Hillary Clinton gives green light for Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Fri, 06/24/2011 - 14:14
In comments yesterday, US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to lay the ground – indeed
almost provide a green light – for an Israeli military attack on the
upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which will include the US Boat to Gaza.
Among the passengers aboard the American boat will be 87-year old
Kindertransport survivor Hedy Epstein, and author and poet Alice Walker. In all
it is expected that about 10 ships, carrying 1000 people from over 20 countries
will take part.
Here’s what Clinton said in remarks at the State Department on 23 June:
Well, we do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful
effort to try to assist the people of Gaza. Just this week, the Israeli
Government approved a significant commitment to housing in Gaza. There
will be construction materials entering Gaza and we think that it’s not
helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by
entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the
Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
Clinton must know that Gaza is not part of what any country
recognizes as “sovereign” Israeli territory, and therefore neither are
Gaza’s territorial waters. Any boats entering Gaza’s waters would not in
fact be entering “Israeli waters” as Clinton claimed. Clinton also,
presuming she is properly briefed rather than misled, must also know
that last year Israel attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla when it was in
international waters and GPS data showed that it was actually heading away from
Israel.
By invoking Israel’s supposed “right to self-defense” against civilian
boats trying to reach Gaza, we must understand that Clinton is telling
Israel the United States will not stand in the way of another
military attack.
And by citing Israel allowing construction materials into Gaza to
make the case that the flotilla is “unnecessary” because “aid” can reach
the Palestinian people in Gaza, Clinton is engaging in the
ultimate obfuscation.
People in Gaza have been reduced to penury and rendered dependent on
aid by decades of Israeli occupation, siege and military attacks. The
issue is not the delivery of aid but freeing the people by lifting the
siege. It is an abhorrent position to suggest – as Clinton seems to –
that if people in Gaza receive enough calories or a few building
supplies then we should not be concerned about Israel’s siege. The
Palestinian people of Gaza are not caged animals for whom sufficient
care consists of shoving rations through the bars of their prison.
Israel’s siege is intended as a form of collective punishment and has been
declared illegal by the ICRC.
Israel, as The Electronic Intifada reported,
is engaging in military drills to intercept this unarmed civilian
flotilla. In light of Clinton’s statements, if any blood is spilled it
will not only be on Israeli, but also American hands.
Prosecuting flotilla passengers under “material support” laws
Not content with tacitly encouraging Israeli violence, in another
alarming development, the State Department has apparently threatened
that Americans who board boats to Gaza could be jailed or fined for
supporting terrorism. Haaretz reports:
The U.S. State Department said Friday
that attempts to break the blockade are “irresponsible and provocative”
and that Israel has well-established means of delivering assistance to
the Palestinian residents of Gaza. It noted that the territory is run by
the militant Hamas group, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization,
and that Americans providing support to it are subject to fines and jail.
In effect, the US now seems to be defining any support for any Palestinians,
including a besieged civilian population, as support for Hamas, and therefore
support for “terrorism.”
This mirrors its use of such “material support” laws
as a pretext to investigate and persecute Palestine solidarity,
antiwar, and labor activists exercising their First Amendment rights
at home.
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/hillary-clinton-gives-green-light-israeli-attack-gaza-flotilla
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
