Blockade eased - Israel must offer Gaza a ray of hope

IF the entirely justified international outcry that followed the May 31 killing of nine unarmed Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara was the catalyst for Israel’s decision to ease the land blockade on Gaza then some small good has come from the tragedy.

However, anything more than an initial welcome must be deferred until the promise is made real. Israel has a very poor record of observing commitments to the international community and an even poorer one on recognising the rights of Palestinians.

It would be reassuring to imagine that Israel has at last tempered its aggressive zealotry with the knowledge that it cannot expect to ignore the rules societies observe if they wish to be considered civilised.

It would be reassuring too to imagine that Israel wonders why it is so unloved, why it is so vehemently criticised but all the evidence suggests that it cares little for international opinion – and even less for the plight of displaced and dispossessed Palestinians.

Israel has become so confident of its own position that it has felt able to challenge its greatest protector and benefactor, America.

Emboldened by the blind eye turned by the Bush administration in its dying days, Israel felt able to ignore a request from President Barack Obama – before he was president but after he was elected – to suspend the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Not only that but Israel launched its shameful and barbaric attack on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, in that presidential interregnum.

The triumphalism and the cold, hard arrogance of Israeli spokesmen as they expressed satisfaction at operations that killed innocent women and children rang alarm bells around the world.

Even in America, where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee so ruthlessly controlled political and public debate on Israel for many decades, the penny dropped. Now the grip of that lobby on public opinion is weakening as a younger generation of American Jews is not prepared to endorse Israel no matter what it does.

It is unlikely too that President Obama, even if he is constrained by a Congress often as influenced by Jerusalem as it is by the White House, will be as patient as he has been for very much longer.

By easing the land blockade Israel might give the impression, created by its relentless campaign to make it impossible for anyone to live with dignity in Gaza, that it is turning over a new leaf.

How wonderful that would be. It would allow the great majority of the international community who would like to support Israel – and the Palestinians – to do so without the misgivings created in recent years.

Israel does not have many friends left and it should do all it can to win back alienated supporters. Ending the cruelty and inhumanity that define its relationship with Gaza would be a good start.