Israeli naval commandos forcefully boarded another Gaza aid boat, diverting it to the Israeli port of Ashod:
“Now, the activists are held in a building in the port where they are going through various interviews. Their boat is going to be thoroughly checked for weapons and cargo, which the Greek captain said he did not have on board.
[…] “This ‘little’ boat symbolises the determination of the international solidarity movement to break the blockade on Gaza and express its support for the 1.6 million Palestinians imprisoned there since 2007,” a statement released from the boat said.
Yes, the aim of the people on this boat was the same as previous Gaza-bound flotillas: to provide much needed aid to people that are suffering…a malicious pursuit if there ever was one.
Meanwhile, Jonah Goldberg points to a poll claiming that 60% of Palestinians reject a two state solution (among other cruel absurdities) and plays down the importance of the settlement issue, sarcastically titling the post “Nothing a Settlement Freeze Won’t Fix, Right?” What is really important, if one is to construct these kinds of arguments, is to completely ignore three important things.
- Most polls show overwhelming majorities of Palestinians supporting a two state solution and opposing suicide bombings in Israel. Both the PLO as well as Hamas – the two authorities that officially represent the Palestinians – have consistently voiced support for the two state solution provided Israel freeze settlements which are illegal in any case. (The conductors of the poll Goldberg points to have distorted things before.)
- This has remained the demonstrable consensus despite uninterrupted confiscation of Palestinian land, ceaseless settlement construction, abusive military occupation, and unrelenting military attacks on innocent Palestinians.
- Both the actions of the Israeli government as well as official statements of policy show that the established Israeli position is to reject the two state solution and to use disproportionate violence against civilians in order to achieve this political aim (precisely what Goldberg’s poll condemns the Palestinians for preferring).
So while Israel continues to deny Palestinians the sovereignty and security the Israelis demand for themselves, to misrepresent the preferences of the Palestinian people, and to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza by invoking false claims of malicious intent, the U.S. government is continuing to follow in lock step, most recently with this attempt to strip foreign aid if Palestine seeks U.N. recognition. And Goldberg still believes Palestinians are the malicious ones.
