U.N. finds Israel's Naval Blockade of Gaza legal

[frigidmagi]

GlobalPost

A review by the United Nations, leaked today by the New York Times, has found that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was legal, and did not violate international law.

However, the report states that Israeli forces used unnecessary force 15 months ago when they boarded a flotilla attempting to break the blockade. The raid on the flotilla, Mavi Marmara, killed nine passengers, seven of whom suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

According to the report, the Israeli commandos' response was "excessive" and "too heavy a response too quickly." The report is 105 pages long, and can be found in its entirety on the New York Times. It states that the panel found that the raid, which occurred on May 31, 2010 "should never have taken place as [it] did and strenuous efforts should be made to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future."

Headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and former Colombia Preside Alvaro Uribe, the U.N panel also had members from Turkey and Israel on it. The Secretary-General has yet to read the report, which was to be released Friday, reports VOA.

Turkey and Israel, who had previously had a close relationship, became strained after the incident — Turkey argued that israel had no right to stop the ships in international water, and that their blockade was illegal, according to VOA. Turkey has asked for an apology from Israel, and is upset by the conclusion that the blockade is legal, according to the New York Times. While Israel is willing to "express regret and pay compensation," Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to apologize, claiming that an apology could be viewed as a message of weakness.

So the blockade is legal but the Israelis went overboard in enforcing it seems to the official line. Which... Okay is fair and has a point. I will point out that if American Marines had been jumped while boarding a boat, shots would have been fired as well. That's the nature of a military unit that sees itself under threat. It reacts with gunfire. Maybe military commandos are a bad choice for police style operations or maybe Israel could (should have?) found another way to stop the flotilla.

You can scream that they shouldn't have tried to stop the flotilla if you like, but I'll have to point out that legally, they are well within their rights to.

[Lys]

A blockade is legal if it can be enforced. You can't say that it's overboard to enforce a blockade because the very act of enforcement is what makes it legal. The accepted method of enforcement is to stop ships and search them for contraband, by force if need be. The blockading power can do this anywhere, because without the act of enforcement the blockade loses its legality.

This may seem like backward or circular reasoning, but remember that much of international law was written by the Great Powers for the benefit of the Great Powers. In the case of naval law, it was pretty much by design meant to allow the Royal Navy back then to do whatever it damn well pleased, and for everyone else to bend over and take it.

Put bluntly the only way for Israel blockade of Gaza to be illegal, is if someone with a bigger navy objects.

[General Havoc]

I will say, I'm surprised that the UN took this position. Normally they never waste a chance to pillory Israel.

[The Minx]

Yea, I was pretty surprised too.

You can't say that it's overboard to enforce a blockade because the very act of enforcement is what makes it legal. The accepted method of enforcement is to stop ships and search them for contraband, by force if need be. The blockading power can do this anywhere, because without the act of enforcement the blockade loses its legality.

Well, not quite. You can say that it's legal for police to arrest a suspected criminal, but there are proper procedures for doing that which they have to try before going in with guns blazing.