Israel Isolates Itself With Flotilla Raid

Israel's raid of a humanitarian flotilla was ostensibly directed at the small group of activists that was trying to defy the Israeli blockade of Gaza, but it has complicated the country's relationships with nations far from the site of the Mediterranean skirmish. NightWatch thinks that was the whole point; they posit that "US diplomacy for a Middle East peace plan is the actual target of the Israeli naval action." By striking the Turkish flotilla, Israel made it clear that it cannot be controlled by the wishes of Washington, undermining any trust Arab countries may have had in America's ability to influence Israel. Helene Cooper says, "American officials expressed dismay in private over not only the flotilla raid, with its attendant deepening of Israel's isolation around the world, but also over the timing of the crisis, which comes just as long-delayed American-mediated indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians were getting under way." In Turkey, officials are less dismayed than they are apoplectic. Hundreds of Turks are still being held by Israel after what the Turkish prime minister called a "bloody massacre," and the foreign minister has been dispatched to New York to argue against the Israeli blockade at the U.N. "This will be perceived as a kind of declaration of war on Turkey," one Turkish writer said. "Political dialogue will cease. It's not possible to contain the deterioration in relations anymore." Things could get testy with Egypt, too; after years of keeping the Egyptian border crossing into Gaza mostly closed, Egypt announced Tuesday that it is reopening the border indefinitely so humanitarian and medical supplies can pass through.

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