Gaza and freedom convoys

 

Failure of official diplomacies and Middle East peace efforts and Israel's stubbornness in the face of international will to stop the inhumane blockade of Gaza has resulted in the creation of a new phenomenon known as “general diplomacy”.

Israel has been savagely invading the Palestinian city of Gaza, home to 1.5 million people, from air, ground, and sea, and has prevented foods and drugs from entering the city.

Efforts by the global community and international organizations to break the Gaza blockade reached a dead-end due to the stubbornness of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the will of the global society.

Netanyahu is taking advantages from the political weakness of the United States, the European Union, the Arab League, and the United Nations to carry on with his expansionist goals in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The United Nations Security Council failed to issue a resolution against Israel in spite of the 575-page report by Richard Goldstone on Israel's war crimes in Gaza.

Another report by a UN tribunal investigating the attack by Israeli commandos on the freedom flotilla went unheeded.

The inability of international institutions and the fact that the UN is under the influence of veto-wielding powers demonstrates that nations have despaired of an active role by these organizations in providing security for the Palestinian people.

The failure of the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the resumption of Israel's settlement activities in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 paints a bleak picture of plans to resolve the problems of the Palestinian nation based on UN Security Council resolutions.

Recently, during a routine visit by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that settlement activities in the West Bank will continue.

The radical Israeli prime minister has announced that he will not stop the settlement activities in Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 under any circumstances -- even if it leads direct talks into an impossible deadlock.

In his meeting with George Mitchell, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas also threatened that he will stop direct talks with Tel Aviv forever if Israel does not halt its settlement activities.

Abbas stressed that, under the present conditions, he would have to refer to the United Nations General Assembly to form an independent Palestinian state.

More than two thirds of UN member states are prepared to issue a resolution to form an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.

Although the UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, they can result in the political isolation of Israel from the perspective of credibility.

Therefore, it seems as if the UN Security Council, the European Union and the US are not concerned about the failure of the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; otherwise, they would have taken a series of punitive measures against Tel Aviv.

It was expected that the UN Security Council would take -- within the framework of its legal duties -- more serious actions to save the Palestinian people from the crimes of the Israeli army.

These factors, together with the structural weakness of the UN, reinforced the formation of public institutions and created a new literature in global policy-making known as general diplomacy.

Freedom convoys set out for Gaza from all parts of the world to help the inhabitants of the blockaded coastal strip; however, Israel attacked the first convoy in the Mediterranean Sea.

In an illegal operation on May 31, 2010, Israel invaded a Gaza-bound convoy -- called the Freedom Flotilla -- with 650 human rights activists onboard.

The flotilla was heading to the impoverished coastal enclave to show sympathy with its inhabitants.

In this savage attack, nine Turkish citizens were killed and scores injured. This inhumane act, however, caused a huge uproar and was fiercely condemned by the public.

Israeli leaders, already troubled by problems brought about by international and regional developments, were wary lest any more of these convoys set sail for Gaza.

Increased awareness of the people about the ongoing events in the occupied Palestinian territories and the unbiased coverage of such events are the most significant achievements of the freedom convoys.

Now, the Asian People's Solidarity for Palestine convoy -- which is about to depart from Iran and head for Gaza through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt -- has drawn public attention to itself.

This convoy is of particular importance since it is accompanied by world figures from various nationalities and religions -- including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism -- who aim to help the Palestinian nation.

Although it is predicted that the Egyptian government may impede on the convoy's course in travelling through the Rafah Crossing, this symbolic act will invigorate the Palestinians' spirit.

In the past, the Egyptian government has prevented convoys carrying food and medications to Gaza, because it assumes itself as committed to protecting the borders of the occupied Palestine.

If personalities onboard this convoy -- who are Iranian, Egyptian, Japanese, Qatari, Indian, Pakistani, Indonesian, Malaysian, Syrian, and Lebanese -- manage to enter Gaza, the political conditions of the region will undergo major change.

That way, general diplomacy will be a new option that can offer solutions to the 60-year-old problems of the Palestinian nation, and pave the way for the formation of an independent state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.