Will NATO protect unarmed humanitarian activists sailing to Gaza?

Will NATO protect unarmed humanitarian activists sailing to Gaza?  
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By Stuart Littlewood

30 March 2011

Stuart Littlewood asks whether Britain and its NATO allies will  live by the 
principles they have applied to the Gaddafi regime in Libya  and deploy warships 
to protect the flotilla scheduled to deliver  humanitarian aid to Gaza in the 
face of Israeli threats to use snipers  and attack dogs against the flotilla’s 
unarmed aid workers.

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) has issued a press 
release to remind everyone that what  promises to be the largest flotilla yet, 
comprising 15 ships carrying  passengers from 12 European states as well as 
Latin America, Africa,  Asia, Canada and the United States, is due to sail for 
Gaza in late May.

Passengers will include hundreds of peace advocates, including  parliamentarians 
and human rights activists, and representatives of more  than 40 media 
institutions.
Decent people will face Israeli snipers and attack dogs
Campaign organizers say that Israel has responded by threatening once  again to 
use deadly force to stop the flotilla, including snipers and  attack dogs. 
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of 
Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has warned that "if the IDF is faced with a similar 
situation in the  future, there may be no alternative to deploying snipers to 
minimize  troop casualties".
“Where were [the UK’s Royal Navy] ships when British nationals  on the Mavi 
Marmara and the Dignity and other vessels were being  assaulted in international 
waters and terrorized by Israeli thugs,  abducted and thrown in their stinking 
jails?”  

The Jerusalem Post reports that the IDF will deploy attack dogs from its Oketz 
canine units.

The release says Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, is  summoning 
foreign diplomats to Jerusalem to urge them to work with  Israel to stop the 
flotilla from setting off. According to the Irish Times, he justified his call 
for cooperation by claiming the flotilla would violate international law.

"There is nothing in international law that supports Israel's four-year-long
blockade of Gaza, or its attacks on humanitarian shipments in international
waters," says the campaigners’ spokesman Rami Abdo.

Funny how HMS Cumberland and HMS York magically appeared in the
Mediterranean during the Libyan crisis to protect the victims of  Gaddafi. HMS 
York unloaded tons of medical supplies and other  humanitarian aid for the 
Benghazi Medical
Centre. Where were these ships when British nationals on the Mavi  Marmara and 
the Dignity and other vessels were being assaulted in  international waters and 
terrorized by Israeli thugs, abducted and  thrown in their stinking jails?

Why weren't they bringing life-saving aid to Gaza’s hospitals after Israel's 
indiscriminate Operation Cast Lead blitzkrieg on innocent civilians?
“Israel still bombs, strafes and blockades Palestinians in Gaza  with impunity 
on a daily basis, so when the Libyan crisis dies down can  we expect to see HMS 
York load up with more supplies and sail for the  Gaza Strip, along with the 
rest of the NATO fleet, where the  humanitarian crisis continues unabated?”  

Israel still bombs, strafes and blockades Palestinians in Gaza with  impunity on 
a daily basis, so when the Libyan crisis dies down can we  expect to see HMS 
York load up with more supplies and sail for the Gaza  Strip, along with the 
rest of the NATO fleet, where the humanitarian  crisis continues unabated?

I have asked my MP to find out what the British government is planning  to do to 
safeguard British subjects (and indeed the other humanitarians)  sailing with 
this latest flotilla on its peaceful mission to Gaza. Do  ministers agree, I 
wanted to know, that the warships Cumberland and York  should be made available 
to escort the mercy mission and protect it  from Israeli psychopaths, who have 
amply demonstrated their eagerness to  resort to lethal force and total lack of 
civilized restraint?

Of course, one letter isn't enough. A thousand may not be enough. Let's  hit all 
MPs and MEPs in Europe with an avalanche demanding that they  discover their 
backbone and do the right and honourable thing by the  Palestinians in Gaza.
Deeply committed to UN Resolutions 1970 and 1973 but what about 194 and 242?
On 29 March 40 foreign ministers from all over descended on London for a  summit 
chaired by British Foreign Secretary William Hague to:
	* Strengthen and broaden the international community’s commitment to  
implementing UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 [sanctions  against 
the Gaddafi regime, a no-fly zone and use of military force to  protect Libyan 
civilians];
	* Reaffirm the importance of urgent humanitarian assistance…
	* Call for a political process which helps create the conditions in which the 
people of Libya can chose their own future.
What a pity they aren't as passionately committed to UN resolutions  194, 242 
and all the other solemn pronouncements that they signed up to  but Israel still 
defies.

It's certainly a busy week in London. On 30 March the Royal Institute  of 
International Affairs think-tank -- Chatham House -- holds a  conference on the 
theme “Sixty Years of British-Israeli Diplomatic  Relations”. One of the agenda 
items asks: “Are we there yet? Sixty years  of bilateral relations and the 
search for common ground’.

Common ground???

The president of the delinquent entity, Shimon Peres, is attending and  Hague 
will be there to deliver a keynote speech and no doubt stand guard  over Peres 
to ensure he is not slapped with a universal jurisdiction  arrest warrant.