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July 2010 - News
July 2010

Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla destroys chances of peace

The Israeli attack on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the siege of Gaza has "destroyed any chance for peace in the near future", President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview aired by the BBC on June 17.

Speaking from Damascus, Assad said the attack, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists from Turkey, "proved that this [Israeli] government is another pyromaniac government and you cannot achieve peace with such a government". He added that the attack had brought the region closer to war, something Syria was working to prevent.

Assad's comments to the BBC followed a June 7 meeting in Istanbul where he joined leaders from 21 countries to jointly express their condemnation of the May 31 assault by Israeli forces.

"What happened is an ugly crime," Assad said during the meeting. "This is not Syrian or Turkish talk only… there is semi-unanimity in the world on describing what happened as an ugly crime."

Assad also spoke at length about the implications of the incident on regional relations, emphasising the joint Syrian and Turkish support for the Palestinian cause.

"The red Turkish flag, which is a symbol of the martyrs' blood, this time around will take its colour from the Turkish martyrs' blood which was shed on the Palestinian shores," he said. "It will continue to flutter in the face of the Israelis until all rights return to their owners."

Regional leaders roundly condemned the pre-dawn raid by Israeli naval commandos on the flotilla of six ships which occurred in international waters.

Speaking at the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum in Istanbul on June 10, Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otri praised the heroism of the flotilla activists. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the Middle East was suffering under Israel's "criminal and barbaric" attitude, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the audience: "We support Turkey's demands not only about the international investigation, but for Israel to apologise."

For its part, Israel argues that activists on the aid ships attacked its troops who then acted in self-defence. To date, the Israeli government has refused to agree to an international inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, the four Syrians who were part of the flotilla returned home to a hero's welcome on June 1.

Exiled Archbishop of Jerusalem Hilarion Capucci, along with Shaza Barakat, Mohammad Satlah and Hasan Rifai, were welcomed back in Damascus by cheering crowds. The four arrived from Jordan after being imprisoned by Israeli authorities for two days.

"Israel won't be able to continue the same way it is used to, the situation on the regional and international arenas won't allow [the Gaza] siege to continue," Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban said after meeting the group at the Dedeman Hotel in Damascus.