood, gore and gun-toting Muslims have no difficulty making it to mainstream media outlets, there is little known about Palestinians who opt to wage peaceful resistance. Their story probably isn’t as bombastic as the spectacle of bloodied torsos and severed limbs and so their struggles are drowned out by the violent avenues others choose to take. A hard-line stance on the side of the Israelis can only be the rational response to a shower of improvised bombs and grenade launchers.

And once voices of force from either camp gain supremacy, voices of reason and diplomacy are the first to die.