A day after the killing by Israeli commandos of 10 activists on a flotilla in international waters carrying aid and supplies to Gaza, universal condemnation (with the notable exception of the US) of the Israeli action as neither proportionate nor necessary must now be superseded by a fundamental change of policy towards the Gaza blockade.   So long as other countries’ response is confined to diplomatic rhetoric, Israel has repeatedly shown itself in a string of provocative and murderous incidents to be dismissive, even contemptuous, of international outrage.    This is now a defining moment for international resolve, for firm and robust policy change to deter Israel from its ruthless  intransigence in seeking to crush the Palestinian people.

The charge sheet against Israel is long.   It launched a 3-week war against the Gaza Strip in December 2008, killing more than 1,300 Palestinians, out of all proportion to the rocket attacks which had killed a dozen Israelis and most likely calculated to impress a hard-like Israeli electorate just before elections.   It has pursued a poloicy of political assassinations across the globe, most recently of the Hamas official in Dubai last January.   Indifferent even to its main ally, the US, it has persisted in blocking peace talks with the western-backed Palestinian Authority by provocatively refusing to freeze settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.    And it continues to impose a tight and oppressive blockade of Gaza, ostensibly to prevent the import of bomb or rocket-making materials, in reality to try to throttle Hamas.   The response therefore needed from the international community is now clear.

First, the blockade must be lifted, particularly now that Egypt has opened its Rafah check-point.   In particular, the EU should suspend its trade agreement with Israel until this wholly unjustified blockade is abandoned.

Second, the political reality of Hamas as the elected ruler of the Gaza Strip should be recognised and Israel’s attempt to isolate the organisation by requiring it to recognise Israel before it can join a national unity government with Fatah should be rejected.   Hamas has anyway previously offered a long-term truce and indicated it could accept Israel within its 1967 borders.   The Russian president, Medvedev, has already met the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, in Damascus, and EU leaders should now do the same.

Third, it is clear from this latest outrage, and indeed has been clear for a long time, that Israel will not desist until the price it pays becomes too heavy.   The US more than any other country is in a position to exert such pressure, given the £3bn or more of military and financial aid it provides annually for Israel.   But irrespective of the US response, a widespread alliance of European, Middle East and Asian countries should now be sought to put in place a carefully calibrated programme of sanctions to impress upon the Israeli pariah state that it cannot act with impunity.

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