BY Kourosh
Ziabari
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has stirred up international appreciation after he courageously blasted the Tel
Aviv leaders for the bloody massacre of the peace activists aboard the Freedom
Flotilla convoy of humanitarian aids which was heading towards the besieged Gaza
strip to break the three-year-long blockade of the war-stricken
enclave.
The beleaguered Gaza strip has been grappling
with deteriorating economic and social situation over the past three years and
needs urgent humanitarian aids to be disentangled from the growing crisis it's
facing. More than 80% of the Gaza strip's 1.5m population lives under poverty
threshold. The unemployment rate of the enclave hit 41.3% in 2008. According to
the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), some 70 percent of Gaza's
population is food insecure and the vast majority is dependant on assistance
from the United Nations to cover its basic needs.
According to the World Health Organization, 98
percent of industrial operations in Gaza have been shut down and there are acute
shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies due to Israel's
blockade of the enclave since 2007.
Israel's military operation in Gaza in the late
2008 and early 2009 led to the destruction of more than 7,500 Palestinian homes
and displacement of some 3,500 families; however, Tel Aviv's prevention of the
entry of infrastructural and building materials have impeded the reconstruction
of the ruined homes and those 3,500 families are still living without any
shelter and protection.
According to the Gaza-based freelance journalist
and photographer Sameh Habeeb, the Israeli forces launched a massive attack on
Gaza's infrastructures in June 2006 after an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was
incarcerated by Hamas. Shalit is the only Israeli prisoner being kept in the
jails of Palestinian authorities while the Israeli regime is keeping 7,383
Palestinian prisoners, 340 of whom are Children.
Habeeb reported that the key bridge linking the
southern and northern areas of Gaza was totally devastated during the Israeli
assault. The sole power plant of the Gaza strip was also destroyed after the
Israeli military raided the city with heavy F16 squadrons. The only key motorway
of Gaza, Salah El-Din was another vital construction in Gaza which the Israeli
forces destroyed altogether. Although the Japanese government had proposed a
plan to reconstruct the motorway, Israel never allowed
this.
So far, all the international efforts to
reconstruct Gaza and renovate its dilapidated infrastructures have been hindered
by Tel Aviv. The majority of Gazans are deprived of sanitation, electricity,
proper education, pure water and sufficient
foodstuff.
Turkish Prime Minister had previously complained
that Israel did not allow the entry of construction materials in the Gaza strip
to accelerate the renovation process.
"This construction is still not allowed [by
Israel]. Turkey is not allowed to build schools, houses, hospitals. The Israelis
allow food and medicine to pass, but not the rest," he had told the Philadelphia
Inquirer in a 2009 interview.
As a harbinger of political transformations and
ideological revolution in Turkey, the Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan who
rose to power by the virtue of AK Party's Muslim backgrounds has set off serious
efforts over the past years to champion the cause of Palestinian people. He has
become an outspoken critic of the Israeli regime and lambasted Tel Aviv on
various occasions. In 2009, he inspired widespread global admirations after he
walked out of a televised debate with the Israeli President on the sidelines of
the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In a reference to the
tragic massacre of the Palestinian citizens in the Gaza war, Erdogan told the
Israeli President that he is "killing people" and then stormed out of the debate
in presence of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, blaming the debate
moderator's refusal to allow him reply the fallacious statements made by Shimon
Peres.
Canceling his visit to the Latin America in the
wake of recent incidents in the Gaza strip, Erdogan stated before the Turkey's
parliament that Israel should be severely punished for its vicious massacre of
the peace activists in the international waters: "The bloody massacre of Israel,
committed against ships bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, is a massacre
deserving every kind of curse and condemnation."
Trying to appeal to the Jewish minority of
Turkey, Erdogan implied that his country's response to such violent acts would
be hard-hitting and decisive: "Turkey's friendship is valuable; on the other
hand, its enmity is violent. No one should test Turkey's patience. The Turkish
nation has always been in a historical friendship and collaboration with Jewish
people. Here Jewish people understands who is the true culprit of these
events."
However, Erdogan's message to Israel was
unambiguous and clear: "A bloody regime, now in power in "Israel", must be
surely punished. Even pirates and bandits do not touch unarmed people, children,
elders, and they did it. And these people try without shame to justify
themselves."
Turkey which has cancelled its recent joint
military exercise with Israel is the only Muslim state which maintains full
diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv. The parliamentarians of the country have called
on the government to take practical steps to narrow its ties with the Zionist
regime and, the government equally seems to be inclined to the restriction of
ties; however, it seems that tourism and financial transaction with Israel which
benefit Turkey monetarily are the only reasons which impede the way of Ankara's
detachment from Tel Aviv.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and
Tourism, Israeli citizens comprise more than 2.1% of the 20 million tourists who
visit the country annually.
However, Mr. Erdogan who has determinedly warned
Israel that it might lose one of its most important friends in the Middle East
is gaining a growing popularity in the Muslim world due to his recent
categorical statements about the Israeli regime. Reuters published a report on
June 2, titled "Israel tension boosts Turkey's popularity with Arabs" in which
the rising esteem of Turkish Prime Minister has been discussed. The report
reads: "Already popular for championing the Palestinian cause, Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan has further enhanced his status through calls for the
Jewish state to be punished for the sea raid. The U.N. Security Council has
condemned the deaths."
Anyway, it seems that Israel, as a globally hated
regime, brings popularity and reputation to whoever contests its unilateral,
hypocritical and atrocious policies and actions.
9:56 PM
Sultan Shahin
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