Israeli effort is left at sea

That didn't go well.

Israel stopped a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza, using what appears to be an overkill of naval commandos to board and take over ships loaded with supplies for Hamas-ruled Gaza. A gun battle erupted as Israeli commandos rappelled onto the ship from helicopters. The Gaza activists say the Israelis came out firing; Israel says its troops were attacked with metal rods, knives and pistols. Whoever made the first hostile move, Israel comes across looking like a bully.

Free Gaza, the pro-Palestinian group that had organized the flotilla to challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza, had trumpeted its effort for maximum publicity. Israel had done a less effective job of offering to accept the tons of aid bound for Gaza, inspect it for weapons and other banned materials and deliver the goods to Gaza. With yesterday's naval gun battle, world opinion has turned against Israel for its disproportionate use of force and has turned attention away from the repressive and militant regime in Gaza, which routinely allows missile attacks on Israel.

Free Gaza is reveling in its publicity coup as Israel tries to be heard above the din of international condemnation. The flotilla didn't reach Gaza and didn't pierce the Israeli blockade, but it did achieve its objective of embarrassing and isolating Israel.

Gaza presents yet another problem

As if he didn't need another crisis, Israel's bombing of Gaza creates another worry for President-elect Barack Obama. President Bush, who belatedly came to realize the advantages of an activist role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will not be able to fix the damage in the less than a month he has remaining. But Obama will have other priorities as he takes office, and a war in Gaza will only make other matters worse.

It's hard to fault Israel for reacting to the daily bombardment of its southern villages by terrorists in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Israeli bombing has killed around 300 people, and troops are massed along the border for a likely ground invasion aimed at wiping out the missile factories that are openly tolerated in Gaza. Hamas is fighting a proxy war against Israel, allowing the clandestine rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel, and pretending it cannot do anything about the people's righteous anger against the Jewish Entity.

But since Hamas took over Gaza from the more moderate Palestinian Fatah party in 2007, it has proven itself to be little more than a military force parading as a sovereign state. Embargoes by Israel and Egypt along Gaza's border have not been effective in keeping military supplies out of Gaza and preventing the missile attacks that have so angered Israelis. The current Israeli attacks, no matter how successful and deadly they might be, are unlikely to put a stop to the missile attacks. At best, Israel can hope to slow down the attacks or achieve a brief hiatus.

Hamas' intransigence also signals a new complication to Middle East peace talks. Israel has been able to achieve a working relationship with Fatah on the West Bank even though Palestinian policy insists that the West Bank (captured by Israel in the 1967 war) and Gaza (also taken in 1967) are unitary. Talk of a Palestinian state involves both the West Bank and Gaza. But what happens if Fatah reaches a peace agreement with Israel while Gaza continues its military assaults? Instead of a two-state solution, which has been the basis for U.S.-led negotiations, there would be a three-state solution — or a three-state stalemate.

Fatah enjoys the support of Iran and Syria. So long as those nations continue to support Fatah, it can prevent a peaceful settlement with Israel. Gaza is the monkey wrench in the gears of Middle East negotiations and will be so long as Iran and Syria support the militant group ruling Gaza.