TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on recent developments in the Middle East. A summary of his columns is as follows:
This is the fifth day of Israeli’s warlike operation in Ramallah. Israeli troops moved into Bethlehem and are advancing towards the Gaza Strip.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is meeting this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, who is also chairing the meeting, got a harsh reaction from fellow OIC members when he argued that Palestinians who carried out armed attacks in Israel must be considered terrorists. Meanwhile, many countries, from Cuba to France, stressed that recent developments in the Middle East necessitated immediate UN action.
Israeli troops moved into the Palestinian territories on the grounds that the terrorists who are perpetrating the wave of suicide bombings and armed attacks within Israel’s borders must be caught immediately. The Israeli government is accusing Arafat of supporting these attacks. Washington tends to agree with this view.
Yesterday in Ankara, the Turkish government also discussed these developments. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem harshly criticized the Israeli operation but also stressed that Palestinians should immediately end their attacks on Israeli civilians. The autopsy report on the Turkish soldier who died last week near Hebron has not been released yet. It is clear that some people are trying to send a warning to Turkey on certain sensitive issues!
Furthermore, Turkey’s command takeover of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan has almost become definite. However, all other world problems, even Iraq and Afghanistan, have recently been overshadowed by the Israeli offensive.
One searches in vain for any positive and hopeful developments in the Middle East. We’ll see how the US tries to tackle this chaos and violence. Considering that the Palestinians have no regular army with might to speak of, the US’ argument to the world that Israel’s operation is part of ‘the war against terrorism’ will likely fall on deaf ears.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION