Tony Blair said, “I have met people in Gaza who want to be legitimate businessmen, and the tragedy is that they are not allowed to; the only business is through the [smuggling] tunnels.” Speaking on behalf of the Norwegian army, military spokesperson Heidi Langvik-Hansen said that a military seminar slated for June 5 was canceled upon objections to the attendance of an Israeli military officer in the program.Given the signs from the UK and the EU, the embargo on Gaza will be lifted or, at least, relaxed to a great extent. Egypt has already taken the first step. Obviously, this is a success for the Turkish government, which lent full support to the humanitarian aid volunteers and said it would make sure that this incident would not go unpunished.
However, the new era has taken a place on our agenda as a small part of the new regional process. Certain groups in the US, the UK and, to some extent, EU member countries want Israel to settle for the “two-state solution.” The reason is obvious: The current Middle East order with Israel at its heart cannot be maintained, and the unconditional support they give to Israel is causing moral decay and the discrediting of the West.
However strong Israeli and Jewish lobbies may be, this system is unsustainable, and the West’s support of Israel cannot be maintained.
We can conclude that this obvious fact has also been seen by some Israeli officials in critical positions. Mossad chief Meir Dagan says Israel has started to become burdensome for the US. Addressing the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Dagan said: “Israel is becoming a burden rather than a wealth for the US.”
For some time, British officials have been making references to a two-state solution. In the aftermath of the bloody attack on the aid flotilla, State Minister and Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış also said, “Isn’t it high time that the two-state solution, a formula that suggests a Palestinian state should be established as the only way to settlement and which has been long being discussed at international circles, be implemented?”
It is clear that Iran will not be given a direct role in the process of Turkey persuading or urging Israel to accept the two-state solution. Egypt is not ready, but Iran, Egypt and Arab countries -- if good coordination can be established among them -- can provide support to Turkey in several respects.
There are so many strong signs of this that we have found the most recent of them in the words of Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (STRATFOR) CEO George Friedman, who delivered a speech while visiting İstanbul on June 3. Friedman, known for his interesting studies on the world and Turkey, says that Turkey is the emerging power of the region. For Friedman, only the US and Turkey have both economic and military power in the region, and therefore, Turkey should fill the gap the US will create in the region [the Middle East]. With the US pulling out of Iraq, there will be a large vacuum in the region that will necessarily attract Turkey.
His following remarks are of considerable significance: “Turks are proud of Turkey’s becoming a super power ... Israel will have to change its policies, because the only country other than the US that Israel does not want to lose is Turkey.” (Zaman, June 4, 2010).
A clearer and thought-provoking assessment came from Hélène Flautre, co-chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee: “Essentially, what the EU is pondering silently about the Iranian and Palestinian issues is being implemented actively and vocally by Turkey. This is the view shared not only by the European general public, but also by the EU officials who carry out Turkish policy in EU’s capitals and Brussels. Turkey is a major driver for potential peace in Palestine. ... With this policy, Turkey is not steering away from the EU or the West. With this new foreign policy, Turkey is exhibiting an effective foreign policy that cherishes our common values.” (Sunday’s Zaman, June 6, 2010).
We had nine martyrs and 20 wounded people in the Mediterranean. We suffered great sorrow. This violent attack by Israel was actually a casus belli. But Turkey did not take the war route.
A question comes to mind: Is the West, which does not come close to the idea of disciplining Israel, provoking Turkey, as it did with Saddam Hussein in the past, to take action against Israel?
