Turkey of no interest to us, says Israeli foreign minister
JASON KOUTSOUKIS
June 5, 2010
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is willing to consider easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip but has vowed not to allow any protest ships to reach the impoverished Palestinian territory.
As pressure continued to mount for an international commission of inquiry into Israel's interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla of six ships on Monday that resulted in the deaths of nine passengers on board the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, declared that Turkey was ''simply of no interest'' to Israel.
He added that while Turkey once may have been a friend of Israel, ''internal changes in Turkish society'' had caused a split similar to that between Israel and Iran after the Islamic Revolution there in 1979.
''We didn't start this provocation, we did not send bullies with knives and metal rods to Turkey,'' he said. ''The entire blame, all of it, from beginning to end, is that of Turkey. We have nothing to apologise for.''
Turkey's President, Abdullah Gul, has warned that Israel would regret this week's events, and relations between the two countries would never be the same.
Eight Turks and an American of Turkish origin were killed in Israel's raid on the flotilla, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported.
On Thursday, thousands of mourners in Istanbul hailed the dead activists as martyrs, hoisting their coffins to cheers of "God is great".
Turkey has declared diplomatic war on Israel, with Ankara recalling its ambassador to Israel and freezing all business deals with Israel in the fields of energy and water, but not a number of agreements to buy Israeli-made weapons systems.
An Israeli Navy investigation of the events on board the Mavi Marmara said activists tried to take captive three Israeli commandos whom they had beaten unconscious. The three were dragged below deck and held there for several minutes.
After dozens of other commandos began searching the ship, the three soldiers regained consciousness and managed to join their comrades.
The Israeli Navy has rejected claims that it was poorly prepared, and officials have commended the commandos' performance in a situation in which they were confronted by activists who attacked them as they rappelled from helicopters.
''They were terrorists, hired killers who came to murder soldiers, not to assist the residents of the Gaza Strip,'' one navy officer told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Among the steps Israel is reportedly willing to take to ease the blockade is to allow civilian goods, particularly food items and humanitarian equipment, to enter Gaza more easily.
Benjamin Netanyahu to consider easing the blockade