If Israel wanted to make it look like they aren't really interested in the Middle East peace process, the initial 12 hours after boarding a multinational flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza strip and killing at least 10 of the activists aboard, is a good way to make your message clear.

Just this weekend Israel rejected a U.N. proposal asking the country to join the international community and put its nuclear program under U.N. safeguards.  Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called the resolution "flawed," complaining that Iran was not a part of the plan, even though Israel signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would increase pressure on Iran, as well as generate support for peace in the Middle East.

It also comes on the heels of a now more than year long spat between the United States and Israel over continued construction of Israeli settlements in contested regions.  Vice President Joe Biden was famously infuriated by the announcement of an additional 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem just as he arrived to begin separate high level talks between the U.S. and Palestinian representatives as well as Israeli representatives.  Mr. Biden was so mad that he reportedly arrived at a dinner with the Prime Minister an hour and a half late, making his displeasure well known.

Of course Prime Minister Netanyahu and the current conservative coalition were not at all pleased with President Obama when he called for a complete freeze of all new settlement construction in an attempt to reach out to the Muslim world.  Mr. Netanyahu has complained loudly that Palestinian negotiators had never before insisted on a settlement freeze until recently, insinuating that the problem is a creation of the President of the United States.

Today however, is a different kind of problem, especially because it occurred in international waters.  Right now Isreal's Prime Minister is in Canada meeting with its own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and was supposed to head to the United States for a meeting with President Obama, but has now cancelled that meeting and is flying immediately back home. 

The main boat in the flotilla that was attacked late last night was sent by an organization called The Free Gaza Movement, and is called the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish passenger ship.  The ship was loaded with many tonnes of aid including dental surgery equipment, paper for schools, cement, prefab homes, wheelchairs, crayons, pens, and water purification technology among other humanitarian items.  Of the over 500 people on board that ship and the other ships which met in international waters before they were to head towards Gaza, there were politicians from Germany and Ireland, Nobel laureates, and prominent social activists on board.  So far reports have only come from Israeli sources claiming that those on the lead ship premeditatedly attacked their boarding soldiers with sticks and knives, forcing the soldiers to kill at least 10 people on board.  Organizers for the aid flotilla said that its absurd to think civilians would purposefully attack Israeli soldiers knowing full well that they couldn't possibly defeat a military force saying any alleged aggression by the civilians would be considered self defence in international waters.

Now, regardless of how this all shakes out when we get what facts are available once the Israeli media blackout is circumvented or lifted, if this incident was indeed in international waters it can't possibly be justified.  Even Germany has questioned Israel on why they didn't wait until the flotilla moved into restricted waters or Gaza territory, ignoring at least for now why 10 or more people are dead on a humanitarian mission.

I've heard it said before that the the plight of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, is reminiscent of Apartheid.  The unwillingness to stop settlement construction to engage in peace talks, the unwillingness to sign the NPT, and unless we find out that the boat was filled with weapons and terrorists, they have now killed people on a humanitarian mission.  It might not even matter if some of them became overtly hostile because frankly it doesn't look good to those watching from the international community.  It doesn't appear that Israel wants to discuss peace, but rather wants to impose peace.  An oxymoron if I've ever heard one.

Take a look at some released video from the Israeli military: