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Gaza Blockade Perspective
Cape Breton Post: June 7, 2010
Morgan Duchesney

Imagine what would happen if someone tried to erect a sea or land blockade of Israel? Recent events on the high seas off the coast of Gaza are as predictable as they inevitable. It is cruel and manipulative to push someone into a corner and then call them a terrorist when they resist your policies of oppression.
- To understand simmering Palestinian resentment one need only refer to a buried bit of history. In 1948, the Arab states attacked Israel not because they hated Jews but because the nascent Israel state broke faith with the UN by attacking Palestinians and driving them outside the tenuous borders of the new state of Israel.
- Perhaps someone can explain why Israel won’t acknowledge the fact that it created Hamas as a counterweight to the PLO. By mimicking the established U.S. policy of supporting useful unpleasantness in other countries, the Israeli state has created much of its own misery.
- The Obama government has offered only tepid and symbolic censure of Israel’s clumsy Palestinian policy. Nothing will change until the Israelis understand that you can’t peacefully enjoy what has been taken by force. Israel is full of reasonable people who are well-aware of this reality.
- Here is the actual Israeli consensus: The State of Israeli can do pretty much as it pleases because of its’ military might and the indulgence of the U.S. government. The Oslo peace process was a total failure for the Palestinians, effectively destroying any chance of a fair division of territory. Israel will continue to marginalize the Palestinians because no one, including the UN and the U.S. government, is willing to stop them.
- Rather than “moving to the centre”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been simultaneously waging a global charm offensive, indulging Israeli extremists and winking at the proliferation of illegal Israeli settlements in the West bank and East Jerusalem. He has reaped the results.
- Concerning Iran: The Israeli government has plenty of nuclear weapons and the will to use them. On the other hand, Iran’s president is a loud-mouthed fool with no nuclear weapons and little real chance of acquiring any. Does anyone remember the phony pretexts for the U.S. invasion of Iraq? Amadimajad is a useful bogeyman in the absence of Saddam Hussein so he will be allowed to rave for a while longer.
- Perhaps Harper can explain why Canada’s role in the Middle East used to be constructive and balanced. Things have changed over the last few years and we are now, “…an ally of Israel.”