Police struggled to hold back an angry crowd of hundreds outside the Israeli consulate in Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, while furious protesters shouted “Damn Israel” outside the residence of the Israeli ambassador in Ankara.
Turkey’s foreign ministry warned that the raid on the flotilla, which included Turkish vessels, may lead to “irreparable consequences” in bilateral ties.
“We strongly condemn these inhumane practices of Israel,” a written statement said.
“This deplorable incident, which took place in open seas and constitutes a fragrant breach of international law, may lead to irreparable consequences in our bilateral relations,” it said.
In Europe, condemnation was equally swift.
France said that “nothing can justify” the violence of Israel’s Gaza ship raid, and Franch President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday accused Israel of a “disproportionate use of force” in its deadly raid.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was “deeply concerned” about the deaths.
The European Union demanded Israel mount a “full inquiry” into the killing of at least 10 people in a raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton warned that Israel’s “continued policy of closure is unacceptable and politically counterproductive,” demanding “an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening” of crossings to Gaza.
Greece withdrew from joint military exercises with Israel in protest at the raid, as it summoned Israel’s ambassador to demand an “immediate” report on the safety of about 30 Greeks on board the flotilla.
A Greek non-governmental organisation said Monday that Israeli forces in helicopters and inflatable boats fired on a Greek vessel in the aid convoy attacked while heading for Gaza.
“There was an attack with live bullets against the Greek boat Sfendoni and the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, with helicopters and inflatable boats,” the Greek organisation said in a statement.
The NGO added that two Greeks were on the Mavi Marmara and 12 others with a Tunisian on Sfentoni, while 22 Greeks and eight Swedish nationals were on the Eleftheri Mesogeio.
Belgium’s foreign minister on Monday “invited” Israel’s ambassador to “explain” the decision to storm the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, his spokesman said.
Steven Vanackere “invited the Israeli ambassador to explain to him this afternoon how events unfolded,” and also to provide news of five Belgian nationals who were on board the flotilla, spokesman Bart Ouvry said.
Italy on Monday “deplored” the loss of civilian life in Israel’s raid on aid ships bound for Gaza.
“I absolutely deplore… the killing of civilians” in the assault on Monday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters, describing the Israeli pre-dawn military action as “really serious.”
“An investigation must discover the truth about what happened,” he said. “We demand a serious and detailed investigation, and I think the EU must be involved so that it is directly informed of the findings.”
The bloody ending to the high-profile mission to deliver supplies to Gaza came on the eve of a meeting in Washington between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The democratically elected Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip Monday urged Arabs and Muslims to “rise up” in front of Israeli embassies across the globe in protest against Israel’s deadly raid.
“We call on all Arabs and Muslims to rise up in front of Zionist embassies across the whole world,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
Ismail Haniya, the movement’s prime minister in Gaza, slammed the “ugly attack” in a statement in which he called for “the United Nations to protect the activists” on board the boats.
“We call on the Palestinian Authority to halt negotiations, direct or indirect, with Israel because of this crime,” said Haniya.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas slammed the navy raid as “a massacre” and announced a three-day mourning period.
“We will have to take some difficult decisions this evening,” an official from his office told Palestinian television, without giving further details.
The Palestinian Authority also called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council “to discuss the piracy, the crime and the Israeli massacre,” said top negotiator Saeb Erakat.
Israel’s Arab community called a general strike in response to an Israeli naval operation and called for protests across the country.
In response, hundreds from across the political spectrum flooded onto the streets of the northern Arab Israeli city of Nazareth to protest against the bloody attack.
Kuwait’s parliament speaker condemned the raid on the flotilla, which was carrying 16 Kuwaitis including an MP, as a “heinous Israeli crime,” as the cabinet prepared for an emergency meeting.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa slammed the raid as a “crime” against a humanitarian mission, saying the 22-country body was consulting to decide on its next step.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was “shocked” by the deadly Israeli raid and demanded Tel Aviv conduct a full investigation.
“I am shocked by reports of killings and injuries on boats carrying supplies for Gaza,” the UN chief said at a press conference. “I condemn this violence,” Ban added.
Swedish author Henning Mankell was onboard one of the ships in the Gaza aid flotilla which Israeli commandos attacked early Monday, the Swedish branch of Ship to Gaza said.
The 62-year-old, whose books about world-weary detective Kurt Wallander have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and have been adapted to film and television, said he was partaking in the flotilla to show his solidarity towards the Palestinian people.
“I think that when one talks about solidarity, one must always know that actions are what proves destiny,” he told Swedish public radio last Thursday.
“It is with actions that we prove we are ready to support something we believe is important,” he said.
Swedish-Israeli artist Dror Feiler, the chairman of the Swedish “Jews for Israeli-Palestinian peace,” as well as nine other Swedes, including a member of parliament, were also participating in the flotilla.
It remained unclear whether any of them had been wounded in the attack.
The Netherlands expressed shock over the Israeli army’s deadly raid on aid ships and said it would ask Israel for “clarifications” about the incident which has triggered worldwide condemnation.
“I am going to ask today for clarifications from the Israeli ambassador to The Hague,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in a statement.
“I am very shocked over the deaths which are deplorable. The Netherlands wants an inquiry to determine exactly how this could have happened,” Verhagen said.
“What happened today, while the Israelis and Palestinians were just starting to relaunch talks, will not bring them closer to peace,” the Dutch minister added. “I hope that it will not lead to another deadlock in the talks.”
Foreign ministry spokesman Bart Rijs said he did not know if any Dutch citizens were on board the ships carrying aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel-Turkey ties at breaking point after raid
Analysts says trade, tourism and defence ties between two countries all likely to suffer after deadly raid on aid convoy.
Israel’s assault on an aid convoy sailing to Gaza has pushed already strained relations with Turkey to breaking point, with trade, tourism and defence ties all likely to suffer, analysts said Monday.
“The repercussions will be at a scale that will not be possible to repair in a short time … Turkish-Israeli ties are at a breaking point,” Sinan Ogan from the TURKSAM think-tank wrote in an online article.
Turkey, once Israel’s main regional ally, recalled its envoy from Tel Aviv, scrapped joint military drills and called an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council after the deadly assault on the flotilla of six ships, including three from Turkey.
Ties between NATO’s sole mainly Muslim member and the Jewish state had already been damaged amid vehement Turkish criticism of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza last year and Ankara’s improving ties with Iran.
Some Turkish analysts interpreted the assault as a deliberate warning from the Israeli government towards Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted administration.
Sedat Laciner, head of the USAK think-tank, also argued the Israeli raid on the flotilla, including its lead ship, the Turkish Mavi Marmara, was “a deliberate act of revenge against Turkey over its attitude on Gaza and Iran.”
Many of the dead were Turks, according to activists involved in the campaign to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver supplies to its impoverished people.
“Israel has a professional army. It could have intervened without causing casualties if it wanted. It preferred to act in this way,” Ogan said.
Foreign policy analyst Sedat Ergin said Erdogan’s government had prompted “a questioning of Israel’s security paradigm” with its vocal criticism of the war on Gaza and improving ties with Iran and Syria.
“Israel has come to perceive Turkey as a threat… I don’t see how relations can be put back on track,” he said on NTV television.
Erdogan has defended Iran’s nuclear programme and on May 17, together with Brazil’s president, brokered a nuclear swap deal with Tehran to avert fresh UN sanctions on the Islamic republic.
In a memorable outburst, Erdogan stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum last year, accusing Israel of “barbarian” acts in Gaza and telling President Shimon Peres, sitting next to him, that “you know well how to kill people.”
Sentiment in Ankara was further inflamed in January when the Turkish ambassador was given a public dressing down by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon who made him sit on a low couch in a meeting called to protest a television series deemed to be offensive to the Jewish state.
The Israeli commentator Amos Harel, writing in the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz daily, said the envoy’s humiliation “now looks like small change”.
“Even before then, relations with Turkey had deteriorated over Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the generally anti-Israeli stance taken by Turkey’s moderately Islamist government. The new crisis is likely to lead to a total break in ties,” he wrote in the liberal daily.
Tens of thousands gathered to protest in Istanbul in the aftermath of the assault, with the crowds chanting “Damn Israel!” and “A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, revenge, revenge!”.
Turkey has long been a favourite destination for Israeli tourists but Ogan predicted holidaymakers would now stay away.
“Israeli tourists will not come this year or maybe they will not be allowed into Turkey,” he said.
“Economic ties will plunge to a minimum level and defence industry tenders will very probably be cancelled.”
Israeli companies have been among the main recipients of lucrative tenders to equip the Turkish army.
Military ties, involving also a series of joint exercises, was the driving force behind the Turkish-Israeli alliance, which was sealed in 1996 with the signing of a military cooperation accord.
Source: Middle East Online