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Factbox: Raid at sea adds to Israel's diplomatic troubles
Supporters of the Pakistan religious political party Jamaat-e-Islami lit ablaze an Israeli flag during a protest rally in Karachi May 31, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Akhtar Soomro
JERUSALEM |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A lethal raid by Israeli security forces on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla caused an international outcry on Monday and confronted the Jewish state with yet another diplomatic storm.
Early reaction to the raid, in which at least 10 activists were killed, included French condemnation, a call for an inquiry by the European Union and expressions of shock from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Turkey, one of Israel's few Muslim allies, recalled its ambassador.
The incident poses a fresh challenge to Israeli diplomats who have scrambled over the past year to contain the fallout from other incidents, from evidence that Israel forged the passports of friendly states to accusations that it committed war crimes during a war in the Gaza Strip.
Here are some of the other diplomatic storms faced by Israel over the last year.
DUBAI ASSASSINATION
Britain and Australia have expelled Israeli diplomats after concluding that Israel forged British and Australian passports used by the assassins of a Hamas leader.
Israel has neither confirmed or denied a role in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas military commander who was assassinated in a Dubai hotel room in January.
Britain said such misuse of British passports was "intolerable." Australia said it was not the behavior of "a nation with whom we have had such a close, friendly and supportive relationship."
SETTLEMENT ROW WITH UNITED STATES Israeli plans for new Jewish settlement on occupied land in East Jerusalem triggered unusually harsh criticism from the United States in March when it damaged Washington's efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
The announcement, made during a visit to Israel by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, temporarily set back U.S. efforts to bring about indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the project was an insult. Israeli Prime Minister Benajamin Netanyahu said he was blindsided by planning bureaucrats and apologized to Biden.
THE GOLDSTONE REPORT
Israel has sought to rebuff the conclusions of a U.N. inquiry that found it guilty of committing war crimes during a 2008-2009 offensive in the Gaza Strip.
South African jurist Richard Goldstone's report found both Israel and the Hamas movement that controls Gaza guilty of war crimes, but focused more on Israel. Israel refused to cooperate with Goldstone and described his report as distorted and biased.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the three-week conflict, which Israel launched with the declared aim of halting rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. Thirteen Israelis were killed.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has faced renewed calls to sign a global treaty barring the spread of atomic weapons.
Signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) last week called for a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction throughout the Middle East.
Last week's declaration was adopted by all 189 parties to the NPT, including the United States. It urged Israel to sign the NPT and put its nuclear facilities under U.N. safeguards.
(Writing by Tom Perry, editing by Paul Taylor)
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The Israeli government made it clear to the activists that if they were sincere in delivering aid supplies to Gaza, then they could either take them to the Israeli port of Ashdod for transshipment, or to Egypt for the same. One of the other, Israel or Egypt.
When the flotilla refused to deliver the aid supplies to Gaza via Egypt or Israel, it became even more obvious that the true intent was to open Gaza not only to direct shipment of aid but also to direct shipment of military weapons and hardware – the true reason for the flotilla.
Despite warnings that the ships would be boarded, they continued on their merry way. When the Israeli commandos did board the ships, they were physically attacked by activists with clubs and guns, and many Israeli commandos were seriously wounded. About ten activists were killed as a result of the violence they, not the Israeli’s, started.
So who is at fault here? To my mind, those activists who tried to break the military blockade and put Israel into a no-win public relations disaster were at fault, but also won what the victory they had been seeking. Now Israel is being blamed for protecting itself. Go figure.
The fact that the pro-Islamic militant government of Turkey is supporting the efforts of those of its citizens who support an internationally-recognized terrorists organization – Hamas – is worrisome indeed.
Is Turkey now a country that supports international terrorism?
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