Israel failed to heed US warnings not to attack flotilla, says state department spokesman
THE ISRAELI commando raid that killed nine people on Monday has convinced the Obama administration that the blockade of the Gaza Strip is untenable and must be changed, according to reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post citing senior American officials.
“There is no question that we need a new approach to Gaza . . . Gaza has become the symbol in the Arab world of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, and we need to change that,” a high- ranking official told the New York Times. “We need to remove the impulse for the flotillas. The Israelis also realise that this is not sustainable.”
A White House official told the Post that there is “a general sense in the administration that it’s time to change our Gaza policy”. But Israeli authorities, including prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, have said lifting the blockade is out of the question. Netanyahu calls Gaza “a terror state funded by the Iranians”.
Middle East experts suggest Israel might ease up on its list of items banned from entering Gaza – for example notebooks, blank paper, pencils, coriander, chocolate and fishing rods – but it is unclear if that would satisfy the Obama administration.
Earlier in the week, secretary of state Hillary Clinton called the situation in Gaza “unsustainable and unacceptable” and promised to work to allow reconstruction and building materials into the besieged enclave.
In a further sign of tension between the administration and its Israeli allies, state department spokesman PJ Crowley told the Washington Post that Israel failed to heed US warnings not to attack the flotilla. “We communicated with Israel through multiple channels many times regarding the flotilla,” Crowley said. “We emphasised caution and restraint given the anticipated presence of civilians, including American citizens.” One of those killed on Monday was an American citizen of Turkish origin.
The reported shift in US policy gave more weight to the call on Wednesday by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for an end to the blockade. “This tragedy only highlights the serious underlying problem,” Ban said. “The long-running closure imposed on the Gaza Strip is counterproductive, unsustainable and wrong. It punishes innocent civilians. It must be lifted by the Israeli authorities immediately.”
Throughout the week, the Obama administration has given the impression of being torn between its Turkish and Israeli allies, and of holding back criticism of the Israeli raid.
“I think the situation from our perspective is very difficult and requires careful, thoughtful responses from all concerned,” Clinton said. It was unusual to hear television news commentators criticising Obama for not being hard enough on Israel. But as the New York Times noted, “Pressure on Israel also carries domestic political risks for Mr Obama, given the passion of its supporters in the US.”
Even long-standing supporters of Israel, such as Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel who began his career with the pro-Israel lobby group Aipac, have criticised the Israeli raid and the blockade. “Maintaining the siege eroded Israel’s international legitimacy . . . to the world it was engaging in a policy of collective punishment,” Indyk, who is now the director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, wrote on the Time website yesterday.
Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times writes that “Israel’s hardline policies are depleting America’s international political capital as well as its own”. The attack undermined US efforts to win new sanctions on Iran, and antagonised Israel’s support base in the US, Kristof warned. He quoted Meir Dagan, the head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, who said, “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the US to a burden”.