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Israel’s Siege Mentality

So is Israel or Palestine under siege?

Recently, much has been said and written about Israel's violent interception of a flotilla, carrying humanitarian aid, attempting to bypass Israel's blockade of Gaza. For those not too sure about what exactly happened, CNN has a brief FAQ regarding the incident. Of all the pieces written about this incident, I like in particular The Economist's analyses of Israel's actions - in essence, Israel's perceptions that the world is against Israel, and its heavy-handed approach to everything about Palestine, is going to make the country more of a pariah than ever.

The first article in this week's The Economist, appearing in the Leader section, asserts that Israel's "macho attitude" - read: tendency to use violence first - is making Israel weaker: it "is accelerating a slide towards its own isolation". Israel is stuck in a vicous cycle: the more the hawks in government think the world hates Israel, "the more it tends to shoot opponents first and ask questions later, and the more it finds that the world is indeed full of enemies".

The second article discusses how Israel's blockade has become counterproductive, instead playing into the hands of Hamas in Gaza and allowing them to "tighten (their) grip on virtually everything in the strip". The violent interception of the aid flotilla has also become counter-productive, forming a new enemy out of ex-ally Turkey as several Turkish on board the flotilla were killed in the capture of the flotilla.

Just when Israel's relations with the US looked like they were about to be mended. These are indeed testy times for Israel, United States and the Middle East.