WASHINGTON, June 1, (AP): Israel’s deadly commando raid on aid ships bound for Gaza confronts President Barack Obama with another major test by the Israeli leadership and another blow to Washington’s goal of brokering peace with the Palestinians and improving the US image in the Arab world.
Depending on how the White House finally reacts, the bloody incident also could further confound once rock-solid relations between the United States and Turkey, where most of the nine dead were apparently from.
So far, Obama has only voiced “deep regret” over the Israeli raid, and the White House said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed by phone to reschedule Tuesday’s White House talks “at the first opportunity.” Netanyahu was rushing home from Canada.
Incident
The White House statement said the president “expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances” surrounding the incident.
There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis opened fire without provocation and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense.
The specifics, however, of exactly what happened once the commandos boarded the aid ships will remain in dispute for days or even weeks to come. The perceptions of the event are already fixed in much of the world, especially in Muslim countries.
Those perceptions are what count. They include:
n The fact that Israel confronted the six-ship flotilla in international waters;
n The convoy was intent on breaking Israel’s three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized control of the tiny Mediterranean territory in 2007.
n The blockade — along with Israel’s fierce offensive against Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009 to stop Hamas rocket fire on Israeli villages — already had fueled anti-Israeli sentiment around the Arab world and in some quarters in Europe.
Compounding all that, the violence centered on the lead boat, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ferry. Reaction was swift. There was a massive protest in Turkey, Israel’s longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of “state terrorism,” and the government recalled its ambassador and called off military exercises with the Jewish state. The UN Security Council went into emergency session and called for an impartial investigation of the deadly Israeli commando raid. The Arab League planned to meet Tuesday in Cairo.
Obama took office declaring Israeli-Palestinian peace a top agenda item, demanding Israel stop construction of West Bank settlements and end expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, lands the Palestinians envision as a state of their own as part of a peace treaty.
Netanyahu said no and poured salt in that wound when his government later announced a major east Jerusalem project as Vice President Joe Biden was visiting to reassure Israel of US support.
After a deep chill, Obama said he recognized that neither side was ready for peace talks. Even so, Netanyahu and the Palestinians subsequently agreed to open indirect negotiations with US special envoy George Mitchell. The fate of that small move forward was uncertain.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the ship raid as a “sinful massacre,” but signaled he would keep going with the indirect talks.
Difficult US-Turkish relations are bound to be seriously set back if Obama does not condemn the Israeli ship raid. That carries the possibility for major problems inside NATO, where Turkey is the only Muslim member. And it will further complicate US efforts against the Iranian nuclear program.
Now it would seem that Obama has to choose. Now he must hit the diplomatic sweet spot over the Israeli attack, and that could prove an impossible task.

Also:
WASHINGTON: Dozens of people outraged by a deadly Israeli commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip have protested outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Demonstrators formed long lines and walked in circles Monday afternoon, chanting “End the siege in Gaza now” and “Shut down the embassy! Stop Israeli piracy!”
Some held large Palestinian flags and signs reading “One more Israeli massacre.”
Israel said the activists attacked its commandos as they boarded the six ships taking tons of supplies to Gaza, while the flotilla’s organizers said the Israeli forces opened fire first.
The group gathered later Monday in front of the White House, chanting, “Hey Obama, can’t you see? Palestine will be free.”