The diplomatic fallout from Gaza carnage
The stark contrast that played out on split screens throughout the world Monday - between the U.S. embassy gala in Jerusalem and the killings of Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces - have exposed Israel to a mounting regional and international pressure, with the Jewish state facing condemnation from many Arab and Muslim countries, and calls for restraint from some of its allies. Others have condemned rocket attacks from Gaza and said that Israel has a right to defend itself.
In the deadliest day of violence in Gaza since the end of the 2014 conflict, almost 60 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops during protests to mark the 70th anniversary of Nakba - the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes - and the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have held weekly protests at the border in the lead-up to the 15 May anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians from land which became Israel in the war which followed Israel’s founding in 1948. The border protests have left over 100 people dead.
On Monday, the Israeli military said 40,000 Palestinians had taken part in “violent riots” at 13 locations along the Gaza Strip security fence.
During the protests, some Palestinians hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops, rolled burning tires at the security fence and tried to pull it down with chains.
While most Palestinians have demonstrated at a distance from the heavily guarded fence, Israel said its soldiers only used lethal force against people carrying out “terrorist activity and not on demonstrators”. It said terrorists wanted to use the protests as cover to cross into its territory and carry out attacks.
How have nations reacted?
The harshest reaction came from the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who accused Israel of “genocide” and being run as an “apartheid state.”
Erdogan’s unbridled fury over the Gaza killings by Israeli forces escalated the diplomatic dispute between Turkey and Israel, with both countries expelling each other’s envoys on Tuesday.
Turkey ordered the Israeli ambassador to leave for an unspecified period of time. Ankara had already withdrawn its Tel Aviv ambassador for consultations while Israel ordered the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave, also for an unspecified period of time.
Erdogan said Tuesday that “Netanyahu is the PM of an apartheid state . ... He has the blood of Palestinians on his hands and can’t cover up crimes by attacking Turkey.”
Commenting on Twitter, the Turkish president said Israel has been occupying the land of defenseless people in violation of United Nations resolutions. He suggested that Netanyahu consult the Ten Commandments if he wants a lesson in humanity.
In return, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Erdogan. “A man who sends thousands of Turkish soldiers to hold the occupation of northern Cyprus and invades Syria will not preach to us when we defend ourselves from an attempt by Hamas. A man whose hands are stained with the blood of countless Kurdish citizens in Turkey and Syria is the last person to preach to us about combat ethics.”
On Friday, Erdogan hosted for the second time in half a year a summit of the world’s main panIslamic group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to send a “strong message to the world” over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
The Turkish president had already hosted an extraordinary meeting of OIC, in December last year, to denounce US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
On Monday, South Africa recalled its ambassador in Israel. The country’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, in a statement, condemned in the strongest terms possible “the latest act of violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces along the Gaza border.”
On Wednesday, Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador, Simona Frankel, to a meeting at its Foreign Ministry to protest the bloodshed in Gaza. Belgium’s prime minister, on Monday called for an international probe of the events in Gaza while linking them to the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
The Irish government also summoned the Israeli ambassador, Zeev Boker, over the Gaza killings. Ireland has called for an independent UN investigation.
Other countries, including UK France, Germany, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria and the European Union also condemned Israel’s reaction to Monday’s protests.
Nigeria, on Thursday, urged Israel to stop the use of excessive force against unarmed civilians. “The Israeli Government must stop such use of excessive force against unarmed civilians, including children, and respect the basic human rights of Palestinians as well as international law,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The ministry had, on Wednesday, re-assured that Nigeria’s official position for a two state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not changed.
Pakistan High Commission in Abuja said it observed Friday 18, 2018 “as Palestine Solidarity Day” to show solidarity with Palestinians and to assure them that the Islamic Republic would “continue its support to the people of Palestine.”
“Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force. Hamas and those leading the demonstrations in Gaza must ensure that they remain strictly non-violent and must not exploit them for other means,” European Union Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
Reaffirming the two-state solution as the best way to resolve the conflict, Moegherini called for a return to the negotiation table “for the sake both of the Israeli and the Palestinian people, and the entire region.”
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone call that civilians had the right to protest peacefully.
At a press conference in No 10 following talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the Gaza killings were “destructive” to attempts for a lasting peace, and an inquiry into what happened was paramount.
While Palestinians had a legitimate right to protest, she said, she was concerned about extremist infiltration and the role Hamas had played.
Israel’s Gaza response ‘wholly disproportionate’ - UN rights chief The UN human rights chief
Friday slammed Israel’s on deadly reaction to protests along the Gaza border as “wholly disproportionate”, backing calls for an international investigation.
Opening a special session of the UN Human Rights Council that could set up a commission of inquiry into the Gaza carnage, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein warned that “killing resulting from the unlawful use of force by an occupying power may also constitute willful killings, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
He said Israel has systematically deprived Palestinians of their human rights, with 1.9 million in Gaza “caged in a toxic slum from birth to death”.
“Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week,” he added. “End the occupation, and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear.”
He pointed out though that while at least 60 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in a single day of protests on Monday, “on the Israeli side, one soldier was reportedly wounded, slightly, by a stone”.
“The stark contrast in casualties on both sides is ... suggestive of a wholly disproportionate response,” he told the council. Arab League demands probe Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, speaking at an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, demanded an independent investigation into the Gaza violence.
“We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation,” he said. “We are facing a state of blatant aggression against international law and legitimacy, which was embodied by the US embassy’s transfer in the occupying state to Jerusalem.”
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, said the Kingdom will not hesitate to support the Palestinians’ fight for their legitimate rights.
In his opening speech to the Arab League, Al-Jubeir said the Kingdom deplored the US administration’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, a step that represented “a significant bias against the historical and permanent rights of the Palestinian people in the city.”
“The Palestinian issue is our first issue and will remain so until the Palestinian people obtain all their legitimate rights, foremost of which is the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
Egypt opens Gaza border for month of Ramadan
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has made a rare decision to open the Rafah crossing with Gaza for a month, allowing Palestinians to cross during the holy period of Ramadan.
The decision to keep the crossing open was taken “to alleviate the suffering” of residents in the Palestinian enclave, El-Sisi said on Facebook late Thursday.
The Rafah crossing is Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world not controlled by Israel, but Egypt has largely sealed it in recent years, citing security threats.