Palestine gets its PR coup as Israel blunders, but we all have a stake in seeking a long-term solution

The Israel-Palestine conflict is perhaps the most sensitive and divisive issue in the world that can ever be discussed. With this in mind, I hope to tread carefully into this topic, while also appreciating I am sure to upset some with the following thoughts.

I re-iterate my initial feelings that I tweeted yesterday, that Israel have been a little hard done by to the extent that they have been vilified in the mainstream media. Granted, there were some well-balanced editorials in the Times and the Evening Standard yesterday, but the BBC and Channel 4’s coverage yesterday evening (with a more-than-normal partisan performance from John Snow) were extremely disparaging of Israel’s position.

It is perhaps wise for me next to condemn Israel; they have been responsible for a pathetic blunder of an operation which has culminated in the unnecessary tragic loss of innocent lives. For that they should immediately apologise. However, a few things need to be said in their defence. The flotilla was undoubtedly a deliberately provocative PR stunt. They were repeatedly warned that they would be intercepted yet continued nonetheless. There does not seem to be anything unreasonable about asking a ship to be searched for weapons before it is allowed to reach Gaza. If it were a peaceful aid mission, why would it refuse such a request? If they would rather not deal with Israel, Egypt provided an alternative for the ships to be checked first. It should be noted also that there was no violence on the other ships in the flotilla that adhered with the warnings. It also seems from the footage- as neatly documented by Monday’s article by Melanie Phillips- in the Spectator that the Israeli soldiers were indeed under attack. If it is true that pistols were taken by the protestors, then there is a compelling argument of self defence. I fear that all these facts seem to be lost in a collective, knee-jerk, even a somewhat ‘fashionable’ leftist reaction to automatically impugn Israel.

However, all this does not excuse a shabby and woeful operation that ended with the loss of lives. There were many ways that Israel could have dealt with the situation without the deadly consequences that resulted. The irony of the situation is that they played into the hands of the organisers of the flotilla. They wanted a PR coup, and they certainly achieved that. Israel has shown, too often of late, a disregard for international opinion as well as international law. Whether their response to the criticism that they are simply defending their citizens is valid or not is neither here nor there. This is because their continued strategy at the moment is only a form of futile short-term containment.

Therefore, I hope the international community, particularly Britain, take this disaster as an opportunity to re-focus minds on bringing a practical solution to the blockade situation, and ultimately re-take the long path to the two state solution. If you think this is a far-away conflict that does not affect you, you are gravely mistaken. One only has to look at the widespread protests that occurred all over the world including in London. The next Islamic terrorist attack in this country will have its seeds in this conflict. We therefore all have a stake in seeing this conflict escape from the low it has reached this week.