Turkey’s president has warned Israel about the emergence of democracies in the Middle East, which will not tolerate Tel Aviv’s oppression against Palestinians.
“Sooner or later, the Middle East will become democratic,” wrote Turkish President Abdullah Gul in an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Wednesday, referring to the potential outcome of the ongoing anti-government demonstrations across the Arab world.
The public have been staging anti-regime protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan, heartened by the recent successful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
“The peoples of the region, without exception, revolted not only in the name of universal values but also to regain their long-suppressed national pride and dignity,” Gul noted.
“In the coming 50 years, Arabs will constitute the overwhelming majority of people between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. The new generation of Arabs is much more conscious of democracy, freedom and national dignity,” he said.
Gul said the prospective democracies would not adopt pro-Israeli stances.
“By definition a democratic government should reflect the true wishes of its people. Such a government cannot afford to pursue foreign policies that are perceived as unjust, undignified and humiliating by the public,” the Turkish president stated.
“In such a context, Israel cannot afford to be perceived as an apartheid island surrounded by an Arab sea of anger,” he added.
Tel Aviv is condemned for implementing an apartheid system, under which it indulges Jews while withholding basic requirements from the Palestinians.
To avoid the dire consequences, Gul said Israel had to seriously consider a 2002 proposal by the regional grouping of Arab League that Tel Aviv withdraw behind the borders of 1967.
The year saw Israeli forces capturing the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the promised capital of any potential Palestinian state of East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Tel Aviv later annexed East al-Quds and the West Bank. The international community has refused to recognize either the capture or the acquisition.
Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but the military has been taking the coastal sliver under regular bloody attacks ever since.
(Press TV)
