Another Flotilla Leaves Northern Cyprus--Missing The Irony

Here we go again:

A boat carrying Jewish activists from Israel, Germany, the U.S. and Britain set sail on Sunday for Gaza, hoping to breach Israel's blockade there and deliver aid.

Richard Kuper, an organizer with the U.K. group Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said one goal is to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians.

Kuper said the boat, which set sail from northern Cyprus flying a British flag, won't resist if Israeli authorities try to stop it.

Emanuele Ottolenghi writes about a historical note that apparently has escaped the attention of the organizers of the flotilla:

Here’s the irony — Northern Cyprus is an illegally occupied territory that belongs to the EU as part of its member state, Cyprus; it was seized by force in 1974 by the Turkish army; its legal status as a fictionally independent state is only recognized by Turkey (the occupying power); Turkey forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks from that territory and settled its own population to permanently alter the ethnic balance of the area – and, in the process, encouraged the building of what one could characterize as settlements.

Now doesn’t this sound awfully familiar — the kind of accusations that organizations such as the JFJFP would routinely level at Israel’s presence in the West Bank and, until 2005, in Gaza?

So apparently there are two reasons to learn history--
One of course, is so that you do not repeat it.
The other is that if you don't know your history, you miss out on some interesting ironies.
(Not to worry, though. You'll have lots of company)

Technorati Tag: Jews for Justice for Palestinians and Northern Cyprus and Gaza Flotilla.