Israel is unlikely to heed calls to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip but its bloody seizure of a Turkish aid ship has caused international anger and American dismay that is forcing it to seek conciliatory moves.

Israel's leaders have been unrepentant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Europeans of “hypocrisy”.
But with even vital ally the United States criticizing the harm the blockade is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, and President Barack Obama calling the killing of nine men, including an American, a tragedy, Netanyahu is seeking points where concessions can soak up some of the pressure.
Cooperating with U.S. demands for some form of international inquiry and agreeing to measures that might ease the embargo for civilians both seem to be areas where Israel may compromise. George Mitchell, Obama's Middle East envoy, says Washington is working “aggressively” to ensure supplies for people in Gaza. Most of Israel's allies now say that the blockade causes unjustified harm, a diplomat said.
“But for political reasons there may be a delay. The Israeli government doesn't want to be seen to cave in immediately.”
Ministers have already mooted a role for foreigners in an inquiry, and political sources have said Netanyahu may propose easing the blockade.
Israel desperately wants to avoid a repeat of the UN Goldstone report last year, which said its forces should be investigated for war crimes in Gaza. “There's the ghost of the Goldstone report which the Israelis are very keen to avoid, as are various parts of the United Nations,” the diplomat said. “The Israelis are showing some flexibility for certain reasons.”
Israel will also resist changes in its negotiating positions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in U.S.-mediated peace talks. Israel's leftish Haaretz newspaper said on Thursday in an editorial that Netanyahu should “minimize the damage” by investigating the raid and lifting the blockade.
“(And it) weakens the bargaining ability of Netanyahu vis-a-vis... Obama and Abbas.” Netanyahu's domestic critics have sounded alarms before now about the right-wing prime minister's clashes with Obama -- notably over Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, which Washington and Abbas say is hampering prospects for peace.
This week, as maritime tragedy and a canceled Netanyahu-Obama meeting dominated headlines, local media quoted intelligence chief Meir Dagan telling a parliamentary committee: “Israel is gradually turning from asset to the U.S. to a burden.” Israel's vocal but politically weak liberals have leapt on the bungled boarding in international waters to lament.
Novelist Amos Oz wrote in the New York Times that the Gaza siege crisis grew out of “the mistaken assumption that ... the Palestinian problem can be crushed instead of solved.” Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy wrote of Netanyahu's policies: “We'll become an even more despised country and won't have a single friend left in the world, not even the United States.”
(Source: Reuters)
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