Israel Update for July 2010

David Dolan

Following the violent late May clash at sea between Israeli military forces and a Turkish flotilla attempting to penetrate an IDF naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, another regional Muslim country tried to do the same thing during July. However this time, the ship-chartered by a son of notorious Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi-was peacefully escorted by IDF naval vessels to a port in nearby Egypt.

Still this outcome did not prevent the militant pro-Hamas Turkish group which sponsored the original flotilla from vowing to launch further provocative sea convoys in the coming months. Nor did it stop a Syrian national from chartering two Lebanese ships that plan to depart any day from the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Israeli officials warned they would regard such ships as hostile vessels since they are coming from a country still officially at war with Israel. Meanwhile Rashid Khalidi, a close Arab friend of Barack Obama, announced he is raising money to charter a ship headed for Gaza.

The Libyan vessel departed from a port in Greece just a couple weeks after the Israeli government officially liberalized the rules for humanitarian aid transfers into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The move was welcomed in many capitals, although Hamas echoed Iran in terming it mere window dressing by the "Zionist enemy regime." An Israeli military enquiry committee released a report on the controversial naval operation that concluded mistakes were made by IDF military commanders and intelligence agents.

Tensions escalated along Israel's northern border with Lebanon during July amid media reports that the Iranian-backed Shiite Hizbullah militia was moving thousands of fighters into frontline positions in violation of the UN ceasefire that ended the 2006 war. This came as hundreds of Shiite Lebanese villagers clashed with UN peacekeeping forces who are supposed to enforce the ceasefire conditions on the ground in south Lebanon. Acceding to the growing military power of Hizbullah in his country, the American-backed Lebanese prime minister traveled to Damascus during the month to sign a number of mutual accords with the Assad regime.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made his own foreign visit during July-a return trip to the White House in Washington. However unlike last March, he received a very warm reception this time from President Obama. Soon after returning from abroad, the Premier led his cabinet in a controversial decision to cut Israel's military spending by 750 million dollars, which prompted a confrontation with his number two coalition partner, the Yisrael Beiteinu party headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Unconfirmed press reports said Israel's Mossad security chief recently visited Saudi Arabia to discuss possible military action against Iran. The Saudi government has publicly asked the Obama administration to take action against the Shiite country's outlawed nuclear programme. Meantime concern is growing over the failing health of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is said to be suffering from cancer with less than one year to live.

The Sea Show Goes On

Israeli officials were visibly relieved the end of June when two planned Lebanese cargo ships that had announced their intention to break through the IDF naval blockade of the Gaza Strip did not even set sail in the end. Several Lebanese Maronite Christian politicians and other groups had strongly opposed the announced operation, saying it would only hand another propaganda victory to the radical Hamas movement following the violent clash aboard the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship the last day of May. The same people were said to be attempting to halt the same ships from departing in late July, the new date set by the ship's Syrian sponsor.

Activists from another Mediterranean Arab country saw an opportunity to jump on board the popular anti-Israel campaign-this time from the North African desert country of Libya. As was the case in Turkey and Lebanon, it was not the Libyan government that was officially behind the effort, but a "private" charity organization that claimed it merely had the best interests of Gaza's over one million Palestinian residents at heart.

However as in Turkey, where the sponsoring pro-Hamas IHH organization has strong ties to the Erdogan government, so this time it was the second oldest son of longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi who was behind the operation. Named Saif al-Islam, he heads a group called the International Charity and Development Association. Israeli analysts said he has been attempting for some time to buck strong indications coming from his notorious father that his younger brother Moatessem-Billah will be hand picked to succeed him as the next Libyan leader (Gaddafi has been in power since staging a coup in 1969, making him the longest serving ruler on earth).

An architect by profession, Seif had a public fallout with his father in 2006, leaving the country briefly after criticizing Gaddafi's repressive regime. His younger brother, a former army leader, currently serves as national security advisor.

In his apparent campaign to gain popular support inside Libya, Saif decided that his charity would charter an aid ship and set sail for the Gaza Strip. He traveled to Greece in early July where he rented a Greek-owned ship called the Amalthia. Flying the Moldavian flag, it departed on July 12 from the Greek port of Lavrio, southeast of Athens. It set off carrying 15 pro-Palestinian activists and a crew of 12, along with 2,000 tons of aid supplies, including sugar, rice and corn paid for by Saif's charity and supplied by several Greek groups.

Crisis Averted

Israeli officials had already been in touch with their Greek counterparts in order to secure a commitment that the ship would not actually clash with IDF forces at sea, but would instead accept an Egyptian offer to host the vessel at the port of El Arish, where the cargo would be offloaded and transferred by land to the Gaza Strip. The contacts came just one week before the Greek prime minister visited Israel in another sign of improving relations between the two countries. Officials were also in contact with American and European Union diplomats in an apparently successful attempt to get them to persuade Athens to make sure another violent clash was averted.