People.com
By the weekend, around 10 boats will arrive in the waters off the Gaza Strip in a bid to bring some 10,000 tons of aid to the Palestinian coastal enclave. However, past instances show that the Israeli navy will probably intercede and possibly prevent the flotilla from docking in Gaza.
The international maritime operation is seen by Israel as nothing more than a public relations (PR) effort by “the anti- Israel lobby.” The boats are not only carrying some 500 pro- Palestinian activists but also camera crews from TV stations around the world. Any confrontation between the boats and the Israeli security services will be headline news across the globe.
Israel faces the quandary of whether to block the path of the vessels and face the international media spotlight or permit their passage to Gaza and therefore admit that the ongoing blockade is effectively null and void. That is why analysts believe the peace campaign is posing the Jewish state a possible PR disaster.
PR WAR
The main aim of the pro-Palestinians, whose ships departed from several European countries, is to make a very public point and try to focus world attention on the plight of the Gazans.
Actually getting the aid through is secondary to the PR exercise, according to two leading Israeli experts in the field of politics and communications, who spoke with Xinhua on Wednesday.
“The Israelis and many in the world have completely forgotten about Gaza, so I can understand peace activists doing something to draw attention to it,” said Galia Golan, a political science professor and a respected leader of the Israeli dovish organization Peace Now.
That point is shared by Gadi Wolfsfeld, a professor of communication and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Gaza story is one that has run for years and so it has fallen from general public interest, he said.
Gazans are under a blockade launched by Israel after the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement gained political power there and subsequently ousted Fatah from the strip in 2007.
Later, the Egyptians joined the Israelis in preventing the free flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza.
Gazans overcame this by digging tunnels under the border with Egypt, allowing people to bring basic items and more recently goods said to be as large as cars in and out of the enclave.
While Gazans mainly accuse Israel as well as Egypt of creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel counters that it has to prevent Hamas from obtaining missiles for firing at Israeli homes. Current media reports from Gaza suggest the tunnels have become such an effective corridor that shops are swamped with some goods and prices are being slashed.
All this leaves Israeli spokesmen arguing there is no need for the cargo on board the ships because Israel allows basic supplies into the strip and the rest enters via the tunnels. The boats are simply bound for Gaza in order to gain fresh attention for the trouble spot.
ISRAELI PREDICAMENT
Israel has not publicly commented on its plan of action for when the boats near Gaza. Analysts assume that the country wants to keep its response as a surprise. At the same time though, they believe there may have been robust debates behind closed doors as to how to deal with what could turn into a PR nightmare.
“If Israel stops it, it looks as though the Israelis are not interested in the Palestinian people, and if it doesn’t stop it then of course it’s a great victory because then one could say the siege isn’t working,” said Wolfsfeld.
“It’s a no-win situation for Israel. It’s a PR disaster no matter what happens,” he added.
Wolfsfeld argues that the long-term policy goals are far more important than the couple of days of damage that will be done to Israel in TV and radio broadcasts and column inches. Indeed, he said some ministers will put forward the argument that after a couple of days the media pack will move on to some other hot story elsewhere.
“Stopping the boats isn’t going to change world opinion about the siege one way or another, however, letting them through will change policy,” he suggested.
On the other hand, Wolfsfeld accepts that the drip-drip effect of lots of reportage about Israeli actions in Gaza and in other dealings with the Palestinians does paint an overall negative picture of the Jewish state. Yet the Israeli government considers that price is worth paying in order to ensure the security of Israeli citizens.
EFFICACY OF PROTESTS
As Wolfsfeld points out, the protesters are in a very strong position from a PR perspective. From the initial announcement of their planned voyage, through the speculation about the Israeli response and on the potential confrontation, their organizers are succeeding in drawing attention to the Gaza issue.
However, that does not necessarily mean they will manage to change any fact on the ground, which is their eventual aim.
There are some who suggest this only goes to prove that grassroots campaigns and protests actually achieve little.
Golan counters that argument. She has been participating in dovish efforts since just months after the 1967 Six Day War, which created the occupied territories. While sometimes the messages of protests have been wrong, she said she believes over the years demonstrators have managed to occasionally create a momentum for change.
“The protests we organized against the first Lebanon war I think definitely had an impact, also we managed to delay settlement building at Har Homa and Ras El-Amud (in Jerusalem),” said Golan.
More so, she believes that the protests by the peace movement have made the Israeli public think differently about the issue of the settlements and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
While her claim cannot be proved, it is true to say that public opinion has moved over the years increasingly towards handing land over to the Palestinians.
“There are many times when I’ll say that demonstrations aren’t going to do any good… but I do believe that people need to speak out and that protests are important. The government has to hear, people abroad have to hear,” said Golan.
However, she adds one rider. In terms of their influence, she believes that protests by Israelis and those who are supportive of Israel have more effect than those carried out by foreigners, such as those on board the ships currently headed for Gaza.
I am the one of those who rally against the status quo: The Capitalist Hegemony. I take side with those who are oppressed world-wide. The Capitalists should end intervention in the Muslim World. If not, resistance is inevitable by any means possible. As promised through revelation, they will rise Caliphate which is feared and prevented by the Capitalist power. Capitalist agents/ puppet rulers will be removed throughout the Muslim World.
