Trouble in Tel Aviv

If recent news reports are to be believed, the Israeli government is having itself a very bad week.Something approaching a major diplomatic rupture between Israel and its major ally, sponsor and benefactor the US is currently being reported across the media.

It seems that the Netanyahu government's refusal to call even a temporary halt to settlement expansion in east Jerusalem has exercised the Obama administration to the point where even ardent supporters of Israel, such as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have been prompted to respond with some harsh words.

The arrogance of the current Israeli government vis-a-vis its major benefactor was exemplified last week when US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived on a visit designed to kickstart peace talks between Israel and the long beleaguered Abbas Fatah leadership.

Anyone interested enough to engage in even the most cursory glance at the history of such talks could have predicted the futility of this latest attempt.

However, what no-one could have predicted was that no sooner had his aircraft touched down than the Israelis announced the go-ahead of the development of a further 1,600 Jewish homes in Palestinian east Jerusalem.

The humiliation felt by the US administration was such that Clinton allegedly berated the Israeli prime minister during the course of an angry phone conversation, while chief White House adviser David Axelrod described it as "insulting."

This is not the kind of language the world is used to hearing when it comes to US-Israeli relations. And cementing its significance has been the Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren's description of the current state of relations between both countries as the worst they've been in 35 years.

However, as bad as Israel's week has been, it's as nothing compared to how bad every year is for the long-suffering Palestinians.

A snapshot of the extent of this suffering was provided by Monday night's Channel 4 Dispatches programme, focusing on the heartrending physical and psychological damage suffered by the children of Gaza in the wake of Israel's 22-day military offensive just over a year ago.

Compounding the suffering of these children has been Israel's ongoing and unremitting siege, which in its barbarity and cruelty surely qualifies as one of the most egregious examples of sustained collective punishment ever inflicted on a civilian population in modern history.

Make no mistake, pitiful as it is in relative terms, Palestinian resistance in the face of such wanton cruelty is both morally and legally justified.

Equally justified and increasingly necessary is the international boycott campaign, which continues to grow and gain traction as more and more people around the world awaken to the injustice being perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

Another more recent component of this active international solidarity with the Palestinians has been the Viva Palestina aid convoys.

Initiated and led by George Galloway in direct response to the attack on Gaza at the beginning of 2009, so far three such convoys have successfully penetrated the siege, bringing with them vital supplies of medicines, medical equipment, food, construction materials, and various other desperately needed items.

No-one should be in any doubt as to the political and material impact which these aid convoys have had.

Certainly, the consistently supine British media is aware of the impact, reflected in a near total media blackout thus far.

Nor is the hated Mubarak regime in Egypt in any doubt, demonstrated in its repeated attempts to frustrate, impede and thwart delivery of the aid, up to and including a full-on physical attack on the last convoy by Egyptian police at the Rafah crossing back in December, before its arrival, battered and bruised but resolute, in Gaza.

Perhaps the most important political impact of the Viva Palestina convoys so far has been the manner in which they've exposed the extent of the current Egyptian government's complicity in the siege.

This has been particularly significant across an Arab world which still harbours memories of the role that Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser once played as the gatekeeper of Arab pride.

It is often said that you can judge a man by who his friends are. But when it comes to politics a more accurate measure is provided by the enemies that a person accumulates. By this reckoning, Galloway is undoubtedly without peer.

Over the 30 years in which he's made the Palestinian struggle his own, he's won for himself the enmity of not only the Israeli government but also the British, US, Canadian and Egyptian governments.

And with his commitment to providing even more succour to the Palestinians, he can expect increased attempts to attack, undermine and smear him at every opportunity.

But just as Galloway knows that he has amassed considerable enemies, it's important that he knows he also enjoys considerable support.

This is why efforts to return the three Respect candidates to Parliament at the coming general election must constitute an immediate priority for the left in this country.

Beyond that, it is vital that support for Viva Palestina becomes a cause celebre for socialists, progressives, anti-imperialists and every person of conscience and consciousness for as long as it takes to break the siege of Gaza.

Surely by now there can be no doubt. The cause of the Palestinian people is the cause of humanity in our time.