Hmm, I hadn't heard about this at all before today--was it in the news because the ship was heading towards Gaza with clear plans to challenge the blockade? Or was it actually sitting in the Mediterranean trying to convince the Israelis to make an exception to (or drop) the blockade? I'm guessing it's the former?

Oh, and I'm also not sure that I'd call what was on that YouTube video negotiation; I mean, they gave them a chance to turn around, but Israel clearly never made any offer to do anything about the policy that was being challenged. And I mean, maybe that's a justifiable decision, I don't know--but it seems like the current Israeli government is generally very stubborn, and insists on sticking to what it thinks it needs to do for defense, no matter how many other countries it angers... (ccommack also raises some interesting issues about why Israel really shouldn't have picked this situation to stick stubbornly and absolutely to a policy that seems questionable to begin with...)