If you take the trouble to look for the Ottoman imprint, you will find it almost everywhere in this country. Every time I look out of our living room window I see the telltale signs of the old Turkish railroad in the valley below. The tracks and their sleepers have long since disappeared, recycled for some other purpose.
However, you can still see short lengths of railroad embankment, blending well with the Jezreel Valley landscape. Together with a few station buildings they are all that’s left of the railroad that brought passengers and goods from Haifa to Damascus,
The road from Afula to Beit Shean runs parallel to the course of the railroad. At the junction near the entrance to Beit Shean it crosses a bridge the Turks built on the foundations of an old Roman bridge. On the other side of the town near the new shopping mall, the “Saraya,” the Ottoman municipality building is undergoing renovations giving it a new lease of life.
Until recently I barely acknowledged the Ottoman imprint, now in the wake of the Palmer Report I am acutely aware of these old landmarks.
The UN appointed an investigative committee, to examine the circumstances surrounding the Israeli raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara that took place last year. The committee was headed by former prime minister of New Zealand Sir Geoffrey Palmer, an expert on maritime law.
At that time a seven ship flotilla attempted to break the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza.The flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy seeking to escort the ships to the Ashdod port to inspect their goods. Clashes broke out on the Mavi Marmara after activists attacked Israeli commandos with baseball bats, steel bars, and live fire. Israeli commandos used both non-lethal weaponry and live fire to defend themselves. Nine activists were killed, and seven Israeli commandos were wounded.
The committee's report, better known as the Palmer report, stated unequivocally that: "Israel faces a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza. The naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law."
The report urged that all future efforts to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza should be done "through established procedures and the designated land crossings in consultation with the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority", thus discouraging future Gaza flotillas.
The report also questioned the motives of the flotilla organisers, in stating that: "Although people are entitled to express their political views, the flotilla acted recklessly in attempting to breach the naval blockade. The majority of the flotilla participants had no violent intentions, but there exists serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organisers, particularly the IHH [Humanitarian Relief Foundation - the Turkish aid group that primarily organised the flotilla]. The actions of the flotilla needlessly carried the potential for escalation."
Israel has adopted the Palmer report, with the exception of some reservations in relation to the report's finding that Israel's decision to board the vessels in the manner it did was "excessive and unreasonable". Israel rejects that finding, arguing that repeated warnings were given to the vessels and that its soldiers boarding the Mavi Marmara were in immediate danger and therefore acted in self-defence.
In fact, the Palmer report was clear about this last reality, stating: "The Israeli Defence Force personnel faced significant, organised and violent resistance from a group of passengers when they boarded the Mavi Marmara requiring them to use force for their own protection. Three soldiers were captured, mistreated and placed at risk by those passengers. Several others were wounded."
Last year BBC1’s Panorama programme broadcasted an investigative documentary called “Death in the Med.” Anchorwoman-interviewer Jane Corbin was responsible for most of the production. The result was a remarkable piece of journalism. For once the BBC, or in this case Jane Corbin vindicated Israel. As expected a controversy raged after the broadcast which was resolved in April this year when the BBC Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee found that overall the programme was accurate and impartial.
One reviewer wrote, “I can scarcely think of a better piece of journalism on the flotilla raid than Jane Corbin’s in-depth investigation, which drew from eyewitness testimony from both passengers and commandos aboard the Mavi Marmara. Notable in this report was an unwillingness to gloss over crucial video footage showing people on the upper deck of the ship attacking abseiling Israeli forces, or to take the word of IHH officials at face value. The only thing missing, really, was IHH’s well-publicised role as both a fundraiser and ideological helpmeet of Hamas.”
Once again I’m including the hyperlink to the video here. In the context of the current controversy between Israel and Turkey the video is essential background material.
Right click on the link and select ‘open hyperlink.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXrzF0IOQYE
Shortly after the Avi Marmara incident Greg Sheridan wrote in The Australian “Not until after 20 minutes of clubbing and stabbing by the wonderfully misnamed peace activists did the Israeli soldiers fire in defence of their own lives.
This was exactly what the protesters wanted and it has aroused the predictable storm of global protest.”
For the sake of emphasis I want to digress a little.
Every student of mediaeval history no doubt remembers the ignominious scene by the gates of Canossa .when in January 1077 the repentant Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV begged the Pope's mercy. A bitter disagreement between Henry and Pope Gregory VII led to the former's excommunication.
The traditional version of this event depicts a repentant Henry begging Gregory to reverse his expulsion from the Roman Catholic Church. The vindictive Pope made Henry and his entourage wait barefoot for three days by the gates of the fortress at Canossa before pardoning him.
Another version of the story claims Henry found it politically expedient to do penance. Furthermore, most of the three days at Canossa were spent in a nearby village by a warm fire and not freezing in the winter snow by the gates of the fortress. Gregory for his part, argues the new version, feared that Henry’s army was about to attack him so he sought refuge in Mathilda of Tuscany’s fortress at Canossa.
Eight hundred years later Otto von Bismarck also had a run in with the Roman Catholic Church. Bismarck was a Protestant so no threat of "bell, book and candle" could deter him. “I will not go to Canossa!” he said coining a phrase universally synonymous with a stubborn refusal to knuckle under.
Although he didn’t mention Bismarck I’m sure Bibi Netanyahu had him in mind when he refused to apologise for the deaths on the Avi Marmara..
The Palmer Report was preceded by independent reports conducted by both Turkey and Israel. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that Israel apologise and compensate the bereaved families.
Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman dismissed Turkey’s demand for an apology over the flotilla raid as “chutzpah”. This led Recep Tayyip Erdogan to describe Lieberman, in an interview with Al Jazeera, as “a curse for Israelis.” (Maybe he’s right).
It seems we have hit rock bottom in our relations with Turkey. Erdogan has issued veiled threats regarding Turkish naval escorts for Turkish ships in the Mediterranean and plans to sign a military pact with Egypt.
On Tuesday Turkey threatened Cyprus with naval action if it allows an Israeli company to drill an offshore exploratory well on the Cypriot side of an economic interest demarcation line with Israel.
On Wednesday the Israeli financial daily Globes reported that the Israeli owned Delek Group and its U.S. partner, Noble Energy Inc., are due to start drilling in the area later this month under the terms of a 2008 concession from the Cypriot government.
Most of Erdogan’s threats and demands are knee-jerk reactions to the Palmer Report. He’s making a lot of noise, however I doubt if he will take any really provocative action. Despite all the hue and cry a war between Israel and Turkey is not in the cards.
Turkey’s economy is generally regarded as solid, even buoyant.
Debka Files ( check other sources before you believe what they write) quoting an unnamed US source, begged to differ with this general assessment.
“Economically Turkey is no better than a paper tiger, hiding a galloping crisis behind its anti-Israel rhetoric:
Ankara's published impressive GDP growth rate of 11 percent is artificially inflated by out-of-control credit pumped out by its central bank to create a short-term bubble. In fact, Turkey is fast sliding into a deep economic slump. Its current account deficit has reached almost the same crisis level as those of Greece and Portugal and its currency faces devaluation.”
A quick check of the economic press didn’t confirm this negative outlook. One exception was Bloomberg News which was less enthusiastic about the Turkish boom.
“The probability that Turkey will enter a recession is almost half and half.
A market consensus growth forecast for next year of 4.5 percent is ‘way too optimistic," Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Turker Hamzaoglu said yesterday.
Ahmet Akarli, a London-based economist for Goldman Sachs, wrote in an emailed report after markets closed on Tuesday. "Expectations for recession have risen across the board, and remain particularly elevated in South Africa and Turkey."
In 2010, Israeli exports to Turkey amounted to $1.3 billion, an increase of 20 percent compared with the previous year, while imports from Turkey stood at $1.8 billion, a 30 percent rise.
In the first half of 2011, imports from Turkey stood at $1.1 billion, a 14 percent rise compared with the same period in 2010.
In his column in the New York Times this week Roger Cohen quoted thePalmer Report's recommendation that Israel should issue “an appropriate statement of regret” and said, "Yes, Israel, increasingly isolated, should do just that. An apology is the right course and the smart course."
Netanyahu expressed regret but refused to apologise.
"Israel and Turkey were tossed a lifeline, and didn't take it," wrote Trudy Rubin in the Philadelphia Inquirer referring to the Palmer Report. As of midsummer, Turkish and Israeli diplomats had concocted language that appeared acceptable to both sides.
Ms Rubin wrote in July that Benjamin Netanyahu was considering an apology for unintentional "operational mistakes" during the raid. Defense Minister Ehud Barak endorsed this idea because he believed the Israeli-Turkish relationship was strategically vital.
“But on Sunday, “says Rubin, “After weeks of dithering, and after the report's contents were leaked, Netanyahu said Israel "need not apologise."
Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey believes an apology should have been issued. "Diplomats had agreed on a formula, but the politicians rejected it," says Liel. Netanyahu apparently bowed to objections by foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who vehemently lobbied against saying sorry.
"I think this was a mistake," Liel said. "Israeli-Turkish relations are entering a new era. Turkey will become a hostile country and will be active against Israeli interests in the Middle East." The Obama administration is still making efforts to paper things over, but Liel was pessimistic. "It's all over," he said. "There's no apology possible now."
Some Israelis argue that Erdogan wouldn't have accepted the compromise his own diplomats had agreed on. They note that the Turkish leader now calls for an end to the naval embargo in addition to his earlier demands.
Public opinion polls clearly indicate that most Israelis are against apologising to Turkey. Furthermore, analysts, specialising in Turkish politics claim that the disagreement with Turkey is motivated by interests.
Once Turkey understood that the European Union had all but rejected Ankara’s request to become a member of the EU it turned eastward and embarked on a policy of zero problems with its neighbours.
Looking back Erdogan and his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu , realise that their new pragmatism has produced no tangible and lasting results.
Next week Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv is due to play against the Turkish team Besiktas in Istanbul. In a TV interview ahead of the game Turkey’s sports minister Suat Kilic said everything will be done to assure the safety of the Israeli players.
I have just seen a video clip that showed how angry Turkish soccer fans behave. They make British soccer hooligans look like lily-livered choir boys.
Have a good weekend.
Beni 8th of September, 2010
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