The Gaza Blockade.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza intially began shortly after Hamas were elected leaders of the Palestinian National Authority in 2006. Then the stated aim was to make the region ungovernable in order to bring about regime change. When Operation Cast Lead began in December 2008 the blockade became total with nothing being allowed in or out of Gaza. Long after the shooting in that war ended the total blockade continued with stated aim of preventing the Palestinians repairing the damage done during that war. The idea was to make sure that Gaza remained in ruins or as undeveloped real estate if you prefer.

It was only after a year of diplomatic pressure by the EU, the USA and the UN along with a similar land based convoy organised by Palestinian solidarity activists that Israel was shamed into allowing a maximum of 15,000 tonnes of heavily restricted aid in to Gaza a week. In reality these aid delivery's are stopped more often then they are allowed through as the Israeli's always seem to be able to find proscribed goods on the trucks.

As for what these proscibed goods are exactly it's quite hard to tell. The Israelis claim they have a list but they refuse to show it to anyone especially not the people who are trying to bring aid into Gaza. That means it is normally dependent of the whim of the Israeli border guard who happens to be searching the trucks on that day. Aid agencies have reported attempting to bring in trucks loaded with tinned tuna and tinned fruit only to have the trucks stopped because tinned tuna is on the proscribed list. So they drive the truck back to the depot and unload all the tinned tuna. They then try and drive it through the next day with only tinned fruit on board. They are then stopped because tinned fruit is now on the proscribed list and told they should have loaded the truck with tinned tuna because that's allowed today. This ridiculous pantomime means that over the last year aid agencies have spent around US$5million on administration and warehousing as they try and navigate the incomprehensible Israel border regulations.

As for today's attack on an aid ship it is being reported as a Turkish ship. This is only partially true. The ship is indeed Turkish but was part of an eight ship convoy that was drawn from all over Europe and the USA. The convoys flagship was the MV Rachel Corrie which was loaded and set sail from Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland. It then travelled to Cyprus where it joined up with the rest of the convoy. What alot of people probably don't know is that Cyprus is actually considered part of the theatre of war in Afghanistan. As such it has some of if not the most secure ports on the Mediterranean. That makes it totally unbelievable that ships which were so obviously headed for Gaza would be able to use the Island to load up on a cargo of terrorists and weapons.

In light of this the Israelis have changed their justification for boarding the ship. They are now claiming that it was done to prevent a political challenge to Israeli government policy. That means the Israelis believe they have the right to kill anyone who questions the way they conduct themselves.