Monday, May 31, 2010

"Murder on the High Seas"

Following on from last night's post I have to say I was surprised at the number of deaths in the flotilla. Last night I wrote that If you are strong you don't need to worry about what people think about you. The killing of about 20 people yesterday conveyed a number of important messages.

Firstly it is that Israel is sovereign and international outcry is not a factor in its decision making when it comes to this sovereignty. There is a message to the Turks, you are not Europeans, you will be tolerated only so far. There is a message to the Europeans, we don't care what you think and then there is a message to Americans activists, what are you doing you idiots, your government is our ally and will never change. The second part of the message is that the Gaza siege is staying Nobody can help you and if they do we will crush them. That's it. I think Israel is moderately satisfied with the result, though they would probably have found it much more useful if this happened in broad daylight as the message would have been clearer.

It's quite sad that last night Idealism lost her virginity and not in the way she would have liked. Still, this will be an enormous propaganda coup for Syria, Hezbullah, Hamas and Iran. It puts enormous pressure on Israel's Arab allies and it introduces officially a new factor in the Middle East equation, Turkey. After much flirting it seems the role of Turkey is now increasing, and not just from a negotiations point of view. Turkey is strengthening its ties considerably with Syria and Iran on both a political and economic level. Unless there is a military coup there, or a change of government, then that situation is unlikely to change.

So the sad death of these people has not been entirely in vain. It does serve as a useful reminder to activists that this is a serious business. Twittering, blogging and wearing rubber bracelets with the Palestinian flag are nice in San Francisco or London but bullets don't see these things. There is a different world with different rules. Think of it like the difference between watching polar bears on a Coca-Cola advert and being face to face with one. It's not so cute when your life is on the line.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting interpretation Maysaloon.

When I heard the news my reaction was completely different. I thought: "Israel has lost the plot. They're acting like a raging bull in a China shop!"

I think that with every move, they are digging their grave a bit deeper. They simply have no choice but to carry on self-destructing now.

Israel has been a self-fulfilling prophecy since the word Go. They will be wiped off the face of the ME map like Ahmadinejad said, and the irony is, they'll (indeed they ARE) doing so themselves.

Maysaloon said...

Thanks Algerianna, well I think that is the problem with getting hysterical and carried away with those protests and chants. People tend to underestimate their opponents and it also muddies the water so things become less clear.

I think the deaths were tragic, though I think they were bound to happen at some stage. The anger and outrage we are seeing is of course, and rightly so, being stoked up to increase pressure on Israel.

On the other side of the equation, you can expect a lot less activists to keep jumping into Gaza as if this is a joyride and it will make many people think twice before taking such direct measures. Which is what the Israeli state intends of course.

As for the self-fulfilling prophecy, well, I think people in Tehran and in Lebanon and Damascus are watching these events with interest. But I suspect there are already wheels in motion that we cannot see yet and this will have little influence.

Lirun said...

ok

so turkey finally achieved its admission into the lets hate israel club..

i think todays tragic events were a sad admission fee..

obviously fed up with europes disinterest in the muslim states accession to the UE - the turks have decided to stir the pot and manifest some hard core relevance to the worlds events..

a cynical waste of life if there ever was one..

because if they cared for the gazans then they as well as others know that alleviating our israeli paranoia is not done by pushing us into the corner..

we dont shy away from threats.. and everyone knows this.. including all the nations whos citizens partook..

this was quite a circus..

Anonymous said...

@Maysaloon
"On the other side of the equation, you can expect a lot less activists to keep jumping into Gaza as if this is a joyride and it will make many people think twice before taking such direct measures. Which is what the Israeli state intends of course."

I tell you, no. It will even drive more and more marches to Palestine. If not by Arabs, then by others. And its not romance; You will see.

Put off your black glasses a little ya Maysaloon, and have a little more faith.. its a just cause..