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06/07/2010

In Israel, only a few members of the left criticized the military operation. Even opposition leader Zipi Livni assured Netanyahu of her support. Israeli politicians have responded defiantly to the international outrage.

There is also no lack of cynicism in Israel, particularly with regard to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In an e-mail he sent to all correspondents accredited in Israel two weeks ago, Daniel Seaman, the head of the Israeli government press office, recommended a restaurant in the Gaza Strip: "In anticipation of foreign correspondents traveling to Gaza to cover reports of alleged humanitarian difficulties in the Hamas-run territory, and as part of efforts to facilitate the work of journalists in the region, the Government Press Office is pleased to bring to your attention the attached menu and information for the Roots Club and Restaurant in Gaza. We have been told the beef stroganoff and cream of spinach soup come highly recommended."

Samir Badr, 53, the head chef at Roots, isn't sure what to make of the Israeli recommendation. He is standing at the gas range in his kitchen, roasting eggplants. "If the Israelis knew how hard it is to get all the ingredients for beef stroganoff!" It starts with the meat, he says. The cattle come from Israel, but there is often no meat to be had, or cream, for that matter. It wouldn't survive the trip through the tunnels. Vegetables come from Gaza, but they are often contaminated, because of inadequate sewage treatment resulting from a lack of electricity. Besides, there are problems with cooking equipment, and plates, glasses and cutlery are in short supply.

Expensive Route

"Of course we're not starving, thanks to international aid and the United Nations," says Badr, "but we are suffering because of the blockade." The Israelis decide what gets into the Gaza Strip, and their rules defy all logic. According to an internal Israeli army list, cinnamon is allowed, but coriander is not, plastic buckets and combs are okay, but flowerpots and toys are not. This makes the Palestinians more dependent on smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt, but that route is expensive.

"The Israelis point to the few good things in Gaza, but they don't talk about the majority of people, who are not doing well," Basil Nasser, 44, one of the owners of Roots, says furiously. "Sure, there's enough to eat in Gaza, but poverty is more than that. Poverty is when the 15,000 people who graduate from the university each year have to beg for jobs as waiters, when an extended family lives in a single room and when the hospital lacks critical drugs. That's poverty."

The Germans have been trying to begin construction on a sewage treatment plant in the middle of the Gaza Strip for weeks, but the Israelis have prevented them from bringing in construction materials. Dirk Niebel, Germany's minister for economic cooperation and development, is even weighing cancelling a scheduled visit to Jerusalem in mid-June if no progress is made or if the Israelis refuse to allow him to enter the Gaza Strip. Niebel worked in a kibbutz as a teenager and is a member of the German-Israeli Society, but he has recently begun voicing criticism of Israel.

His story shows that the mood is also shifting among Israel's friends. A rift has been developing between Merkel and Netanyahu for months. Before Netanyahu's first official visit to Berlin, Israel's national security advisor requested that Merkel not publicly raise the issue of settlement construction. Nevertheless, the chancellor -- in Netanyahu's presence and on live camera -- called for a stop to settlement construction.

'Perhaps It Was a Mistake'

Even the United States, Israel's most important ally, is entertaining doubts as to the good intentions of the Israeli government. Last Tuesday, Mossad Director Meir Dagan, speaking to the foreign affairs committee of the Israeli Knesset, warned that Obama was considering dictating a peace solution to Israel. "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden," Dagan said.

At the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, the Americans even agreed to a declaration demanding that Israel allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) to enter the country. Netanyahu was furious. Until now, Israel hasn't even admitted to owning nuclear weapons.

Given the global furor that erupted against Israel last week, even Dani Ayalon, 54, Israel's deputy foreign minister, has become reflective. Ayalon was a career diplomat, most recently serving as Israel's ambassador to Washington, before joining Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party. But Ayalon hasn't exactly been honing his diplomatic skills since the new government came into power. He was the one who humiliated the Turkish ambassador at the beginning of the year when he refused to shake his hand on camera, and then placed him on a noticeably lower sofa.

It says a lot about the Israeli government that it dispatched Ayalon to issue its first statement seven hours after the storming of the Mavi Marmara. The deputy foreign minister referred to the flotilla as an "armada of hate and violence in support of Hamas, a terror organization" and called upon the world not to walk into the "trap of provocation."

Meanwhile, he is beginning to realize that it was Israel that walked into the activists' trap. "It played into Hamas' hands," he admitted last week, sitting in the business lounge at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. The sharp international criticism, including the words of "our best friend, Angela Merkel," has made him thoughtful. He says that there were also "many people with good intentions" on board the ships. He also says that Israel will not block an investigation of the incidents under international observation.

At the end of the conversation, Ayalon says something that suggests that the Israelis may in fact have learned something last week: "Perhaps it was a mistake to storm the ships."

By John Goetz, Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Ralf Neukirch, Gregor Peter Schmitz, Christoph Schult, Daniel Steinvorth, Volkhard Windfuhr and Bernard Zand

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• Part 1: Israel's Voyage into Isolation
• Part 2: A Burden for the United States