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ANKARA: What Does Israel's Attack On Aid Ships Mean?

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  • ANKARA: What Does Israel's Attack On Aid Ships Mean?

    WHAT DOES ISRAEL'S ATTACK ON AID SHIPS MEAN?
    Guner Ozkan

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/3343/what-does-israel-39-s-attack-on-aid-ships-mean-.html
    May 31 2010

    This morning Israeli military forces attacked the aid ships
    carrying relief materials to Gaza that led to the killing of up to 18
    civilians. The use of military force in such a brutal way is not just
    stopping the ships to reach Gaza that has been under siege for years
    and endured 1500 death and thousands more wounded in the last war. But
    more than that, Israel's act carries a political/military response to
    Turkey's latest effort to bring peace in the Middle East and especially
    to Ankara's hard work on nuclear exchange deal regarding Iran.

    War on Gaza and Worsening Turkish-Israeli Relations

    For many ordinary people around the world including in the west,
    Israel's war on Gaza was carnage. But it was the only Turkish
    Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who could dare to say 'hold
    on a minute' against the Israeli atrocities in Palestine and Gaza in
    particular. In fact Erdogan's reaction to the Israeli President, Simon
    Peres, in Davos was the beginning of the trend that the relationships
    between the two countries have followed a downward direction.

    A number of developments followed the Davos row. In last January,
    disrespecting the Turkish Ambassador to Tel Aviv by having him sit
    on a lower chair during a meeting with the Israeli Deputy Foreign
    Minister, Danny Ayalon, was the one by which Israeli Minister openly
    said that they aimed at humiliating Turkey. Israel seemed to have
    been taking revenge of Davos from Turkey. Late regret, but no way a
    sufficient apology, come from the Israeli side have managed to cool
    down restrained relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.

    Turkey's exclusion of Israel in a joint military exercise among
    Turkey, US and NATO in October 2009 had raised the views that Turkey
    and Israel were no longer a strategic partner. More than that Turkey
    opted for doing a similar military exercise with Syria- a state now
    Turkey's friend but a long time enemy of Israel.

    With his freakish attitude and statements against Turkish government,
    Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, an incurable racist and
    anti-Arab figure of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party (Israel is Our Home)
    did not any form or shape help improve the Turkish-Israeli relations.

    Perhaps the role of the American Jewish representatives in the US
    congress in the acceptance of so called Armenian Genocide at the
    Foreign Relations Committee and the possibility that the Israeli
    Parliament, the Knesset, appeared to discuss and recognise the so
    called Armenian genocide were the other developments that they pushed
    the relationship of the two further deep into a bin.

    Apart from these insecure and shaky relationships, what really
    emboldened Israel so much that it attacked the unarmed aid ships
    carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza that it set off from Turkey
    with over 550 civilians made up of Turkish and foreign citizens
    on board?

    Hypocrisy of International Community

    The simple answer of this question is the apathy of international
    community towards, or western overt and covert support for,
    whatever Israel does in Palestine and international arena. Of course,
    fragmentation and weakness of the Arab and Muslim worlds in developing
    a strong and united stance against Israel are other main reasons to
    blame for instability, insecurity and state terrorism in the Middle
    East that were instigated and conducted by Israel.

    So, a fair and just solution is out of reach in the Middle East while
    having two world communities, the west and Arab/Muslim, have their
    own respective agendas and lack of developing new and strong policies.

    Israel knew well that if it killed no matter how many people on
    board it would not get any serious and harmful punishment from the
    western world. During the last war in Gaza, Israel massacred over
    1500 people under siege and left thousands of people injured. Still
    Israel has kept blockading all supply lines of basic human needs to
    Gaza. Neither did Israel hesitate to use banned weapons in the war
    over Gaza. Since then, what happened to Israel? Did any international
    body or actor go further than just condemning Israel? Were they able
    to produce any kind of sanctions against Israel? The US, the main
    actor in international affairs and the Middle East, did even justify
    the Israeli actions against Gaza.

    The South African Judge Richard Goldstone's Report openly stated that
    Israel committed war crimes in the war against Palestinians in Gaza.

    Further, in the same Report, among others the Israeli Defence Minister,
    Ehud Barak, was found responsible figure the crimes committed during
    the war on Gaza. Many people around the world asked the British
    government to arrest Ehud Barak when he visited London after the
    Goldstone's Report was released and wanted him to be put before the
    International Criminal Court or War Crimes Tribunal.

    Remember what happened? The British government refused to do so
    and announced that Barak would use full immunity from arrest or
    prosecution during his stay in the UK. While those governments in
    the west accused Turkey of not arresting President Omar Al Basir of
    Sudan in line with the decision of the International Criminal Court
    on Darfur, it was interesting that they all kept very silent on the
    case of Israel over the Gaza war.

    Simply, nobody dared to do anything against Israel.

    Just recently Mossad killed one of the Hamas leaders, Mahmoud
    al-Mabhouh, in Dubai by forgering passports belonged to western
    European citizens. Of course governments of those people whose
    passports were used condemned Israel and showed their reaction by
    expelling some Israeli representatives in their countries. Are such
    reactions sufficient to deter Israel to commit similar or much worse
    crimes? Absolutely not as the killing of aid workers off coast of
    Israel today have shown once again. Same reactions began being voiced
    by the western capitals, saying that Israel used excessive force
    against the aid ship. No more no less, they were all the similar
    reactions mentioned by the western states during the Gaza war.

    Turkey has now called the UN Security Council for an emergency meeting
    to discuss the situation in the region. It would be very surprising if
    any condemnation comes out of that meeting because the US government,
    and possibly the British and French sides, will especially in the
    current environment veto the Turkish or any other proposal condemning
    Israeli massacre. Why not now?

    Israeli Response to Turkey's Nuclear Swap Deal with Iran

    By attacking and killing innocent people trying to take relief aids
    to Gaza, Israel seems to try to further break the already fragile
    relationships between Turkey and the US and western Europe in general.

    By doing that Israel is trying to prevent any chances of success for
    the Turkish-Brazilian-Iranian nuclear deal.

    Just imagine what happens if Turkey with its latest deal with Teheran
    becomes successful in establishing a trust between Iran and the US on
    the nuclear issue. Israel will continue living in suspicion towards
    Iran but fail to convince its strong ally, the US, of getting rid of
    any nuclear effort and capability Teheran is trying to develop. Attack
    on aid ships will follow the same pattern of Israeli stress on its
    security concerns. By this, Israel continues to justify its right of
    military attack to the aid ships before the eyes of western community
    and governments.

    Today Israel's first security worry and foreign policy priority is
    to stop Iran having any kind of nuclear technology no matter whether
    it is for medical/scientific reason or for weapon development. It
    was this that without carrying much about the details of the nuclear
    swap deal with Iran Israel first declared that Turkey and Brazil were
    deceived by Iran. Following this statement, the US did announce its
    disapproval of Turkish-Brazilian effort on Iranian nuclear issue. Soon
    after all permanent Security Council members plus Germany quickly
    expressed continuation of their distrust to Iran and got ready to
    produce another round of sanctions in the Council against Iran.

    Previously Russia and China, the two permanent members of the UNSC,
    were not willing to approve new sanctions against Teheran, but now
    they are also ready to do so. This means that all permanent members
    of the UNSC are now behind the US in the Iranian nuclear case. For
    the US it is now much easier to squeeze Iran in the UNSC and does not
    seem to be in need of Turkey. Thus there would be no better time for
    Israel to increase tension in its relations with Turkey over the Gaza
    or Palestinian problem as it carries the opportunity for Tel Aviv to
    isolate Turkey on the Iranian nuclear issue further away from the US
    and western world in general.

    *Dr. Guner Ozkan, Eurasia Department, Ankara-Based International
    Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK)




    From: A. Papazian
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