In June, columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer wrote an article titled “Blockading Gaza Rational and Legal” on the Israeli attack of the flotilla which was heading towards the Gaza Strip from Turkey, killing nine.

In typical fashion, the country’s intellectuals attempted to justify such brutal acts, paying little attention to the facts. Krauthammer takes pride in the fact that the entire world, save the United States and Israel, denounce the blockade as illegal and inhumane. This position is has been consistent for decades, with the entire world on one side, and the United States and Israel on the other.

Krauthammer claims that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal because Hamas, the elected party, “is a self-declared enemy of Israel”, a viewpoint which is “backed up by more than 4,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilian territory”. According to Human Rights Watch, “Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, an occupied territory under the Fourth Geneva Convention, constitutes collective punishment in violation of the laws of war.” Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions claims that “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.” Amnesty International, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and the Red Cross also consider the blockade “illegal”, among many other respected international organizations.

Regarding the Qasim rockets Hamas has launched at Israel, this has been in response to the frequent attacks by Israel. Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire on June 17th, 2008, which lasted until November 4th when Israel broke it and killed half dozen Hamas militants. Israel then refused to sign another cease-fire and invaded Gaza, killing 1,400, the majority of which were civilians. In short, there is a very easy way to stop this rocket fire: accept the peace treaty.

Krauthammer then brings up the Cuban Missile Crises, claiming that the United States quarantined Cuba “to prevent a hostile state from acquiring lethal weaponry”, despite the fact that the reason Cuba wanted the weapons in the first place was due to the hostile actions that the United States was committing towards Cuba since 1959. For example, Operation Mongoose, a covert operation operated directly by the Kennedy administration beginning in November, 1961 which blew up fishing boats, burned Cuban crops, sabotaged their industrial centers and countless other acts, all of which were illegal under international law, and kept secret from the American public. Keeping with the Cuban Missile Crisis analogy Krauthammer brought up, Hamas wished to acquire rockets for similar reasons: as a limited “defense” against blatant, illegal Israeli aggression.

Krauthammer is half-correct when he protests that “the flotilla was not about humanitarian relief but about breaking the blockade”. The flotilla was about breaking the blockade so that more humanitarian relief can reach Gaza. Claiming that Israel has the right to deny Gaza basic humanitarian aid – which has significantly decreased due to the blockade, because they might contain weapons – would justify Hamas or Hizbullah sabotaging Israel due to them being the largest U.S. weapons recipients in the region.

Krauthammer then claims that Israel blockaded Gaza because the violent Palestinians didn’t appreciate Israel’s magnanimous withdrawal from Gaza in August, 2005, which resulted in the construction of new settlements in the West Bank. These Israeli settlements are, of course, illegal under international law, according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions. The Oslo Accords recognized that Gaza and the West Bank constituted “one unit”, so a violation against Palestinians in the West Bank is also considered a violation against Palestinians in Gaza. More importantly, perhaps, is that even after Israeli’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Gazans still did not control the borders, airspace, coastlines; and imports and exports were fully controlled by Israel and Egypt. In other words, Gaza is one large prison, with the guards being brutal U.S.-backed Israelis or Egyptians.

Also claimed by Krauthammer is that “where peace offers were refused, Israel retained the territory as a protective buffer zone”, and used Sinai and Golan Heights as an example.

 In February, 1971 for instance, Sadat offered to Israel what was later accepted in the 1978 Camp David Accords between Sadat, Begin and Carter: a full peace treaty in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. Israel refused the 1971 offer, which led to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The Palestinians have been offering Israel a deal which is in accord with international law: withdraw from territories which are being illegally occupied (Gaza and the West Bank). Hamas repeatedly said that they will accept the two-state solution (which, by definition, accepts the existence of Israel) so long as it’s voted upon by the Palestinians. It is up to the United States and Israel to accept.

Krauthammer also wrongly claimed that when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May, 2000, they got more violence from Hizbullah. This is blatantly false. Fifteen years prior to their 2000 withdrawal, 320 Israeli soldiers and 20 civilians were killed in Southern Lebanon, compared to only five the years following. This came to an end, of course, in the summer of 2006 when, on July 12th, 2006, two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hizbullah, an act which Israel partakes in towards scores of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians frequently.

The author is a guest columnist who resides in metro Detroit.