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I feel like this is the sort of thread in which I should like to contribute, but I'm having difficulty thinking of something original or meaningful to say.
We can argue over the specific circumstances of this incident, most of which are already quite clear. (This would include tactical-level questions like: who initiated violence? was the ship in int'l waters? what was onboard? did the israelis offer to deliver the flotilla's aid themselves?) I'm happy to engage on that, though I don't think it's terribly interesting. For what it's worth, I'm indirectly connected to some of the protesters, and I think the leadership knew what it was getting into. Provocation is part of the game, though I don't think they expected things to escalate this far.
But to my mind, these are of minor importance when compared with the backdrop to the story; the fact that Israel has unilaterally enforced a blockade of basic supplies into Gaza (with the aim of deprivation just short of mass starvation) while simultaneously claiming that they 'freed' Gaza and were rewarded with Hamas rockets. It is an outrageously disingenuous narrative. A prison is still a prison so long as the outer walls are guarded by men with guns.
Drawing global attention to these facts has been the aim of the Free Gaza Movement. It is tragic that it took an incident like this for them to succeed there.
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