Flera engelska siter där Israels attack mot Ship to Gaza diskuteras har påpekat att attacken var en krigshandling då den utfördes på internationellt vatten och på en båt som räknas som turkiskt territorium, i synnerhet måste man se saken så som de israeliska soldaterna bordade turkiska fartyget Mavi Marmara och sköt ihjäl 9 personer.

Man påpekar också att detta har vidare implikationer. Israel och USA har ingen försvarspakt. Israel har alltid vägrat att skriva under en sådan. Däremot är Turkiet medlem i NATO, vilket innebär en överenskommelse om ömsesidigt beskydd i fall av militärt våld eller militära angrepp.

Craig Murray skriver sålunda om saken:

I must be plain – nobody wants or expects military action against Israel. But there is an uneasy recognition that in theory that ought to be on the table, and that NATO is obliged to do something robust to defend Turkey.

Mutual military support of each other is the entire raison d’etre of NATO. You must also remember that to the NATO military the freedom of the high seas guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is a vital alliance interest which officers have been conditioned to uphold their whole career.

That is why Turkey was extremely shrewd in reacting immediately to the Israeli attack by calling an emergency NATO meeting. It is why, after the appalling US reaction to the attack with its refusal to name Israel, President Obama has now made a point of phoning President Erdogan to condole.

But the unhappiness in NATO HQ runs much deeper than that, I spoke separately to two friends there, from two different nations. One of them said NATO HQ was ”a very unhappy place”. The other described the situation as ”Tense – much more strained than at the invasion of Iraq”

………

You might be surprised by just how high in Nato scepticism runs at the line that in some way occupying Afghanistan helps protect the west, as opposed to stoking dangerous Islamic anger worldwide. (Craig Murrays blogg)

USA befinner sig alltså i en brydsam situation. Ska man ställa upp på sin bundsförvant inom NATO, Turkiet, eller ska man försvara Israel?

Murray påpekar vidare att den paragraf i San Remo Manual of International Law,* som Israels regering hänvisar till som den som ger Israel rätt att angripa fartyg på det här sättet, handlar om rätt i fall av krig. Här, säger han, måste Israel bestämma sig, endera befinner man sig i krig med den självständiga staten Gaza eller så ockuperar man Gaza:

Really? In that case, why do we continually hear Israeli complaints about rockets fired from Gaza into Israel? If it is the formal Israeli position that it is in a state of armed conflict with Gaza, then Gaza has every right to attack Israel with rockets.

Secondly, if Israel wishes to claim it is in a state of armed conflict with Gaza, then it must treat all of its Gazan prisoners as prisoners of war entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention. If you are in a formal state of armed conflict, you cannot categorise your opponents as terrorists.

But again, it is plain for the world to see from its treatment and description of Gazan prisoners that it does not consider itself to be in a formal position of armed conflict.

Israel is seeking to pick and choose which bits of law applicable to armed conflict it applies, by accepting or not accepting it is in armed conflcit depending on the expediency of the moment.

I have consistently denounced Hamas rocket attacks into Israel. I have categorised them as terrorism. If Israel wishes now to declare it is in armed conflict with Gaza, I withdraw my opposition and indeed would urge Hamas to step up such attacks to the maximum.

Läsning av Craig Murrays blogg rekommenderas alltså. Men även läsning av flera intressanta artiklar på counterpunch.org.

/Kerstin

Länkar:
- Why SanRemo Does not Apply, Craig Murrays blogg
* San Remo’s manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflict 1994
- Israeli Murders, NATO and Afghanistan, Craig Murrays blogg
- Obama’s Timidity and Death at Sea, Ray McGovern, counterpunch.org
- America’s Complicity in Evil, Paul Craig Roberts, counterpunch.com
- Israels Attacl on Us All, Jonathan Cook, counterpunch.org
- Israeli MP’s Night of Terror on Aid Ship, Jonatan Cook, counterpunch.org
- Piracy on the Blood-Red Sea, Neve Gordon, counterpunch.org
- ….att mörda hela besättningen (om Israels attack på Liberty 1967), Vindskupan
- Titta även in på Counter Currents.org
- How Palestine became Israel, Stephen Halbrook