Israel’s raid of a flotilla of humanitarian aid destined for Gaza Monday ratcheted up already-simmering tensions between Washington and Jerusalem – and is likely to complicate US efforts to rein in Iran and to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Yet Washington issued some of the blandest official reaction to the deadly incident involving the so-called Freedom Flotilla. That made Israel look more like the friend the United States will always stand by – but which it wishes would act better in public.
“I imagine they [US officials] are reading the Israelis the riot act just now,” says Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation in Washington. If the situation does not deteriorate further, the impact on a specific US goal such as restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may not be devastating, he says.
Iran is a case in point. The US has been pressing for increased international isolation of Iran over its nuclear program – a goal shared by Israel. The next step in that effort is to be a vote in the United Nations Security Council on a US-sponsored resolution of economic sanctions against Iran. But the flotilla incident robs the international spotlight from Iran and places it anew on Israel and actions it says are necessary in an environment hostile to its interests.
Nine people aboard a Turkish ship bound for Gaza were killed. The aid ship was in international waters when raided.<... >>>
