A year ago hundreds of “humanitarian” activists converged on the Gaza Strip’s maritime frontiers in a pre-meditated attempt to stage a bloody conflagration. The end result was an anti-Israel media frenzy that did little to help the Palestinian cause and the activists’ expressed aim to end the socalled “blockade” of Gaza.

As Israel prepares for the arrival of yet another flotilla, the international community should join ranks and stand united in the face of such provocations.

The Mavi Marmara incident, which resulted in unwanted bloodshed, exposed the organizers of such initiatives for who they really are: media-savvy extremists who will stop at nothing less than “martyrdom” to promote their political agenda.

In recent months Israelis were reminded once again of the necessity of maintaining the naval blockade, when the Israeli navy intercepted a Gaza-bound civilian ship carrying some 50 tons of Iranian-manufactured weapons, including advanced C-704 anti-ship missiles. The smuggling of such lethal weapons, as well as the incessant launching of rockets against Israeli civilians, is reason enough to continue enforcing the blockade.

As United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last month: “Assistance and goods destined to Gaza should be channelled through legitimate crossings and established channels.” These crossings and channels do exist, and Israel has invited the flotilla organizers to peacefully transfer all goods through the port of Ashdod, where they will be transported via the Erez land crossing into Gaza. They have also been invited to dock at the port of El Arish in Egypt, where previous flotillas have also unloaded supplies.

The organizers’ refusal to even consider these options is more proof that the flotilla is not about humanitarianism or anything the least bit noble, but rather about provoking Israel into another needless confrontation.

Throughout the last year, Israel has significantly increased the quantity and types of goods that are delivered to Gaza every day. Truckloads upon truckloads of goods – food, medicine, consumer goods and raw materials – have arrived on Gaza’s doorstep under the watchful eye of the UN and other aid agencies. Only weapons and materials used to make weapons have been barred.

In 2010 alone, Gaza’s economy grew at a rate of 16 per cent, a rate eclipsing even that of China and many emerging nations. In other words, there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and to suggest otherwise is to distort reality.

Video footage from last year’s flotilla aired on al-Jazeera and other networks clearly shows participants as stating that their main objective was political and not humanitarian. To put it bluntly, the Free Gaza Movement’s goal is to generate media interest in the Gaza blockade and to goad Israel into a confrontation.

This approach does absolutely nothing to help the peace process or the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspiration for statehood. It only serves to bolster Hamas, a terrorist organization whose charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and the slaughtering of Jews.

Hamas has proven time and again its willingness to undermine every chance of peace. During the Oslo Accords up until the aftermath of Camp David II, it used every opportunity to sabotage the peace process, unleashing suicide bombings and rocket attacks that killed and maimed hundreds of Israeli civilians. When it assumed power over the Gaza Strip in 2006, Hamas turned its arms against its own brethren, sparking a civil war that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians. It has imposed a repressive Islamist regime à la iranienne that has oppressed the rights of women, homosexuals and Gaza’s Christian minority.

This is why Israel will continue to enforce the naval blockade as a legally recognized mechanism to prevent the smuggling of weapons. International law clearly states that Israel has every right to take preventive action to enforce any potential breach – including in international waters – and this time will be no different.

If it is peace that these activists strive for, they should urge Hamas to end its rein of terror in Gaza and renounce its genocidal charter. PR stunts do little to further our peoples’ mutual desire for peace based on a two-state solution.

(Source: Montreal Gazette)