Israel out in the cold as Turkey seeks sanctions
Source: Agencies |
June 2, 2010, Wednesday
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Turkey yesterday called for Israel to be punished for storming an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip in an attack that left nine dead and Israel increasingly isolated in the face of international outrage.
Israel detained or deported hundreds of activists who were aboard a flotilla seized en route to the Palestinian enclave which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged the immediate lifting of "the inhumane embargo on Gaza," and Cairo announced the opening of its often-shut border with the territory run by Islamist Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's main opposition.
The United Nations called for an impartial investigation into the deaths of the nine people, four of them Turks, in the takeover by naval commandos who encountered violent resistance.
"Israel's behavior should definitely, definitely be punished," an irate Erdogan told a meeting of his parliamentary deputies, adding: "The time has come for the international community to say 'enough'."
The incident put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ties with United States President Barack Obama under further strain.
He cancelled talks with Obama to fly home from Canada to deal with the crisis.
At the Gaza frontier town of Rafah, dozens of people raced for the border after Egypt said it would be opened "for an unlimited time" to allow Palestinians and aid to cross.
Israel said its navy was ready to intercept another aid vessel that organizers of the flotilla planned to sent to the Gaza Strip next week.
Big questions were unanswered: How far Israel could continue to blockade 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after condemnation from allies and how it misjudged the situation and dropped marines onto the Turkish ship where they opened fire.
Activists were held incommunicado by Israel but their accounts began to emerge after some were deported.
"We did not resist at all, we couldn't even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?" said Mihalis Grigoropoulos, who was on a vessel behind the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which most of the violence occurred.
Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet to discuss the fallout from what Israeli newspapers termed a blundered raid.
Government sources said the ministers would consider whether to allow detained Turkish activists to return home on two planes that Turkey sent to Israel.
Obama said he wanted the full facts soon and regretted the loss of life.
Israel detained or deported hundreds of activists who were aboard a flotilla seized en route to the Palestinian enclave which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged the immediate lifting of "the inhumane embargo on Gaza," and Cairo announced the opening of its often-shut border with the territory run by Islamist Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's main opposition.
The United Nations called for an impartial investigation into the deaths of the nine people, four of them Turks, in the takeover by naval commandos who encountered violent resistance.
"Israel's behavior should definitely, definitely be punished," an irate Erdogan told a meeting of his parliamentary deputies, adding: "The time has come for the international community to say 'enough'."
The incident put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ties with United States President Barack Obama under further strain.
He cancelled talks with Obama to fly home from Canada to deal with the crisis.
At the Gaza frontier town of Rafah, dozens of people raced for the border after Egypt said it would be opened "for an unlimited time" to allow Palestinians and aid to cross.
Israel said its navy was ready to intercept another aid vessel that organizers of the flotilla planned to sent to the Gaza Strip next week.
Big questions were unanswered: How far Israel could continue to blockade 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after condemnation from allies and how it misjudged the situation and dropped marines onto the Turkish ship where they opened fire.
Activists were held incommunicado by Israel but their accounts began to emerge after some were deported.
"We did not resist at all, we couldn't even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?" said Mihalis Grigoropoulos, who was on a vessel behind the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which most of the violence occurred.
Netanyahu was to convene his security cabinet to discuss the fallout from what Israeli newspapers termed a blundered raid.
Government sources said the ministers would consider whether to allow detained Turkish activists to return home on two planes that Turkey sent to Israel.
Obama said he wanted the full facts soon and regretted the loss of life.
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