WE DO NOT know whether Israelis were being serious when they said they would sail yachts to the coast of north Cyprus, in order to protest against continuing Turkish occupation. This may have been said in jest, so as to expose the hypocrisy of Turkey which organised the Free Gaza flotilla and tried to make maximum political capital out of the Israeli forces’ violent attack on the activists.
There were also reports about the possibility of sending the yachts to the coast of southern Turkey where there is a big concentration of Kurds. The Israelis would thus show their solidarity with the Kurdish community which had been violently oppressed for decades by the Turkish state that, under the circumstances, had the moral right to take a stand against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
It is a bizarre situation, as neither country has earned the right to give lessons against occupation of foreign land, respect of international law or the oppression of minorities. Both have shown contempt for international law repeatedly, over the years, and have launched attacks against neighbouring countries. Of course Turkey, under Erdogan, has tried to re-invent itself and to pose as a regional power that promoted peace and stability. Israel does not entertain such illusions.
Then again there is a large element of irony in Israeli yachts sailing to north Cyprus to protest against the Turkish occupation. Israeli nationals have been exploiting the Turkish occupation, buying large expanses of land and investing in big development projects in the north. Admittedly, these are individual businessmen, who are not working for the Israeli government but seized the opportunity of buying land on the cheap in the north of Cyprus which could be turned into a cheap holiday resort for their countrymen in the not too distant future. Perhaps these transactions will stop now that the governments of Israel and Turkey have fallen out so spectacularly, which would be no bad thing.
However we cannot share the fears, expressed by a daily newspaper in Cyprus, yesterday that “the Cyprus problem could end up at the centre of a confrontation and pay the cost.” There would be no cost for Cyprus if the Israeli yachts sail towards the island at the weekend. The government could heed the advice of the concerned paper and try to stop Israeli expedition, but it would be futile to do so, as this is an initiative of individuals.
But why would it be so bad for Israelis to carry out a high-profile protest against the Turkish occupation of Cyprus? Surely we should be applauding such actions as it would help our enlightenment campaign.
