McClatchy’s Ipek Yezdani reports:
ISTANBUL — Turkey sees no possibility of resuming full diplomatic relations with Israel unless Israel apologizes and pays damages for the deaths its commandos caused last year aboard a Turkish ship that was trying to run Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, Turkey’s foreign minister said Friday.
“Israel buried our friendship in the deep waters of the Mediterranean,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in response to a question on whether Turkish-Israeli relations would recover in the near future.
Turkey, which became the first Muslim country to recognize Israel in 1949, was considered Israel’s closest ally in the Middle East until September, when Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador, canceled all military cooperation agreements and downgraded its relations with the Jewish state after Israel refused to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish citizens
One of the good things about Bernard Avishai’s piece on right of return in Harper’s is that he emphasizes the spiritual nature of the damage, and the importance of apology. But there is never any sense of accountability… Spoiled child of the west… Erdogan said that.
I keep saying it, though I hope it never comes true. Israel will cost us NATO.
I wait for more than words. Words are cheap. Turkey has had the best words. I wait for some proposals at UNGA. Mere complaining about Israel is about as ineffective as complaining about Hitler was. (I compare thick skins, not the quality, extent, etc., of evil deeds.)
Come to think of it, complaining to the 1% by 99% doesn’t get much done in the real world, either, whether in USA or elsewhere.
apologizing to turkey is only the start
reparations to the victims should come next
same goes for israel’s having to apologize & pay reparations to the victims of the nakba, along with recognizing the palestinians’ right of return
the zionist settlers, of course, are going to refuse
that’s where bds enters the scene
especially in the u.s. of a., as the public finally grasps the connection between the zionist entity’s occupation of palestine and the wars that kill u.s. troops in that part of the world
bringing about a mass exodus of jews from the settler-entity to the lands in which they have second passports, or to wherever else will accept them
delegitimizing said entityl (no settlers, no entity)
with palestine at long last returned to its people
“One of the good things about Bernard Avishai’s piece on right of return in Harper’s….”
I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with that piece, Phil, but I knew something was. It was so laboured. He practically turned himself into a pretzel working out his plan for a return. I await with interest the letters to the editor.
You called him a liberal Zionist. Now I know what they sound like.
here is a very interesting NEWS.
“Dr. Evil and Mini Me were found guilty of war crimes by the The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal which held a four day hearing in MALAYSIA.
The five panel tribunal unanimously decided that BUSH and BLAIR committed genocide and crimes against peace and humanity when they invaded Iraq in 2003 in blatant violation of international law.
The judges RULED that war against Iraq by both the former heads of states was a flagrant abuse of law, act of aggression which amounted to a mass murder of the Iraqi people.
In their verdict, the judges said that the United States, under the leadership of Bush, FORGED documents to claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
They further said the findings of the tribunal be made available to members of the Rome Statute and the names of Bush and Blair be entered into a war crimes register.
Both Bush and Blair repeatedly said the so-called war against terror was targeted at terrorists.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUmIiTJkh0