Palestinians find an unlikely friend in Turkey
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Talha Ahmad
FOR three years now Gazans find themselves entrapped, strangled and cut off. Illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza from air, on land and over the sea has ensured the making of world's perhaps the first and the most notorious open prison. Perhaps the only comparison of Gaza would be the Nazi concentration camps in Germany. Some has already called Israel the new-Nazis of our time. For long, however, this inhumane and outrageous blockade remained largely on the background away from global attention.
A few days ago a group of NGOs and peace movements set sail to Gaza. The convoy of six vessels named Freedom Flotilla, carrying over 10,000 tonnes of aid desperately needed in Gaza were aiming to challenge the illegal blockade and wanted to reach Gaza direct without interference by the Israelis.
In the early morning of Monday in the darkness Israeli commandos intercepted the ship, landing on the largest of the vessels firing live munitions that killed 19 innocent people. This attack taking place on the International waters is not just illegal, outrageous, heinous but is also an act of ultimate barbarity, cruelty and inhumanity. Unsurprisingly, though, the Israeli government remains defiant.
There has been worldwide condemnation of this gross violation of international law and defiance of human conscience. A number of countries summoned Israeli ambassadors, recalled their own envoys from Israel and called for the end of Israeli siege on Gaza. The US and UK are, however, still muted in their reaction to the barbarity, severity and insanity of the Israeli aggression. They deplored the killings but neither of them has actually condemned this utter disregard for international law.
This episode marks a new high of Israeli intransigence with which it violates international law. But this also marks the rise of a new player in this decades-old conflict. The new players is none other than Turkey.
The rise of Turkey to the world stage standing for justice and freedom of Palestinian people is significant. Not long ago Turkey and Israel were closest of allies. Hosting joint military exercise between the two entities was a regular event and part of the national defence strategies of both countries. But now Turkey under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is leading the world opposition to the latest Israeli aggression against Palestine.
Of course, one may wonder what has made the Turkish government so determined and committed to this cause? How long will it last?
Answer to the first one has to be the arrival of the AKP party at the helm of Turkey. Some alleges it is the 'Islamist' root of AKP which has caused this shift. But AKP is above all a party proud of Turkey and its heritage. They take a great sense of pride and exercise enormous dignity in their affairs. This has led them to be independent and pursue a foreign policy which is befitting this great nation. Mr Erdogan has thus given Turkey a rebirth of its lost pride and reasserted its true place in global politics.
As of the second question: how long will they last? Well, one can never say for certain. In particular, given the history of military interventions of the Turkish powerful army there are good reasons to fear that an end to this phenomenon may be eminent.
But the signs so far are that Mr Erdogan and his team understand the challenges and made necessary arrangement to face off all of them.
The occupied and oppressed people of Palestine now finds a new hope, a new champion of their struggle.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: talha.j.ahmad@gmail.com
FOR three years now Gazans find themselves entrapped, strangled and cut off. Illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza from air, on land and over the sea has ensured the making of world's perhaps the first and the most notorious open prison. Perhaps the only comparison of Gaza would be the Nazi concentration camps in Germany. Some has already called Israel the new-Nazis of our time. For long, however, this inhumane and outrageous blockade remained largely on the background away from global attention.
A few days ago a group of NGOs and peace movements set sail to Gaza. The convoy of six vessels named Freedom Flotilla, carrying over 10,000 tonnes of aid desperately needed in Gaza were aiming to challenge the illegal blockade and wanted to reach Gaza direct without interference by the Israelis.
In the early morning of Monday in the darkness Israeli commandos intercepted the ship, landing on the largest of the vessels firing live munitions that killed 19 innocent people. This attack taking place on the International waters is not just illegal, outrageous, heinous but is also an act of ultimate barbarity, cruelty and inhumanity. Unsurprisingly, though, the Israeli government remains defiant.
There has been worldwide condemnation of this gross violation of international law and defiance of human conscience. A number of countries summoned Israeli ambassadors, recalled their own envoys from Israel and called for the end of Israeli siege on Gaza. The US and UK are, however, still muted in their reaction to the barbarity, severity and insanity of the Israeli aggression. They deplored the killings but neither of them has actually condemned this utter disregard for international law.
This episode marks a new high of Israeli intransigence with which it violates international law. But this also marks the rise of a new player in this decades-old conflict. The new players is none other than Turkey.
The rise of Turkey to the world stage standing for justice and freedom of Palestinian people is significant. Not long ago Turkey and Israel were closest of allies. Hosting joint military exercise between the two entities was a regular event and part of the national defence strategies of both countries. But now Turkey under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is leading the world opposition to the latest Israeli aggression against Palestine.
Of course, one may wonder what has made the Turkish government so determined and committed to this cause? How long will it last?
Answer to the first one has to be the arrival of the AKP party at the helm of Turkey. Some alleges it is the 'Islamist' root of AKP which has caused this shift. But AKP is above all a party proud of Turkey and its heritage. They take a great sense of pride and exercise enormous dignity in their affairs. This has led them to be independent and pursue a foreign policy which is befitting this great nation. Mr Erdogan has thus given Turkey a rebirth of its lost pride and reasserted its true place in global politics.
As of the second question: how long will they last? Well, one can never say for certain. In particular, given the history of military interventions of the Turkish powerful army there are good reasons to fear that an end to this phenomenon may be eminent.
But the signs so far are that Mr Erdogan and his team understand the challenges and made necessary arrangement to face off all of them.
The occupied and oppressed people of Palestine now finds a new hope, a new champion of their struggle.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: talha.j.ahmad@gmail.com