Turkey’s threat to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in The
Hague following Friday’s release of the Palmer Commission report is a “pistol
firing blanks,” Israeli officials said on Saturday, pointing out that the court
only adjudicates issues brought to it by two disputing states, or referred to it
for an advisory decision from the UN.
Israel won’t agree to go to the
court, the official said, and the UN will be hard-pressed to ask for an advisory
opinion after a UN body, the Palmer Commission, found that the blockade of the
Gaza Strip was legal, as was Israel’s interception of vessels trying to break
it.
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Turks reduce Israel's diplomatic presence, expel envoysPalmer: Gaza blockade lawful, IDF used ‘excessive’ forceForeign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish television on Saturday
that Ankara would apply to the International Court of Justice next week for an
“investigation into what the Gaza blockade really is.”
This was one of
five actions Davutoglu announced at a press conference on Friday, even before
the Palmer Report was presented to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, based on a
leak of the complete report that vindicated Israel’s blockade but faulted the
IDF for unreasonable and excessive force, even though it acknowledged Israel
Navy sailors came up against strong, pre-meditated resistance by those on board
the Mavi Marmara on May 31, 2010.
At his press conference, Davutoglu
announced Ankara was expelling Israel’s ambassador, and freezing all military
agreements. He also said Turkey would take measures for freedom of maritime
movement in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, no longer recognizing the Gaza
blockade, and support “flotilla victims” who take the matter to court.
Israeli officials said Saturday night it
was unclear what the Turks meant by “taking measures for freedom of maritime
movement in the Mediterranean,” but it was unlikely – as some could interpret
the threat to mean – they would take any action that would risk a military
confrontation.
The officials said Turkey threatened once before to send
gunboats to accompany the
Mavi Marmara on a return trip to Gaza, but that never
happened.
Turkey and Davutoglu’s threats and bellicose comments were met
for the most part by careful restraint in Jerusalem.
The Prime Minister’s
Office issued a statement on Friday saying, “As advised in the report, Israel
once again expresses its regret over the loss of life, but will not apologize
for its soldiers taking action to defend their lives. As any other state, Israel
has the right to defend its civilians and soldiers.”
Israeli officials
said this unequivocal formal announcement of a refusal to apologize was a
hardening of Israel’s position, which a few weeks ago was that it would consider
apologizing for “operational mistakes.”
Officials in Jerusalem said
Israel realized, however, that when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
made the lifting of the blockade of Gaza, along with the apology and payment of
compensation to the victims, one of the conditions to restoring ties, Ankara was
not indeed interested in repairing relations.
According to the officials,
Ankara is interested in boosting its position in the Arab world by “riding this
issue” and fueling the fires of confrontation with Israel, not dousing
them.
Israel, however, is not without its own cards in the relationship
with Ankara, one of which is strong support in the US Congress, which could – if
it saw fit – articulate in various ways its displeasure with
Ankara.
Already, Congressman Eliot Engel (D-New York) issued a statement
following Turkey’s decision to expel Israel’s envoy saying “Turkey should be
ashamed of itself.”
“In an almost unbelievable act of hypocrisy, the
Syrian ambassador sits comfortably in Ankara, while the Assad regime kills more
than 2,000 of its own people, but Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador for
Israel’s proper enforcement of a legally- established blockade,” said Engel, a
senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Rather than bashing the
only real democracy in the Middle East, Turkey should focus on its own problems,
such as ending its occupation of Cyprus once and for all.”
The US,
according to Israeli officials, continues to be involved in efforts to defuse
the situation.
Ban said during a visit to Canberra on Saturday he hoped
“Israel and Turkey will improve their relationship.”
“My only wish is
that they should try to improve their relationship and do whatever they can to
implement the recommendations and findings of this panel’s report,” the
secretary general said.
Both countries “are very important countries in
the region. Their improved relationship, normal relationship, will be very
important in addressing all the situations in the Middle East, including the
Middle East peace process.”
Similar calls were made over the weekend by
several European leaders, including the German and French foreign
ministers.
The formal statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office on
Friday said Israel “cherishes the significant ties, past and present, between
the Turkish and Jewish peoples. For that reason, the State of Israel has made
numerous attempts in the last few months to settle the dispute between the two
countries, but regrettably, these attempts have not been successful.”
The
official said Israel hoped “a way will be found to move beyond this discord and
will continue its endeavors to that end.”
In rare praise for a UN
document, the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office called it
“professional, serious and in depth,” and said Israel adopted the commission’s
findings – though with reservations about its conclusion that unreasonable and
excessive force was used by the IDF.
Regarding Turkey’s decision to expel
Israel’s envoy, the statement said the ambassador, Gabi Levy, had already
finished his term, had taken leave of his Turkish counterparts in Ankara, and
was returning to Israel in the coming days. No replacement for Levy, whose
retirement from the Foreign Ministry has been known for months, was ever
named.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Saturday Israel did
not need to “subordinate its foreign policy to the whims of anyone
else.”
“There was nothing to apologize for, and the Palmer Report proved
there was nothing to apologize for,” he said, characterizing the Turkish
behavior as “puzzling” and saying it impacts Israel’s interests but Turkey’s as
well.
“The situation we have reached in relations with Turkey is not a
matter of national pride but of interests and status,” he
said.
Apparently referring to Turkey’s swiftly changing relationships
with Syria and Iran, Ayalon said, “I think the geo-strategic situation of Turkey
over the past few months has declined steeply, and this should have necessitated
some humility from them.
“But they were not willing to
compromise. I think that in the end we have to stand our ground, and on
the other hand tell the Turks that from our point of view the incident is behind
us, and now our interest is to cooperate. The lack of cooperation hurts us and
the Turks.”
Reuters contributed to this report.