Over a year after the bloody attack on humanitarian aid ship, Mavi Marmara in the high seas near Gaza, Israel had adopted more cunning ways to thwart the second flotilla. The blood of 9 peace activists at the hands of Israeli commandoes inspired hundreds other worldwide to buy airline tickets and land at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport. While some vessels in the second flotilla have developed mysterious malfunctions others have been detained by the Greece port authorities, Welcome to Palestine or ‘flytilla campaign’ has left the Israeli authorities battered.
Through cables to airlines operating flights to Tel Aviv, they were asked not board a list of 342 passengers, predominantly Europeans; otherwise they have pay the cost of shipping back unwanted arrivals. Though some three dozen passengers were arrested at the airport and quizzed intensively under high security besides denying flights to many, the flytilla activists won’t budge easily, thus the trouble for Israel’s airport authorities is far from over.
In sheer disregard for international law and public opinion, Israel denies entry to people of Palestinian origin and even high-profile academics like Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein.
During recent weeks, Israeli troops have been engaged in deadly clashes with pro-Palestinian activists along Lebanon and Syria borders. Moreover, Turkish Prime Minister Receb Tayyib Erdoğan’s insistence for an Israeli apology and lifting of Gaza blockade multiplies pressure on Tel Aviv, especially in the backdrop of Hamas-Fatah rapprochement.
Hysterical action against predominantly American and European citizens might serve Israel in the short run but the activists don’t pocket such snubs. Tel Aviv, which has not recovered from the fallout of last year’s flotilla, cannot do away without concrete steps to appease the human rights groups and free-thinking Israelis alike. An apology for excessive use of force killing 9 peace activists and unblockading of Gaza can only stop repeat of a more innovative and larger campaign in the months to come.
The European peace activists have made their point this year without shedding a single drop of blood. Israel’s European allies may back its high-handedness but free-thinking citizens would exploit shrinking political space for the entity.
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