The Exchange

It is not disputable as to whether the situation in Gaza is a humanitarian crisis; the human rights violations against the innocent Palestinian populations are recognised and condemned internationally and the International community have been active in trying to bring a resolution to this long-running tragedy that has caused suffering beyond measure in the region, most notably to the people of Gaza most recently due to the blockade that has been in place since Hamas took over the control of Gaza. The governments in the West have been less than united in their response to the imposition of this blockade, except for occasional mild utterings of their ‘deep regrets’ and ‘unacceptable’ nature of it. This has been less than satisfactory for many in the West. The number of high profile westerners on Gaza aid flotilla is an indication of that.

There are many liberal voices within Israel, including some mainstream Newspapers like Haaret’z who were heavily critical of the botched confrontation of the flotilla by the Israeli Defence Forces. Israel had warned that it would not allow the flotilla into Gaza directly and unchecked. Israel’s actions were nevertheless in breach of its obligations under International Law. The breach of International Law by sovereign states like Israel is not exactly ‘unique’, if I may put it bluntly. In fact, quite perversely, the two beneficiaries from yesterday’s flotilla tragedy were the two serial International Law breakers Turkey and Iran. Turkey is currently preparing a massive military operation in the Kurdish regions of Turkey and this flotilla incident sadly portrays the most unlikely candidate, Turkey, as the champion of Humanitarian Aid. In fairness to the Israelis this is a well calculated move by Turkey, not only to elicit such conduct from Israel, which as I said is not ‘untypical’ in the context of the conflict in the region, albeit all the more atrocious and inhumane. This could be seen as provocation by Turkey but also Israel’s disregard for the consequences.

Turkey and Israel have been allies militarily, with the latter supplying Turkey military equipment in its civil war with the Kurds. Turkish and Israeli military have been conducting joint military exercises for years and they have billions of pounds worth in trade relations. Turkey is no friend to the Palestinians. In fact no party is innocent in this saga. Turkey is exploiting the Palestinian cause to divert attention from the military operations against the Kurdish homeland. Iran is also busy ethnically cleansing the Kurds, repressing opposition and imp rosining its outspoken student population. In fact Iran and Turkey have a common enemy ‘The Kurds’. The recent diplomatic initiative by Turkey to come to the rescue of Iran on the nuclear issue is no coincidence. The two countries have become much closer since the establishment of the autonomous Kurdish Government in Iraq, which is viewed with suspicion in Tehran and Ankara. They are determined the destabilise it and ensure Iraq remains weak.

It is a tragedy that the flotilla was intercepted and there was so much bloodshed, but I think it is an even bigger tragedy that in the face of inaction by the EU and US, countries like Turkey and Iran not only get away with atrocious human rights violations at home but manage to portray themselves as the saviours of Palestinians and the champions of Humanitarian Aid. It is with regret that Iran and Turkey have exploited the genuine humanitarian cause by so many people and used their heart-felt compassion for a repressed people, to perpetrate further repressions and violations of their own, unnoticed and without rebuke. Regardless of the action taken against Israel, we must not let Turkey and Iran to deceive the International community and the Gazans. The two countries are not interested in the welfare of the Gazans, they are simply playing political football with Israel. It is a well-known fact that Turkey and Israel have been at loggerheads recently and both are after regional supremacy despite the fact that they continued their military exercised together until recently. Greece was involved in Military exercises with Israel after the latter’s diplomatic row with Turkey and to Turkey’s delight this was cut short by Greece after the invasion of the flotillas. Turkey and Greece are old foes and they have conflicting regional interests, with North Cyprus still under illegal Turkish occupation and blockade since 1974.

Turkey is a country that defies and insults any nation that dares share the grief of the Armenian Genocide by attempting to acknowledge it and Iran declares anyone that questions its repressive policies as traitors whilst leaving the whole Kurdish population under a virtual political siege with no freedom of expression-a feature it shares with Turkey- Both countries have exploited the suffering of a broken people disgracefully to endear themselves to their populations as the champions of Human Rights. This could not be further from the truth and Israel is right to be suspicious of their motives, whilst they all fight for regional supremacy at the expense of innocent civilians.