Two months have passed since Israel\u2019s attack on a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza, with very tragic results\u2014including nine deaths and 40 injuries. Yet, as this week\u2019s events quietly reveal, it seems Israel will get away with its blatant disrespect for international law and not be held accountable for this disaster.<\/p>\n
It was reported on Monday [12 Jul 2010] that an Israeli military commission found \u201cno failure\u201d on the part of the commandos who took part in the attack. And while the UN Security Council and human rights groups called for an independent and \u201ccredible\u201d inquiry into the matter, there are no such plans in the works. Israel has deemed such independent efforts as \u201canti-Israel\u201d and a threat to the existence of the state.\u00a0 The result?\u00a0\u00a0 The US and indeed the rest of the international community stand on the sidelines, doing nothing.<\/p>\n
On June 5, I was aboard the MV Rachel Corrie\u2014a ship named for a young American activist who was bulldozed to death by the Israeli army in 2003\u2014heading to Gaza. Just days earlier, we had heard via satellite phone that Israeli commandos had boarded six ships, including the Turkish MV Mavi Marmara, in international water, and had killed and injured many aboard.<\/p>\n
As the seventh ship of the Freedom Flotilla, we now found ourselves in a frighteningly similar scenario.<\/p>\n
The 19 crew and activists aboard the MV Rachel Corrie heard that 35 heavily armed Israeli commandos were now preparing to board our ship. We sat down on the deck to await their arrival. Some of us wondered whether we would face the same fate as our colleagues aboard the Mavi Marmara.<\/p>\n
The killing of unarmed civilians was devastating news to us all. They were not terrorists\u2014they were human beings. Like me, they believed that Gaza should no longer be a place of suffering and isolation for its inhabitants.<\/p>\n
And like me, and all of the other activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, they believed in peace.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s people told me that peace would not come to Northern Ireland, just as they now tell me that peace is not possible in Israel and Palestine. I lost my niece and two nephews and my sister to the violence in Ireland, and it breaks my heart to see the same fate fall upon so many Israeli and Palestinian families. I have hope and believe that peace will come to Palestine and Israel because I have met so many people there on the ground working to make it happen.<\/p>\n
And, just as it brought peace to Northern Ireland, nonviolent resistance will bring peace to this war torn region. That is why I keep coming back to Gaza, much to the Israeli government\u2019s dismay. The last time I attempted to deliver humanitarian aid, in June 2009, I was detained for one week.<\/p>\n
On this trip, the world was watching. Many, myself included, believed the tragic events of May 31 would finally open the world\u2019s eyes to the even greater tragedy\u2014Israel\u2019s collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians. The violations of international law committed by Israel are well documented by the United Nations and many independent human rights bodies.<\/p>\n
Even so, the violations continue under the guise of \u201cnational security\u201d, and a policy of isolating Gaza to weaken Hamas.<\/p>\n
It is a policy that clearly is not working. Instead, it has turned Gaza into what has rightly been described as the largest open-air prison in the world. The blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza for the past three years has only punished innocent Palestinians. Lack of access to medical supplies and hospital treatments leads to a loss of life. Bright and eager students are unable to accept spots offered at international universities. Families are unable to rebuild homes destroyed during Israel\u2019s crushing assault on Gaza that killed over 1,400 people in the winter of 2008 and 2009.<\/p>\n
And Hamas, Israel\u2019s intended target and the elected representative of the Palestinian people, grows stronger.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the recent report released by the Israeli military shows that Israel will continue to choose ineffectual policies and violence over peace. In fact, the report went so far as to praise the Israeli commandos who killed nine civilians and injured dozens more, saying they operated \u201cproperly, with professionalism, bravery and resourcefulness\u201d and that the use of live fire was justified.<\/p>\n
A separate inquiry in Israel is underway, led by a retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice. Given the outcome of this first report, there is no reason to be optimistic that this panel will do anything more than reinforce Israel\u2019s culture of impunity. Nothing less than an independent investigation is acceptable to the families of the victims of the raid and, most importantly, the Palestinian people living in Gaza.<\/p>\n
It is about time that we open our eyes. The international community must finally stop allowing Israel to act with blatant disregard for international law and human rights. The partial lifting of the siege shows what international pressure can achieve, but it is not enough.<\/p>\n
It is time for Israel to choose peace. It is time for world leaders and the international community to join together and call on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza completely, ending the occupation of Palestine and allowing the Palestinian people their right to self-determination.<\/p>\n
___________________________<\/p>\n
Mairead Maguire won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her actions to end the violence in her native Northern Ireland. In the last 10 years, she has travelled to Israel and Palestine promoting human rights and nonviolent resistance. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Maguire is a founding member of the Nobel Women\u2019s Initiative and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/em><\/p>\n Join the BDS-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions<\/span><\/em> <\/strong>campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation, the apartheid wall, and its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people: DON’T BUY<\/strong><\/span> products whose BARCODE<\/strong><\/span> starts with 729<\/strong><\/span>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/p>\n 7 2 9: BOYCOTT!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was reported on Monday [12 Jul 2010] that an Israeli military commission found \u201cno failure\u201d on the part of the commandos who took part in the attack. And while the UN Security Council and human rights groups called for an independent and \u201ccredible\u201d inquiry into the matter, there are no such plans in the works. Israel has deemed such independent efforts as \u201canti-Israel\u201d and a threat to the existence of the state. The result? The US and indeed the rest of the international community stand on the sidelines, doing nothing. On June 5, I was aboard the MV Rachel Corrie\u2014a ship named for a young American activist who was bulldozed to death by the Israeli army in 2003\u2014heading to Gaza. Just days earlier, we had heard via satellite phone that Israeli commandos had boarded six ships, including the Turkish MV Mavi Marmara, in international water, and had killed and injured many aboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nobel-laureates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}