BY MAHIR KAYNAK
STAR- There is no justification for the tragedy in Gaza. Hamas' ineffective attacks and Israel's excessive reaction show that the parties aren't thinking ahead or else are pursuing some unseen goal.
Israel is ignoring all the protests and continuing its senseless attacks. But the protests have an important characteristic, namely it is mostly Muslims who are condemning Israel. This creates the impression that the protests aren't based on humanitarian concerns, but religious differences. Muslims should stress that Israel's attacks are on humanity and urge everyone to protest this suffering. The situation has consciously or unconsciously been turned into a conflict between Muslims and Jews. Muslims should have said that Israel is violating human rights, and then the West's stance on this would show if its rhetoric is sincere or not.
This situation has separated Muslims living in the West from others. They even can't act together to stop a humanitarian tragedy. There are also concerns that this split could be seen in other issues as well.
The public sorrow and anger over this situation isn't being reflected in various governments. This is causing people living in the region to distrust their rulers. For example, there's a huge gap between the Egyptian people and the government on this, and so an environment is being sown for the public protest to be directed towards the government. This could play an important role in changing governments in the region. Iran's harsh rhetoric prior to the conflict has been replaced by a calmer stance. So nobody should be surprised if there is tension between the governments and people in countries in the region, excepting Turkey.
Turkey's response has been in line with public sentiments, which can be seen as the right course.
We can set principles about how we should act towards developments in our region. Turkey isn't against any nation and thus won't allow thing to degenerate into anti-Semitism. Turkey will make its policies not only in line with its interests, but also for the purpose of promoting peace in the region and providing public safety and welfare. In its alliances, Turkey will not seek pacts based on religion or origin, but similar thoughts and projects for the future. It will also show that it believes that a harmonious world order can be ensured through reconciliation, rather than destructive conflicts.
This would mean seeing only the Israeli government as responsible for its policies, and assuming the public will eventually oppose them, and showing that enmity against nations isn't in line with our understanding.