Binteh S. Minteh

By Binneh s Minteh

The May, 31^st, 2010 Israeli attacks on eight humanitarian vessels destined for Gaza –Palestine- brought to light one of the world’s most outrageous action’s against immoral reasoning of modern times. Gaza strip that has suffered an unjust Israeli blockade over the years characterize the shamelessness upon which the world kept a tight-lip. For decades now, the cockpit of Israeli occupation ushered inhumanity and a wanton compromise of human dignity, hijacking the well-being of innocent men, women and children across the Gaza strip of Palestine in the name of confronting terrorism whilst orchestrating terror.

Since the end of the Second World War marking the birth of global institutions designed to uphold human dignity to the apex of mankind’s evolutionary pattern, our morality was driven by a conscious reasoning never to let human dignity reduced low as seen under Nazi brutality in the concentration camps of Auschwitz- Birkenau, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Amidst that global outrage and shame, we continued to say never again in the aftermath of the genocides in Bosnia, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Darfur, Sudan, and the senseless civil wars that killed over millions in Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Congo. Yet, global politics continues to be driven by injustice and a lack of reasoning and morality in our collective quest of making the world a better place.

In the midst of a global agony of the inhumane treatment of the Gaza people, the world is yet to come up with a moral consensus in salvaging innocent men, women and children of Gaza from decadence, brutality and the inhumane cacophonic Israeli policies that has compromised the well-being and dignity of Gaza people for decades long.  The recent Israeli assault on a humanitarian Flotilla of vessels destined for Gaza provides a parsimonious explanation of an attack on humanities moral conscience. If Israel continues to enforce a blockade on the basis of security, then it suffice to argue that such polices must include providing human security for the people of Gaza. In a nut shell, Israel must then be responsible for ensuring that provisions that guaranteeing well-being of the people is never compromised. Basic provisions such as food, shelter, medicine, clean and safe drinking water and physical protection, forms a core component of such human security.

Nonetheless, it was such human security failures in Gaza that ushered a moral reasoning by concern global citizens for a humanitarian flotilla of vessels designed to progressively confront the human security challenges that the world shamelessly watched unveiled on the innocent people of Gaza.

Under the Laws of the Sea a vessel can only be boarded in International Waters when suspected of transporting weapons, or weapons of mass destruction. Otherwise it must only be boarded with the due permission of the ship's flag carrying nation. In the case of the Flotilla, the vessels only carried humanitarian assistance with no signs of weapons or weapons of mass destruction. The people on board were also reported to be human rights activists from around the world.

In the same vein, naval blockades are only allowed under proportionality and must only be enforced on a military element for purpose of legality. Israeli’s actions were globally opined to be disproportional. Reports noted that the Israeli military responded with automatic gunfire killing over 15 and wounding  nearly 50 unarmed civilians.

Israel’s claim of linkages with IHH – A Turkish humanitarian relief fund with alleged radical Islamic anti-western views - provides no reasoning for such inappropriate policy actions. This organization may be anti-western, but does that suffice to say it is a terrorist organization? Unless we collectively decipher the clashes of culture that is perpetuating misunderstandings of ideology, the world will continue to fall prey along such parallels.

The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Fund – IHH- has a history of providing food  and medical supplies,  supporting  orphans, establishing  hospitals, clinics, educational institutions, , programs for vocational education, building  mosques  and preventing the violation of human rights in various locations around  the world.

A religion or an organizations failure to embrace a certain culture or way of life must not the least be view as radical or terrorism. Such facets of life are what make our world beautiful. Embracing one another without compromising security and human dignity is what we need under such abysmal situations. The world has changed and we must change along those same parallels. Such global changes are built around an inter-generational transformation that is harnessing the way we relate to one another, and the way we tackle global issues. Israel’s condemnation by all cultures and religions - Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu’s and Buddhist’s is a living testament to that validity. The world spoke with one voice and must therefore act under the same umbrella of global justice.

In sum, the Israeli action reminds us about the need for a multi-faceted and a global consensus of salvaging the forgotten voices of Gaza from the whims and caprices of injustice and human suffering that continues to ravage our moral conscience in the interconnected world of modern times. Protecting the human security and dignity of the People of Gaza is as equally important as enhancing the security of Israel. The attacks on such humanitarian efforts therefore constitute a tapestry of human dignity and a flagrant violation of international law – It is no difference from piracy on the coast of Somalia.

The author is a Former Gambian Army First Lieutenant. He is a Doctoral Candidate of Global Studies with a focus on International Security at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He could be reached at bsm235@nyu.edu or julakeh27@aol.com.