Political deal will not affect Turkish-Palestinian bond

The Israel-Turkey normalisation deal signed on June 27 is unfavourable for Palestinians, for Gazans, in particular.

Much is being said to blame Turkey or lessen the damage of seeing Turkey — which has for years been one of the most visible backers of Palestinian resistance — reach out to Israel. But nothing can diminish the psychological defeat felt in Gaza following the announcement.

Gazans are emotionally exhausted after 10 years of siege dotted by devastating wars and the lack of any political horizon.

Aside from their resistance, undying faith and legendary steadfastness, Palestinians in Gaza have looked up with much hope and anticipation to a few friends. One was Turkey.

The relationship was cemented in May 2010, when Israeli commandos raided the “Freedom Flotilla” in international waters, killing nine Turkish humanitarian activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara. A tenth activist died later from his wounds.

Since then, many Palestinians and many Turks felt that the relationship between Palestine and Turkey entered a new phase, not of words, but of deeds.

They had more in common than sentimental gestures of friendship now; they shared blood and tears.

There is no question that Turkey, an important NATO member and an American ally in the region, has been under much pressure since it demoted its diplomatic ties with Israel in 2011.

But the fact is that Turkey did not make the lifting of the suffocating and deadly siege on Gaza a criterion for normalising ties with Israel.

The Turkish economy, political stability and national security were not exceedingly damaged by its rift with Israel. The little known fact is that the rift hardly affected trade between the two countries.

“Though political relations had hit rock bottom, both Turkey and Israel knew business must go on,” Turkey’s TRT World recently reported.

“Business and politics were separated by a Chinese-Wall like efficiency. Trade not only continued, but expanded by 26 per cent compared to 2010.”

Moreover, 2013 and 2014 were two of the busiest years for Turkish Airlines carrying passengers between Turkey and Israel and, in 2015, trade between the two countries rose to $5.6 billion, according to Turkish Statistics Institute, cited by TRT.

Still, thanks to what seemed like a principled Turkish position on Gaza, Turkey’s status, at least among Muslim nations, had been elevated like never before. 

Perhaps Turkey felt embattled as a result of the war on Syria, the rise of militant violence, uncertain economic forecasts, the flood of refugees, its conflict with Russia and the political crack within its ruling party. 

But Palestinians played no part in that.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have felt the need to re-evaluate his political course as a result of whatever political calculation he found urgent and reasonable, but what sin did Gazans commit to be disowned in such a fashion?

It is a “stab in the back”, Gaza Professor Haidar Eid wrote.

It is a “cheap manipulation of the Palestinian cause”, complained Gaza journalist, Ghada Albardawil.

While others tried to maintain conciliatory language, the disappointment in Gaza — in fact among most Palestinians — is unmistakable.

Gaza-based Dr Ahmad Yousef refused to blame Turkey for failing to lift the siege.

Yousef, who used to be a political adviser to Hamas’ Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh, told Al Monitor that “Hamas believes that, under the Turkish-Israeli agreement, Turkey achieved as much as it can to ease the blockade on Gaza, which has been plagued by economic crises”.

This reasoning, however well intentioned, is off the mark.

Turkey, of course, cannot be blamed for the failure to lift the siege. The siege is an Israeli act, and its deadly outcomes are the moral and legal responsibility of Israel, its regional partners and Western supporters.

However, Turkey, like every other country in the world, should feel compelled not to do business with a government accused of war crimes, including apartheid, and that continuously violates international and humanitarian law.

With Israel illegally occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and imposing a deadly siege on Gaza, what moral justification can the Turkish government provide to justify its normalisation of ties with Israel? 

Not only does the agreement deny the families of the 10 Turkish victims (considered martyrs by Palestinians) the right to press criminal charges against their Israeli murderers, but thousands of Palestinian families, too, will have no such chance.

In other words, business as usual will return to the Turkish-Israeli relations, while Gazans are trapped behind fences, walls and barbed wire.

Those who wish to see the cup half full, cite the fact that Gaza will be receiving tonnes of Turkish aid, a future hospital with a 200-bed capacity and a water desalination plant, important when knowing that only 3 per cent of Gaza’s water is actually drinkable.

But the supplies will come via an Israeli seaport — which is exactly what the Mavi Marmara activists refused to do.

The political move would further validate the Israeli occupation and its siege apparatus.

Worse, this arrangement — if it is indeed fulfilled — would reduce the crisis in Gaza to just a humanitarian issue. But this is not the case. 

Gaza is not suffering just from an economic embargo, but also from a politically motivated blockade following the 2006 democratic elections in Palestine, the result of which was rejected by Israel and its backers.

Gazans are punished purely as a result of a political issue and, later, for their resistance and refusal to succumb to pressure and bullying. 

Neither foodstuff nor a hospital or cleaner water will resolve any of these problems.

When Israeli commandos violently raided the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010, something extraordinary happened in Gaza: a deep sense of loss, but also a sense of pride.

It was the first time that this generation experienced real solidarity emanating from a Muslim country and exhibited with resolution and a willingness to sacrifice.

For years, many in Gaza were partly sustained by the hope that Turkey would maintain its support (as Palestinians were promised repeatedly) until the siege is lifted. 

This has not happened. Moreover, Israel is expected to generate massive wealth as a result of the deal, especially when it is able to export its natural gas to Europe via Turkey.

But if this is not entirely about money, at least from the Turkish perspective, what is it?

A Turkish foreign policy realignment? A return to the “zero problems with our neighbours” approach in foreign policy?

Whatever it is, seeing the hopes in Gaza dashed under a crushing weight of realpolitik is disheartening.

It does not matter that some are proposing to sugarcoat the Israel-Turkey rapprochement; the deal was a blow to Palestinian hopes that the strangling siege was about to end, that they were no longer alone facing Israel’s military machine and its powerful Western benefactors. 

Perhaps the deal is also a wake-up call — that Palestinians must count on themselves first and foremost, achieve their elusive unity and seek solidarity the world over.

Still, even this unfair deal cannot possibly break the bond between the Turkish and Palestinian peoples.

The writer, www.ramzybaroud.net, has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include “Searching Jenin”, “The Second Palestinian Intifada” and “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story”. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.