Turkey, Israel seek allies in dispute

TEL-AVIV -- The UN, the U.S. and European Union are pressuring Israel and Turkey to resolve their dispute over the legality of the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. At the same time, both Turkey and Israel have taken steps that could deepen the crisis.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is flying to Cairo on Sept. 12 for talks with the new Egyptian military regime on strategic and economic co-operation. Erdogan has also announced his intention to visit the Gaza Strip "at a certain point." Egypt, however, has made it clear that Erdogan can't travel to Gaza during this trip.

Erdogan's trip to Cairo reflects a Turkish feeling that post-Mubarak Egypt has reduced its level of co-operation with Israel. While the head of the Supreme Military Council, Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, has repeatedly declared Egypt will not abrogate its peace treaty with Israel, Erdogan hopes to convince Egypt to follow the Turkish example and expel the Israeli ambassador from Cairo.

Egyptian public opinion favours such a move. Turkey is teaching Egypt a lesson, a headline screamed across the front page of the Cairo newspaper Al Masry el-Yom on Saturday.

There is no doubt Turkey's sharp anti-Israel position has delighted the Arab world. Former Lebanese prime minister Selim el-Hoss stated that "Israel's loss is the Arab gain" and urged his country to align itself with Turkey.

Israel, while aware of this new pro-Turkey mood in the Arab world and still expressing hope friendly relations can be restored, also is looking for alternative alliances.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday signed a treaty for strategic co-operation with Greece. The contents of the treaty were not made public.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou have exchanged official visits. Israel has expanded its tourism to Greece and developed fruitful intelligence co-operation between the Mossad and its Greek counterpart. After Turkey ended its military co-operation with Israel, Greece opened its skies to the Israeli air force, which needed more airspace to train pilots.

Israel recently concluded two large exercises with the Greek air force.

Finally, when Turkish peace activists tried this past summer to repeat the Mavi Marmara effort to break the naval siege of the Gaza Strip, Greece prevented the ships from sailing from its ports, as did Cyprus.

The current Israeli-Turkish crisis is the result of the publication Friday of a UN-sponsored report on the May 31, 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, which resulted in the killing of nine Turkish "peace activists." With the open encouragement of the Turkish government, the Mavi Marmara tried to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The investigation was conducted by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand, assisted by Alvaro Uribe, former president of Colombia. Both Israel and Turkey sent one representative to the committee.

After thorough investigation, Palmer concluded that "Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in the Gaza Strip. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea. Its implementation complied with the requirements of the international law.

At the same time, Palmer criticized Israel for using "excessive and unreasonable force," while facing "significant, organized and violent resistance from one group of passengers."

Palmer accused the Mavi Marmara of acting "recklessly" in trying to break the blockade. Palmer recommended Israel express "regret" at the loss of life and compensate the families of the nine deceased.

Netanyahu immediately accepted Palmer's recommendations and was willing to "express regret" but not to apologize "for the self-defence" of the Israeli commando that boarded the Mavi Marmara.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu seemed shocked by Palmer's report. They said as far as Turkey is concerned the Palmer report "is non-existent" and is "null and void."

Davutoglu said he now intends to ask the UN General Assembly to refer the Palmer's report to the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the Israeli naval blockade.

The Mavi Marmara finding constitutes the third serious crisis between Israel and Turkey.

The first came in 1964 when Turkey insisted that Israel support its anti-Greek position on Cyprus. Israel refused. As a result, Turkey cancelled many of the elements of a secret strategic agreement reached in the autumn of 1958 during a secret visit to Ankara by the late Israeli prime minister David Bengurion. The agreement, signed by Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes, was reached after Iraqi general Abdul Karim Qassem overthrew the Iraq monarchy and withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact. Turkey and Israel resumed security co-operation after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day War.

The second crisis came in 1980 when the Israeli Knesset passed legislation initiated by the late Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin that made a united Jerusalem the legal capital of Israel. It was a short-lived crisis. Turkey was convinced the Israeli legislation did not change the international opposition to a united Jerusalem.

The current crisis is the most serious of the three. It is motivated by a sense of Turkish grandeur and a desire to be recognized as a regional power that dictates policies of lesser countries, including Israel.

Samuel Segev is the Winnipeg Free

Press Middle East correspondent.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 7, 2011 A12