The Green party...

[redheadrat]

So the leader of the Green party tried to break a known naval blockade and was detained by Israeli forces. Nothing to make it to the headlines of CNN, FOX, ABC or MSNBC. This lack of interest might be due to the fact that Israel did not show any intention of holding the crew for any long period of time or diverting the humanitarian goods that the

Comments

[_s_a_v_v_a_]

Hold on. Regardless of names, spirits, people and cargo on the boat - if it's true that the boat has not been in the Israeli waters, then it is clearly a violation of international law. I believe, Israel made an official statement that it does not occupy Gaza territory and does not have any control or authority over any land or institutions in the Gaza Strip. So it had no right to stop, search or arrest the boat if it has not entered Israeli territory.

[redheadrat]

Funny enough, Gaza is still Israeli territory. It pulled out of it and made it autonomous, but all plans and declarations left the border control completely to Israel and Egypt.

[_s_a_v_v_a_]

Telling the truth I don't find it very funny, but nevertheless. Israel repeatedly denied any accusation of Gaza Strip occupation. Here is by the way a quote from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:
There is no legal basis for maintaining that Gaza is occupied territory. The Fourth Geneva Convention refers to territory as occupied where the territory is of another "High Contracting Party" (i.e., a state party to the convention) and the occupier "exercises the functions of government" in the occupied territory. The Gaza Strip is not territory of another state party to the convention and Israel does not exercise the functions of government-or, indeed, any significant functions-in the territory. It is clear to all that the elected Hamas government is the de facto sovereign of the Gaza Strip and does not take direction from Israel, or from any other state.So... There is no legal rationale or right to call these people smugglers. If Gaza is officially and legaly recognized by everyone as a sovereign territory, with an elected government

[redheadrat]

UN, Palestinian Authority, Human Rights Watch and few other organizations maintain that Gaza is still an occupied territory.

The last real agreement (not unilateral action by Israel) regarding Gaza status was Oslo accords. It stated that Israel maintains control of borders, air space and territorial waters.