Self Defense Onboard the Mavi Marmara was Legitimate

Israel, in dovish gestures of reconciliation, is now saying that those activist arrested today after noon onboard the MV Rachel Corrie are real human beings, with whom dialogue and reason is possible.

"We saw today the difference between a ship of peace activists, with whom we don't agree but respect their right to a different opinion from ours, and between a ship of hate organised by violent Turkish terror extremists ... waiting for our soldiers on the deck with axes and knives," the Israeli prime minister's office announced.

Less than a week after Israel's early morning commando raid of the Turkish-flagged humanitarian aid ship Mavi Marmara - part of the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla designed to break the 3-year naval blockade of the Gaza Strip - Israel's defenders have gone from brutally murdering peace activists to becoming the judges of who is a really a "peace" activist and who is not.

Israeli talking-heads cited that activists "complied" with Israeli marines' requests to board the ship shortly after 9am on Saturday morning, the Apartheid state opting for ladders to board the vessel instead of masked-commandos dropped from helicopters. Of course, while Israel may disagree with these activists, it will be shown as proof positive that Israel tolerate disagreements with its policies as long as you submit to its methods and procedures. The activists aboard the MV Rachel Corrie, though they disobeyed Israeli calls to "voluntarily" reroute to the port of Ashdod, surely knew that any resistance to Israeli attempts to board their ship would be crushed with deadly violence.

However, let's be clear that it was only because of overwhelming world-wide condemnation of Israel (with the obvious exception of the United States) following the May 31st massacre onboard the Mavi Marmara that Israel's trigger fingers were calmed. That, and the fact that close to half of the activists onboard the MV Rachel Corrie were of Western European citizenship (the rest were Malaysian citizens); it's more uncomfortable for Israel when white people are killed or injured. EVERYDAY in Palestine - in the West Bank and Gaza - people are shot, maimed, tortured and imprisoned for peacefully resisting occupation. In demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank, it doesn't matter if you throw stones or you throw your hands in the air, Israeli soldiers aim at your head with live bullets or rubber-coated steel bullets. They will beat you, they will maim you, and if they can get away with it, they will kill you. The only reason that they are allowed to continue is because most of the world does not care about Palestine or Palestinians.

The ending of the occupation in Palestine and the breaking of the siege on Gaza will not come about only by passive resistance to Israeli crimes and massacres. Sabotage, property destruction and self-defense, while they should not be the primary focus of struggle, are legitimate responses to occupation, invasion and racism, and should be employed. We should salute activists aboard the Rachel Corrie and the Mavi Marmara, as well as Palestinians and peoples around the world engaged in struggles of liberation, for their courageous and heroic stances.