TANDA SETIAKAWAN KAUM BURUH - KAUM BURUH BERSATULAH !
ACTIVIST PREVENT ISREALI SHIP FROM UNLOADING AT US PORT - Report, The Electronic Intifada
US activists successfully prevented the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the Port of Oakland. (The Electronic Intifada)
For the first time in US history, a peaceful protest was able to stop workers from unloading an Israeli cargo ship on Sunday, 20 June, in the San Francisco Bay area. From 5:30am until 7pm, social justice activists and labor union organizers blocked and picketed several entrances at the Port of Oakland, preventing two shifts of longshoremen with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to come to work and unload the Israeli Zim Lines cargo ship.
Approximately 700 protesters and labor organizers launched the action in direct response to the ongoing blockade in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli attacks on humanitarian aid activists aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla last month. Nine persons, including a 19-year-old American citizen, were killed in the attacks, and at least thirty were wounded as activists attempted to sail to the beleaguered Gaza Strip with thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies prevented from normal import by Israel.
The picket at the Port of Oakland comes on the heels of a similar actions around the world in protest of Israeli policies. Dockworkers in Sweden announced on 2 June that no Israeli ships would be unloaded or processed between 15-24 June in protest of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
KAH KAH KAH..
woit… CILAKA KAPIR LAKNAT NI….MALUKAN ORANG ISLAM…kah kah kah..
kah kah kah… KAPIR LAKNAT MAKAN BABI…. kah kah kah..
kah kah kah… KAPIR LAKNAT MINUM ARAK… kah kah kah..
woit…. KAPIR LAKNAT TAK PERNAH PERGI UMRAH…. kah kah kah..
woit… KAPIR LAKNAT TAK PERNAH BACA DOA…. kah kah kah..
woit… MACAM MANA KAPIR INI BOLEH BERJUANG MEMBANTU WARGA GAZA?..... kah kah kah..
woit… DULU KAPAL DARI SYARIKAT INI MASUK PELABUHAN KLANG ..kah kah kah
woit….TAK ADA PUN BANTAHAN OLEH ORANG YG BERBUIH BUIH BERDOA…kah kah kah..
nota:
perhatikan disini bagaimana
setiakawan kaum buruh lebih kuat
dari setiakawan sebangsa dan seagama
kerajaan arab dan kerajaan melayu pun tak ambil pot
perhatikan bagaimana perjuangan menegakkan
keadilan tidak mengira bangsa dan agama
tidak pernah melaung-laungkan takbir!
tapi jujur kerana membantu yang dizalami
bukan untuk dapat bidadari bermata jeli kah kah kah
Bhai TT,
BalasPadamMemang Malaysia perlukan balik Parti Buruh (yang diharamkan dulu). Mari kita bersama tubuhkan balik Parti Buruh Kebangsaan...
bhai... puak2 lu sekular gile bro...
BalasPadamsekular version anti umno/bn.... tak tahan lama bro.
lu kena kembali kpd Islam jugak. Tuhan jamin dgn Islam saja lu orang semua akan berjaya. bukan dgn sosialis, buruh, rasis dll...
salam sahabat,
BalasPadamaku kalu ada puak2x pukimak, songkok tinggi, pekasam & org kampung lu (KJ) mai port klang ka, tanjung pelepas ka bikin havoc pasai KAPAI ZIM nie nak discharge or loading cargo, mau aku MC ikut diorg.
aku berani lari telanjang bulat dr kuantan sampai port klang kalu puak2x nie bikit mcm kat port oakland tu.
ada berani???.....
mohon di paste ke page ini >> http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=135731296437941 ...thanks...
BalasPadamHahaha...
BalasPadamBuat baik sebab nak bidadari bermata jeli,buat baik sebab nak minum air yang takkan haus lagi bila minum.Buat baik sebab nak rumah sebesar-besarnya,dengan disalut emas bagai.macam2 lagi lah.
Haha..enough said!
sama la macam hang.. x pernah pun nak bela orang melayu islam yang dirogol kapir laknat. 6 rogol sorang. ada hang bising masa kes tu jadi kat Kangkar Johor? ada hang bising 4 penjenayah indon rogol perempuan depan anak dan suami dia? jangan dok tunjuk hero la wei.. pertahankan melayu Islam dulu kalau nak bela bangsa lain pun. Bodoh!!!!
BalasPadamtuan TT,
BalasPadamSingapore dapat tanjung pagar,
bini rosmah (najib) dapat "scratch post" dari PM Singapore (LeeHL) untuk kucing parsi dia...
gambar ada kat paper SUN. Tolong scan dan pamerkan..
haramjadah betul!
Persatuan buruh kat negara ini...sapu minyak BURUH kat buntut... tonggeng untuk guru jib main!.
BalasPadamyaa..idea pembaharuan yg terasing.
BalasPadamterkadang terfikir juga akan kesahihannya. "actual practice" yang semakin dilupai. dipinggirkan. dipandang enteng.
contoh terdekat, bola sepak. semua warga dunia meminati perkara sama. tidak mengira race & religion.
hakikatnya berjuang kerana Allah adalah yg paling muktamad objektifnya. tetapi kini;
..minda manusia telah di-najis-jijik-kan oleh hipokrasi2 batang tubuh lahanat yang mengaku pejuang --talam bermuka2 sehingga darah kemunafikan mengalir didalam setiap inci pembuluh darah.
berwaspadalah wahai semua pejuang agama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! musuh sebenar adalah nafsumu!!!!!
***good analysis from TT. "other side" of mind-perspective
Hahaha.. bidadari bermata jeli??? hahahaha
BalasPadamtak pasal2 kena tipu dengan ustat dan khatib lagi..hahahaha
Melayu UMNO ni memang manusia pariah !! tak habis-habis buat kerja tipu !! semuanya munafik , munafik nombor satu dunia !!
BalasPadamUMNO = corruption
UMNO akan hancur negara satu hari nanti kalau tidak dihapuskan sama sekali ..... ayuh, rakyat Malaysia bangkit menentang UMNO !!
PAPAGEMUH dan ANON 13.50!
BalasPadamapno jangan marah2 kat sni
nanti susah
kena jual kang
skarang musim jual tau
apno kena cool
tlinga kna tebal bro
tak kan kena sikit dah melenting bro
tak cun la mcm ni
Betul tak Lang?
kahakah..kah..kah..kah
BalasPadamdulu hang la menyembah dan melutut cium bontot mahathir ..mohon ampun aku mau balik malaysia...kahkah
racun brade racun.... racun cam ni le bagus biar mabuk semua orang...
BalasPadamwoit….TAK ADA PUN BANTAHAN OLEH ORANG YG BERBUIH BUIH BERDOA…kah kah kah.
anon 13:50
BalasPadamsila lah rasa malu untuk nilai fakta sejarah..
sorang kene rogol depan anak suami sama ke issue dengan 3000 orang kene bunuh?
kalau kene rogol boleh hidup lagi.. hilang maruah manusia seorang atau sekeluarga..
ini darah orang ISLAM yang akan dipersoalkan.. yang ditonton satu dunia.. depan mata lagi..
bila mati malaikat akan tanya... Tuhan kau, Rasul kau, kitab pegangan kau, tanggung jawab kau.. bukan MELAYU kau...
boleh ka seorang manusia sebelum dia lahir dia pilih dia tanah mana nak lahir? keturunan apa yang dia nak lahir? bangsa mana dia nak lahir?
jangan tunjuk belang ketidak bijaksanaan kau kat sini..
anon 16:43
melutut cium bontot..? kehadiran kau kat sini buat orang gelak laa.. kah kah kah...
kat westport minggu lepas selamba jek wa tgk lori kontena Zim ni benti kt kampong pulau indah..x tau laa drebar dia org melayu islam ke kapiaq
BalasPadamtakkan protes kapal kargo je kot..alang2 protes la kompeni2 kapitalis yg bejuta2 kt us tu..barulah TRUE..kah kah kah
BalasPadamUntuk sibodoh yang masih tak faham bahasa sindiran oleh TT
BalasPadammaksud tulisan TT ialah:
"kalau si kapiak pun boleh buat sesuatu yang baik untuk umat islam yang tertindas; kenapa pulak si islam yang beragama islam dan mengamalkan islam tak boleh buat lebih daripada apa yang si kapiak buat"
Sindiran ini ditujukan kepada:
i. umat islam yang ada kuasa tetapi tidak menggunakan kuasanya untuk membantu orang Islam (Cth Pak Arab)
ii. pada orang islam yang cuma pandai cakap tapi nak turun demo untuk menentang keganasan zionist pun malas.
iii. pada orang yang mengaku islam tapi perangai mereka lebih buruk daripada kapiak kerana menindas orang islam sendiri!
iv. pada orang yang kerjanya cuma hendak menipu orang islam dan orang melayu demi poket dan kuasa mereka
v. pada orang islam yang munafik kononnya lantang menentang zionist tapi pada masa yang sama membela zionist apco
vi. Pada orang yang mengaku Islam tetapi pada masa yang sama melakukan perbuatan kapiak dengan memberi kebenaran lesen pertaruhan bola serta susah pula nak memuktamadkan tarikh sebenar memberhentikan pemberian itu
vii. pada umat islam keseluruhannya yang cuma pandai mengutuk zionis tapi memberi pelbagai alasan jika diajak memboikot barangan zionist termasuklah sibodoh yang berkata "habis...tak payahlah nak berinternet sebab internet itu produk zionist"
viii. pada semua umat islam yang boleh berfikir di luar kotak kebiasaan dan bersifat cool!
"Let Gaza Live"
BalasPadamProtesting Israel at the Oakland Docks
By SUSAN GALLEYMORE
Long before 5:30 a.m. on June 20 about 800 protesters traveled the mile from West Oakland's BART station, near San Francisco, to Berth 57 of the Oakland docks. The early risers were determined to block the gates and discourage longshoremen from unloading a Zim cargo ship. Zim is an Israeli shipping company.
A second shift of more than 200 hundred protesters kept the gates closed for the 4:30 p.m. work crew too.
Gloria La Riva organized the personal vehicle shuttle service that transported both waves of protesters.
She said, “There is a provision in their contract that states workers do not have to cross a picket line if their health or safety is at stake. The arbitrator -- who is always on call for these kinds of situations -- twice reviewed the lines of protesters in the morning. At about 9:15 a.m. he decided that it wasn't safe for the workers. We consider it a great victory that the arbitrator ruled in the union's favor and the men did not have to work.”
Since they had already been dispatched and the arbitration ruled in their favor the men will be paid.
At one of three gates blocked at the docks, protester Catherine Orozco puts down her sign (it reads “Let Gaza Live”) and says, “I visited Israel and Palestine in 2002. I went to Jenin and saw the results of the massacre and buildings and homes destroyed. I went to Jerusalem and saw people evicted from their life-long homes. I am very concerned about the disaster Israel is visiting upon the people of Palestine. While we Americans tend to be more concerned about our own troubles like the economy and oil spills, it opens up a lot of peoples' eyes to see peace ships carrying humanitarian aid attacked in international waters and human rights activists killed.”
BalasPadamAs the United States sinks deeper into debt, President Obama insists that Israel is a “true friend” whose security is “top priority...sacrosanct …non-negotiable.” On June 4, less than a week after Israel's act of piracy in international waters, Obama declared a “strong commitment” to ensure “the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable forever.” Then he authorized a further $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade. (President Bush authorized $13 billion during his presidency.)
These days, the word “apartheid” is linked regularly with Israel. Indeed, the parallels between Israel and apartheid South Africa are clear to anyone who visited both places or studied this form of politics.
In the clear sunshine that poured over the Oakland docks on June 20, it is apparent that ever more people of all ages and backgrounds are looking into the face of this new version of apartheid. What they see makes them unafraid of the omnipresent threat of being labeled “anti-Semitic” or “self-hating Jew.”
If the Israeli government follows the directive of just one sign in evidence on this day – “Boycott Israeli Ships and Goods” – it would consider deeply apartheid South Africa's history. Then it would steer its ship of state toward a different star...and full speed ahead.
Susan Galleymore is author of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror, host of Stanford University's Raising Sand Radio, and a former “military mom” and GI Rights Counselor. She was born in apartheid South Africa, lived in Israel from 1975 to 1977, and visited again in 2005. Contact her at media@mothersspeakaboutwarandterror.org.
For La Riva this was another full day of dedicated service to her life-long commitment to justice... along with some dejá vu, too.
BalasPadamBack in June 1984, when San Francisco still was a commercial container dock, La Riva supported the ILWU longshoremen who took an official action at Pier 80 and refused to unload apartheid South Africa's Ned-Lloyd ship. Union members held firm for ten days -- the longest political cargo stoppage in West Coast history -- despite the multi-million dollar fines levied against them.
Back then, South Africa's racist apartheid regime was under pressure. As its defense forces cracked down ever more brutally on black South Africans, including women and children, the eyes of the world riveted on images of white policemen shooting black children in school yards and in poverty-stricken segregated townships.
Now Israel is under pressure. On May 31, that country's navy violently boarded ships in international waters and attacked passengers delivering food, building materials, and medical aid. Nine passengers are dead and six are still missing.
But international anger has been simmering for some time against Israel's actions in Palestine. The bombardment of Gaza over Christmas and New Year 2009 was an act of sustained brutality that riveted the world. Since then, images of desperate Palestinians are hard to miss. They include babies and children living in what is referred to by some as the “world's largest open-air prison”.
Israel's blockade of Gaza extends beyond its land borders. Fishermen are allowed within only 5.5 km of their own coast. Some sneak into Egyptian waters to fish but doing so puts their lives at risk.
Israeli officials insist there is no humanitarian crisis. United Nations aid workers inside Gaza, however, speak of 80 per cent of the people depending on food hand-outs. UN data draws disquieting images: 14 per cent of children suffer stunted growth due to malnutrition.
What Kevin Neish Saw
BalasPadamEyewitness to the Israeli Assault on the Mavi Marmara
By DAVE LINDORFF
Kevin Neish of Victoria, British Columbia, didn’t know he was a celebrity until he was about to board a flight from Istanbul to Ottawa. “This Arab woman wearing a beautiful outfit suddenly ran up to me crying, ‘It’s you! From Arab TV! You’re famous!’” he recalls with a laugh. “I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she told me, ‘I saw you flipping through the Israeli commando’s book! It’s being aired over and over!’”
A soft-spoken teacher and former civilian engineer with the Canadian Department of Defense, Neish realized then that a video taken by an Arab TV cameraman in the midst of the Israeli assault on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza of him flipping through a booklet had been transmitted before the Israelis blocked all electronic signals from the flotilla. The booklet had pictures and profiles of all the passengers, and he'd found it in the backpack of an Israeli Defense Force commando.
Neish, 53, was on the second deck of the flotilla’s lead ship, the Turkish Mavi Marmara, with a good view of the stern, when the IDF, in the early morning darkness of May 31, began its assault with percussion grenades, tear gas and a hail of bullets. He then moved to the fourth deck in an enclosed stairwell, from which he watched took photographs as casualties were carried down past him to a makeshift medical station. Several IDF commandos, captured by the passengers and crew, were also brought past him.
“I saw them carrying this one IDF guy down,” he recalls. “He looked terrified, like he thought he was going to be killed. But when a big Turkish guy, who had seen seriously injured passengers who had been shot by the IDF, charged over and tried to hit the commando, the Turkish aid workers pushed him off and pinned him to the wall. They protected this Israeli soldier.”
That was when he found the backpack which the soldier had dropped. “I figured I’d look inside and see what he was carrying,” Neish says. “And inside was this kind of flip-book. It was full of photos and names in English and Hebrew of who was on all the ships. The booklet also had a detailed diagram of the decks of the Mavi Marmara.”
Meanwhile, he says, more and more people were being carried down the stairs from the mayhem above—people who'd been shot, and people who were dying or people already dead. “I took detailed photos of the dead and wounded with my camera,” he says, adding, “There were several guys who had two neat bullet holes side by side on the side of their head--clearly they were executed.”
BalasPadamNeish smuggled his photos out of Israel to Turkey despite his arrest on the ship and imprisonment in Israel for several days. “I pulled out the memory card, tossed my camera and anything I had on me that had anything to do with electronics, and then kept moving the chip around so it wouldn’t be found,” he says. “The Israelis took all the cameras and computers. They were smashing some and keeping others. I put the chip in my mouth under my tongue, between my butt cheeks, in my sock, everywhere, to keep them from finding it,” he says. He finally handed it to a Turk who was leaving for a flight home on a Turkish airline. He says the card ended up in the hands of an organization called Free Gaza, and he has seen some of his pictures published, so he knows they made it out successfully.
Neish says that claims that the Israeli commandos were just armed with paint guns and 9 mm pistols are “Bullshit--at one point when I was in the stairwell, a commando opened a hatch above, stuck in a machine gun, and started firing. Bullets were bouncing all over the place. If the guy had gotten to look in and see where he was shooting, I’d have been dead, but two Turkish guys in the stairwell, who had short lengths of chain with them that they had taken from the access points to the lifeboats, stood to the side of the hatch and whipped them up at the barrell. I don’t know if they were trying to hit the commando or to use them to snatch away the gun, but the Israeli backed off, and they slammed and locked the hatch.”
“I never saw a single paint gun, or a sign of a fired paint ball!” he says.
He also didn't see any guns in the hands of people who were on the ship. “In the whole time I was there on the ship, I never saw a single weapon in the hands of the crew or the aid workers,” he says. Indeed, Neish, who originally had been on a smaller 70-foot yacht called the Challenger II, had transferred to the Mavi Marmara after a stop in Cyprus, because his boat had been sabatoged by Israeli agents (a claim verified by the Israeli government), making it impossible to steer. “When we came aboard the big boat, I was frisked and my bag was inspected for weapons,” he says. “Being an engineer, I of course had a pocket knife, but they took that and tossed it into the ocean. Nobody was allowed to have any weapons on this voyage. They were very careful about that.”
On the second day, someone from the Canadian embassy came around, calling out his name. “It turned out he’d been going to every cell looking for me,” says Neish. “My daughter had been frantically telling the Canadian government I was in the flotilla. Even though the Israelis had my name and knew where I was, they weren’t telling the Canadian embassy people. In fact the Canadians--and my daughter--thought I was dead, because people had said I’d been near the initial assault. The good thing is that as they went around calling out for me, they discovered two Arab-born Canadians that they hadn’t known were there.”
BalasPadam“Eventually they got to my cell and I answered them. The embassy official said, ‘You’re Kevin? You’re supposed to be dead.’”
After being held for a few days, there was a rush to move everyone to the Ben Gurion airport for a flight to Turkey. “It turned out that Israeli lawyers had brought our case to the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of our capture on international waters. There was a chance that the court would order the IDF to put us back on our ships and let us go, so the government wanted to get us out of Israel and moot the case. But two guys were hauled off, probably by Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency). So we all said, ‘No. We don’t go unless you bring them back.’”
The two men were returned and were allowed to leave with the rest of the group.
“I honestly never thought the Israelis would board the ship,” says Neish. “I thought we’d get into Gaza. I mean, I went as part of the Free Gaza Movement, and they had made prior attempts, with some getting in, and some getting boarded or rammed, but this time it was a big flotilla. I figured we’d be stopped, and maybe searched. My boat, the Challenger II, only had dignitaries on board including three German MPs, and then Lt. Col. Ann Wright and myself.
At one point in the Israeli prison, all the violence finally got to this man who had witnessed more death and mayhem than many active duty US troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. “I broke down and started crying,” he admits. “This big Turkish guy came over and asked me, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘Sixteen people died.’”
“He said to me, ‘No, they died for a wonderful cause. They’re happy. You just go out and tell your story.’”
DAVE LINDORFF is a founding member of the new independent collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper ThisCantBeHappening.net
What he did see during the IDF assault was severe bullet wounds. “In addition to several people I saw who were killed, I saw several dozen wounded people. There was one older guy who was just propped up against the wall with a huge hole in his chest. He died as I was taking his picture.”
BalasPadamNeish says he saw many of the 9 who were known to have been killed, and of the 40 who were wounded, and adds, “There were many more who were wounded, too, but less seriously. In the Israeli prison, I saw people with knife wounds and broken bones. Some were hiding their injuries so they wouldn’t be taken away from the others.” He also says, “Initially there were reports that 16 on the boat had been killed. The medical station said 16. There was a suspicion that some bodies may have been thrown overboard. But what people think now is that the the other seven who are missing, since we’re not hearing from families, may have been Israeli spies.”
Once the Israeli commandos had secured control of the Mavi Marmara, Neish says the ship’s passengers and crew were rounded up, with the men put in one area on deck, and the women put below in another area. The men were told to squat, and had their hands bound with plastic cuffs, which Neish says were pulled so tight that his wrists were cut and his hands swelled up and turned purple (he is still suffering nerve damage from the experience, which his doctor in Canada says he hopes will gradually repair on its own).
“They told us to be quiet,” he says. “But at one point this Turkish imam stood up and started singing a call to prayer. Everybody was dead quiet--even the Israelis. But after about ten seconds, this Israeli officer stomped over through the squatting people, pulled out his pistol and pointed at the guy’s head, yelling ‘Shut up!’ in English. The imam looked at him directly and just kept singing! I thought, Jesus Christ, he’s gonna kill him! Then I thought, well, this is what I’m here for, I guess, so I stood up. The officer wheeled around and pointed his gun at my head. The imam finished his song and sat down, and then I sat down.”
While the commandeered vessels were sailed to the Israeli port of Ashdot, the captives were left without food or water. “All we were given were some chocolate bars that the Israelis pilfered from the ship’s stores,” says Neish. “You had to grovel to get to go to the bathroom, and many people had to just go in their pants.”
Things didn’t get much better once the passengers were transferred to an Israeli prison. He and the other prisoners with him, who hadn’t eaten for more than half a day, were tossed a frozen block of bread and some cucumbers.
In fact, the Davos incident is significant not because it demonstrates that Israel can be criticized, but rather because it was Turkey — and not any other easily dismissible party — that dared to voice such criticism.
BalasPadamWriting in the Financial Times under the title, “Erdogan turns to face East in a delicate balancing act,” David Gardner places Turkey’s political turn within a European context. He sums up that thought in a quote uttered by no other than Robert Gates, US defense secretary: “If there is anything to the notion that Turkey is moving Eastward, it is in no small part because it was pushed, and pushed by some in Europe refusing to give Turkey the kind of organic link to the West that Turkey sought.” But what many analysts missed was the larger political and historical context, not only as pertaining to Israel and Turkey, but to the whole region and all its players, including the US itself. Only this context can help us understand the logic behind Israel’s seemingly erratic behavior.
In 1996, Israeli leaders appeared very confident. A group of neoconservative American politicians had laid out a road map for Israel to ensure complete dominance over the Middle East. In the document entitled, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” Turkey was mentioned four times. Each reference envisaged the country as a tool to “contain, destabilize, and roll back some of .. (the) most dangerous threats” to Israel. That very “vision” in fact served as the backbone of the larger strategy used by the US, as it carried out its heedless military adventures in the Middle East.
Frustrated by the American failure to reshape the region and unquestioningly eliminate anything and everything that Israel might perceive as a threat, Israel took matters into its own hands. However, in 2006 and between 2008 and 2009, it was up for major surprises. Superior firepower doesn’t guarantee military victory. More, while Israel had once more demonstrated its capacity to inflict untold damage on people and infrastructure, the Israeli weapon was no longer strategically effective. In other words, Israel’s military advantage could no longer translate into political gains, and this was a game-changer.
There are many issues the Israeli leadership has had to wrangle with in recent years. The US, Israel’s most faithful benefactor, is now on a crisis management mode in Iraq and Afghanistan, struggling on all fronts, whether political, military or economic. That recoil has further emboldened Israel’s enemies, who are no longer intimidated by the American bogyman. Israel’s desperate attempt at using its own military to achieve its grand objectives has also failed, and miserably so.
With options growing even more limited, Israel now understands that Gaza is its last card; ending the siege or ceasing the killings could be understood as another indication of political weakness, a risk that Israel is not ready to take.
The Middle East is Changing
BalasPadamWhat Ankara Knows
By RAMZY BAROUD
"Even despots, gangsters and pirates have specific sensitiveness, (and) follow some specific morals."
The claim was made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a recent speech, following the deadly commando raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza on May 31. According to Erdogan, Israel doesn’t adhere to the code of conduct embraced even by the vilest of criminals.
The statement alone indicates the momentous political shift that’s currently underway in the Middle East. While the shift isn’t entirely new, one dares to claim it might now be a lasting one. To borrow from Erdogan’s own assessment of the political fallout that followed Israel’s raid, the damage is “irreparable.”
Countless analyses have emerged in the wake of the long-planned and calculated Israeli attack on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, which claimed the lives of nine, mostly Turkish peace activists.
In “Turkey’s Strategic U-Turn, Israel’s Tactical Mistakes,” published in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Ofra Bengio suggested Turkey’s position was purely strategic. But he also chastised Israel for driving Turkey further and faster “toward the Arab and Muslim worlds.”
In this week’s Zaman, a Turkish publication, Bulent Kenes wrote: “As a result of the Davos (where the Turkish prime minister stormed out of a televised discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres, after accusing him and Israel of murder), the myth that Israel is untouchable was destroyed by Erdogan, and because of that Israel nurses a hatred for Turke
Turkey, on the other hand, was fighting — and mostly winning — its own battles. Democracy in Turkey has never been as healthy and meaningful as it is today. Turkey has also eased its chase of the proverbial dangling carrot, of EU membership, especially considering the arrogant attitude of some EU members who perceive Turkey as too large and too Muslim to be trusted. Turkey needed new platforms, new options and a more diverse strategy.
BalasPadamBut that is where many analysts went wrong. Turkey’s popular government has not entered the Middle Eastern political foray to pick fights. On the contrary, the Turkish government has for years been trying to get involved as a peacemaker, a mediator between various parties. So, yes, Turkey’s political shift was largely strategic, but it was not ill-intentioned.
The uninvited Turkish involvement, however, is highly irritating to Israel. Turkey’s approach to its new role grew agitating to Israel when the role wasn’t confined to being that of the host — in indirect talks between Syria and Israel, for example. Instead, Turkey began to take increasingly solid and determined political stances. Thus the Davos episode.
By participating at such a high capacity in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, with firm intentions of breaking the siege, Turkey was escalating its involvement well beyond Israel’s comfort zone. Therefore, Israel needed a decisive response that would send a message to Turkey — and any daring other — about crossing the line of what is and is not acceptable. It’s ironic how the neoconservatives’ “A Clean Break” envisaged an Israeli violation of the political and geographic boundaries of its neighbors, with the help of Turkey. Yet, 14 years later, it was Turkey, with representatives from 32 other countries, which came with a peaceful armada to breach what Israel perceived as its own political domain.
The Israeli response, as bloody as it was, can only be understood within this larger context. Erdogan’s statements and the popular support his government enjoys show that Turkey has decided to take on the Israeli challenge. The US government was exposed as ineffectual and hostage to the failing Israeli agenda in the region, thanks to the lobby. Ironically it is now the neoconservatives who are leading the charge against Turkey, the very country they had hoped would become Israel’s willing ally in its apocalyptic vision.
Ramzy Baroud is editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). His newbook is, “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London).
Najib cakap berapi2. nak bawa Israil ke mahkamah dunia.
BalasPadamPada masa yang sama kapal dagang Israil dilayan dipelabuhan Klang.
Kontena2 dari kapal Israil bolih kita lihat dijalan raya kita.
Macam ayam bapak yang berkokok gagah tapi ekor bergelumang dengan taik.
ramsys,
BalasPadamget ur fact straight.
kapal israel mmg berlabuh & dgn itu...govt mesia mmg bodoh & hipokrit. ptt hantar je PM & kuncu2nya ke gaza.
tapi, FACT is..no unloading of goods kat mesia, NO contenas on our road.