Suspicion has always been a useful alibi for Israel to justify its atrocities on Palestine. In the latest raid on a flotilla of ships, led by a Turkish organization carrying aid into Gaza, the case seems to have been no different. Apparently, Israel’s “legal blockade” of Gaza was violated by the convoy of ships which tried to take forbidden items into the disputed territory. Palestine insists that the ships were also carrying food and medicines that Gazans depend on to survive the harsh circumstances they have to live in. For the past three years, Israel has maintained a de-facto truce with Palestine in Gaza, though the ground realities tell a more sinister story. In theory, Israel claims to have opened a humanitarian corridor that allows relief to reach Gaza. But the fact remains that 70 per cent of Gazans continue to live on less than $1 a day, 70 per cent rely on food aid, and 60 per cent have no regular access to water. According to World Bank estimates, nearly 80 per cent of Gaza’s imports are smuggled in through tunnels. Health and hygiene kits, textbooks and stationery either reach after inordinate delays or are heavily taxed by the Hamas. So essential commodities are sold at such inflated rates that they remain out of the reach of ordinary people.

To defend a system that has caused such untold misery by calling it “legal” is to take preposterousness to a new level. Israel has habitually indulged in such behaviour and got away with it. It has always been rather easy to make a scapegoat of the intransigent Hamas, which is bent on wiping Israel out of existence. While it is true that the Hamas has shaped itself along militant lines, its military resources appear primitive compared to the might of Israel. But the situation, this time, is more complicated. Israel was already on slippery ground with the United States of America, its pillar of strength, after offending the White House with its refusal to abide by the terms of building new settlements in East Jerusalem. Now the damage to Israel’s credibility has been deepened with Turkey, an important Muslim ally for years, withdrawing its goodwill, even as Europe and the United Nations have come out with severe criticism. It would be worthwhile to try and turn this eruption of collective anger into a window of opportunity to end the sanctions on Gaza. Without such a necessary reprieve, the proposed “proximity talks” between Israel and Palestine, to be mediated by the US, will be another foregone conclusion.