In June 1967, Israel won on all Arab fronts, but never became more secure, and its presence in the region never became natural despite that in the past four decades and so, with minor exceptions, she emerged victorious in all confrontations with its neighbours. In June 1967 though, the world was still divided between a pro-Israel West, with a hurting conscience over the Holocaust, and a Communist Eastern Block, led by Russia who openly supported Arabs as a means to counteract the US influence in the region.

In June 2010, the official positions have not changed much because governments usually adopt positions based on interests, not on morality, and since Western interests in the oil-rich region had not been shaken, the pro-Israeli attitude remained totally unchanged mostly due to Arab regimes’ weaknesses. The new variable in 2010 however, is the movement of peoples around the globe against their governments’ stands and against the lies and fabrication that have prevailed since the creation of Israel. World public opinion now is crawling against Israel in way similar to that which brought an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1994, rendering all Israeli military victories worthless.

In June 2010, people around the planet watched in disbelief and horror the crazy aggression on the fleet of freedom carrying humanitarian aids for more than 1.5 million people unlawfully and immorally locked in Gaza Strip, which has become the largest confinement in human history.

Those who always defended, or at least, never questioned the legality and the morality of what Israel have been committing against Palestinians over the past years, including extrajudicial execution, demolition of their homes, shelling their schools, mosques and refugee camps with cluster and phosphorous bombs – both internationally prohibited – find it very difficult now to continue supporting such draconian practices committed by the same state that banned thinker Noam Chomsky and UN judge Richard Goldstone – both Jewish – from entering the Palestinian territories, merely because of their criticism of her especially over the war on Gaza.

What differed this time is the type of civilian casualties, which is no longer limited to Palestinians and Arabs, but evolved to include advocates of peace, in violation of all traditions of war and even rules of evil throughout history. The Israeli government knew more than anybody else that Freedom Flotilla heading for Gaza, carried no artillery and no missiles, but still, she, ordered its’ ‘defence army’ to attack it in the middle of international waters giving the whole world another further proof, of the impossibility of dialogue with this entity. Moreover, international muteness and Arab weakness provided additional firewood for this sort of arrogance. The brutal bulldozing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003 which went unquestioned and the targeting and killing of many other peace campaigners with live ammunition, most recently the shooting of Maltese activist Bianca Zammit in Gaza, are only few testimonies of such an overwhelming arrogance that perceives all adjacent people as dead, and that no rights should be handed to the dead.

Victory after victory over the weak, made the decision-makers in Israel lose the ability to show humility, acceptance, and coexistence with other people on the land of Palestine, or with other peoples in the region, not realising that with each new military triumph, they are setting a dark future for their children.

What happened in the Mediterranean waters on 31 May 2010 was not only a crime of piracy and a crime against humanity that exposed the true reality of Israeli intentions, but it was a turning point in the whole history of the conflict.

The bloody interception of the peace convoy carrying the awakening conscience of the world will never be a passing event. The organisers of the Freedom Flotilla who are neither Arabs, nor Muslims, are preparing for another sea caravan consisting of 50 ships, they say that they already have 50,000 volunteers asking to be onboard. If this turns to be factual, what is Netanyahu and his cabinet going to do this time? Are they going to acknowledge that people in Gaza are not dead, and that they have rights too, or they are going to attack the future fleet and shed tears of vulnerability and security mania as they always did? This time, human conscience seems determined not to stay in the shadow of falsehood.

Walid Nabhan

Malta