Flotilla raid edges into political battlefront

We started blockade, too

Thank you for publishing Gideon Lustig’s well-reasoned column, “Activists should have made another choice” [Opinion, June 7].

If the activists had been interested in providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza rather than in promoting a confrontation, they would have accepted the Israeli navy’s offer to transfer food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza after inspection.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is justified under international law, given the repeated rocket and terrorist attacks emanating from this Hamas-controlled territory and directed against Israel.

A government has a duty to protect its citizens against attack. I well remember as a child listening to former President John F. Kennedy announcing the naval blockade of Cuba to prevent further delivery of missiles aimed at the United States. There was no history of repeated attacks on the United States from Cuba similar to the repeated attacks on Israel from Gaza, yet Kennedy enforced a naval quarantine of Cuba in international waters to protect the United States.

How much more must the Israeli government act to protect its citizens from the Iranian- supported Hamas regime?

— Rochelle Kochin, Seattle

Hamas not part of equation for peace

Totally missing from the reports about the flotilla raid has been any word of Hamas’ responsibility for the current situation. Hamas, after all, is the primary obstacle to advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Lets recall that Israel withdrew its civilians and military from Gaza in 2005, transferring the territory to the Palestinian Authority. This golden opportunity to create a foundation for an independent state never was offered during Egypt’s occupation of Gaza from 1948 to1967.

Tragically for the Palestinians, their own leaders squandered the opportunity. After the 2006, Palestinian legislative elections, the Quartet — the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations — asked Hamas to recognize Israel, accept all existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements, which go back to the 1993 Oslo Accords, and renounce terrorism so the group could join Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in peace talks with Israel.

Hamas refused. Its defiance invited the international boycott of Hamas, cemented after it seized control of Gaza in a violent coup against the Palestinian National Authority three years ago. The blockade has been international, not Israel’s alone, and it has been partial. Israel has consistently delivered tons and tons of humanitarian needs, including food, clothing and medicine. It is not a siege.

While condemning Israel is easy, the onus really is on Hamas. Those who truly desire a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace understand that Hamas cannot be part of this process until it abandons terror and recognizes Israel’s right to a peaceful, secure existence.

— Wendy Rosen, director, AJC Seattle Regional Office