by Nadia Hijab
It was never about aid.
Freedom Flotilla II is, like its assaulted predecessor of a year ago, a political act. The passengers came together in shared determination to challenge Israel’s five-year siege of Gaza and to exercise their right to travel through international waters to Palestinian shores and, by so doing, support the Palestinian right to freedom.
Many have misrepresented this political act as being about aid. If Palestinians had a dollar for every time the State Department bleated, “there are established channels for aid to Gaza,” they would never need another donated dime. Instead, because of U.S. policy the highly educated and enterprising Palestinians have been stripped of their dignity and forced to live on international charity.
Israel has never made any secret of its intentions for Gaza. Dov Weisglass, key advisor to former Israeli prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, reportedly explained in the wake of Hamas’ electoral victory in 2006, “the idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet but not to make them die of hunger.” This was later revealed to be Israeli strategy according to official documents.
In fact, Israel’s sealing of Gaza from the outside world began before Hamas was elected. It began as far back as 1988 — almost before Hamas existed — when Israel imposed a “permit system” in Gaza. Israel introduced closures in 1991 and institutionalized them in 1993, the heyday of the Oslo so-called peace process. Israel sealed Gaza off by an electronic wall in 1994, and continued to punish it with invasions, home demolitions, air raids, “targeted assassinations,” and other acts illegal under international law.
Categories: Asia, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine