Israel-Turkey ties now in tatters
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, June 8: Turkey is one of the few countries in the region which had warm ties with Israel. Egypt and Jordan are the other two countries. Israel-Turkey friendship is now in tatters. Israeli bellicosity knows no bound. Israeli navy on May 31 attacked a six-ship multinational flotila that was bound for Gaza with relief goods. Anger within Turkey is directed at Israel.
The burden of the problem is not in Turkey. The Israeli blockade of the Gaza is the problem, said an analyst. The United Nations Security Council condemned the Israeli attack and called for prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation.
Turkey and others had proposed much tougher language to draft the resolution. It was watered down by America. Israel foreign intelligence agency Mossad has issued a warning stating that Israel's strategic impor -tance to the US has diminished significantly.
Although no formal announcement has been made by Israel, its ambassador in Washington said his country would reject the UN proposal for an international inquiry into the incident. We are rejecting the idea of an international commission adding that at the end of the day Israel has the right and duty as a democracy to investigate any military activity, the ambassador said.
The ambassador had the temerity to say "Israel has the ability and right to investigate itself and not to be investigated by any international board." He hastened to say that the United States would not like to see and international enquiry team investigating its military activities in Afghanistan. The UN secretary general had proposed formation of an inquiry team headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer who is also expert in maritime laws. Turkey whose ties with Washington is not as cozy as before supported the UN proposal.
Aid workers from Ireland and Malaysia have been deported by Israel. The assault by Israeli commandos on the Gaza aid flotila in international waters was the work of a government that has lost sight of national interest. It has exasperated Israel's friends and both incensed and delighted the enemies. By behaving as though it were above law, Israel is steadily alienating international public opinion and eroding its legitimacy and therefore its security, A reputed paper commented in an editorial Israel's ongoing colonisation of occupied Palestinian land and frequent resort to collective punishment are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention to which it is a signatory, the same paper said.
NEW YORK, June 8: Turkey is one of the few countries in the region which had warm ties with Israel. Egypt and Jordan are the other two countries. Israel-Turkey friendship is now in tatters. Israeli bellicosity knows no bound. Israeli navy on May 31 attacked a six-ship multinational flotila that was bound for Gaza with relief goods. Anger within Turkey is directed at Israel.
The burden of the problem is not in Turkey. The Israeli blockade of the Gaza is the problem, said an analyst. The United Nations Security Council condemned the Israeli attack and called for prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation.
Turkey and others had proposed much tougher language to draft the resolution. It was watered down by America. Israel foreign intelligence agency Mossad has issued a warning stating that Israel's strategic impor -tance to the US has diminished significantly.
Although no formal announcement has been made by Israel, its ambassador in Washington said his country would reject the UN proposal for an international inquiry into the incident. We are rejecting the idea of an international commission adding that at the end of the day Israel has the right and duty as a democracy to investigate any military activity, the ambassador said.
The ambassador had the temerity to say "Israel has the ability and right to investigate itself and not to be investigated by any international board." He hastened to say that the United States would not like to see and international enquiry team investigating its military activities in Afghanistan. The UN secretary general had proposed formation of an inquiry team headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer who is also expert in maritime laws. Turkey whose ties with Washington is not as cozy as before supported the UN proposal.
Aid workers from Ireland and Malaysia have been deported by Israel. The assault by Israeli commandos on the Gaza aid flotila in international waters was the work of a government that has lost sight of national interest. It has exasperated Israel's friends and both incensed and delighted the enemies. By behaving as though it were above law, Israel is steadily alienating international public opinion and eroding its legitimacy and therefore its security, A reputed paper commented in an editorial Israel's ongoing colonisation of occupied Palestinian land and frequent resort to collective punishment are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention to which it is a signatory, the same paper said.