After the Flotilla

Laila kindly translated my Akhbar editorial: After the Flotilla

The Gaza flotilla didn't go as planned. In fact it didn't go at all. Israel was able to prevent the ships from setting sail and activists heading to Palestine to participate in anti-blockade protests were stopped from boarding planes in Europe. The only French ship that came close to the waters of Gaza was stopped by the Israeli navy in classic Israeli piracy style, a routine about which the international community does not even bat an eyelid. Just imagine if a Palestinian Authority boat had stopped a group of Zionist international activists on their way to support the occupation of Palestine. The world would have been turned upside down. The Security Council would have gathered and imposed sanctions on the PA. Its hawks would have demanded the bombing of the hotbeds of terrorism from Sanaa to Tetouan.

The international community, in other words the rich and powerful countries, particularly the United States and Western Europe, has been in collusion with Israel since before it was even created and has been supporting it in all its criminal actions. Does anyone remember the European and American positions when Israel was destroying Lebanon almost exactly five years ago during the July 2006 aggression?

Here is a list of shame of the countries who stopped the flotilla on Israel’s behalf: Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, France and Germany, and of course, the imperial master, the US.

The list includes governments which fund “development” work in Lebanon. The question which poses itself among people who consider themselves to be patriotic activists who support the Palestinian and Arab cause is this: How can we accept funding from governments that differ from us on the most important issues while they don’t even hide their support for our enemy? What is needed now is a boycott of funding that comes from these countries’ embassies, and a boycott of their governments and their agencies who work in international development organisations. This should be done not to send them a message, but also to protect our land, our people, our cause, our dignity and out principles from such contradictions and compromises that weaken our positions and humiliate us profoundly.