Quote Originally Posted by John T. Fishel View Post

2. It is declared by one of the warring parties.
3. It is lawful as long as it can be enforced.
4. It can be enforced by whatever means are ncessary - traditionally, that was seizing a blockade runner, imprisoning its crew, and seizing its its cargo, or blowing it out of the water.

Cheers

JohnT
Hi,

that still leaves a gap in my understanding. Lawful to who?

What happens if country A and country B are at war.

Country A announces it is blockading country B.

I assume there is no international law that says countries C to Z have to play along?

i.e. if country G decides to sail to country B... its not just on the say-so of country A that he is not allowed to?

The blockade is only as strong as Country A's ability to enforce it.

Now, if country A is North korea, and Country B is South Korea... then countries C-Z can tell country A to go screw itself, and country A ends up looking silly.

Taking that thought further... if Israel's blockade of Gaza is a pure Israeli descision, are other countries required by international law to respect it? Or is the most they can fear the wrath of Israel?

In fact, boarding a boat on open sea may get you off in an Israeli court (is after all their blockade), but for any country who thinks the Israeli Blockade is illegal... the Israeli Commandos were no better than Somali Pirates... (Who could probably have taken the ships with fewer losses).


If the Irish ship just captured was in open water.... would ireland have a case against israel in a court of law?