Sunday, August 24 2008

Showboaters Reach Gaza: Now What?

The jubilation of the international "activists" who just arrived in Gaza will prove fleeting when it sinks in that leaving the strip is more complicated than arriving.

The International Solidarity Movement's two ships reached Gaza on Saturday after Israel permitted their entry to avoid a high seas media circus.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the ISM won't necessarily be allowed to leave via Israel:

Now that the group is in Gaza, the expectation in Jerusalem is that they will at some point ask Israel to let them into the country so they can fly back home, since it is unlikely they will want to sail back the way they came. No decision, however, has yet been made on whether they will be allowed into Israel.

Haaretz adds that leaving by sea creates other headaches:

Discussions will be held in the next few days on whether to stop the boats for inspection once they leave Gaza. Israeli officials are worried they might be used to smuggle wanted Palestinians out of the coastal strip. "They've got a reputation for protecting terrorists and acting as human shields," the political source said.

It would be a real show of solidarity if the showboaters -- including reporters Lauren Booth, Press TV's Yvonne Ridley, and Al-Jazeera's Ayash Daraj -- remained in Gaza. A gutsy move like that is fraught with not just danger but deflated egos. YNet News found many Palestinians let down by the ISM's arrival:

"However, once it turned out these boats contain too little food and mostly activists . . . some people left the beach disappointed."

So stay tuned. This could get even more interesting.

Related reading: Sailing Into a Publicity Stunt

Posted at 08:52 AM

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