Arab and Muslim leaders should emulate Turkey's prime minister if they want to ensure Israel doesn't get away with murder again, writes Aijaz Zaka Syed* Turkey's Ottoman Empire died a quiet death nearly a century ago. But the country continues to enjoy a unique eminence of leadership across the Middle East and in much of the Muslim world. And Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly justified this love and respect for Turkey with his political courage and candour. From the lashing Erdogan gave Israel's Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos following the Gaza offensive earlier this year to his call this week demanding UN action on Justice Richard Goldstone's report on that offensive, Turkey continues to show rare leadership. Erdogan's nation stands up for justice and fair play, rather than going along with the shameful double standards that the rest of the world seems to take in its stride. This is remarkable for a country that enjoys close, strategic relations with the United States, is a NATO member and hopes to be the first Muslim country to join the European Union. More important, Turkey has full diplomatic relations with Israel and is perhaps the only Muslim country with which Israel has close economic and military ties. (So you can't really throw the regular accusation of "anti-Semitism" against Ankara). This is largely because of Turkey's historical relations with the Jewish community. The Ottoman caliphs sheltered and protected the Jews for centuries while they were being hunted and killed all across Christian Europe. These close ties haven't deterred Turkey's present leadership from confronting Israel on its persecution of Palestinians. Turkey, Erdogan told a huge public rally last week, has never been on the side of oppressors and it has always defended the oppressed: "We are not against any country, but we are against injustice." He stopped short of pointing out that yesterday's oppressed had become today's oppressors. Meanwhile, in an interesting interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper this week, Erdogan turned the spotlight on another piece of international theatre involving Israel. Commenting on Iran's nuclear conflict with the US and Europe, the Turkish prime minister has slammed the West for being unfair to Iran and applying double standards on the issue. Dismissing the Western hysteria over Iran's non- existent nuclear weapons as "gossip", the Turkish leader pointed out that many of those lecturing Iran today on its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons had large nuclear arsenals at their disposal. In doing so, Erdogan has given voice to an overwhelming majority around the world that has long felt that the West is unreasonably targeting Iran -- just as Iraq had been -- even as it turns a blind eye to Israel's nukes. This is not the first time Erdogan has exposed international duplicity. During the UN General Assembly session and the debate on nuclear disarmament in New York last month, Erdogan reminded the world that Israel has nuclear weapons and has used banned phosphorous bombs against Palestinians. "Why are these not on the UN agenda? Why is it always Iran?" he asked. If only more Muslim leaders could think and act like Erdogan, and confront the big bullies of our world, their people wouldn't be in the mess they are in today. Speaking truth to power is never easy. But it is especially difficult in the Middle East. The rest of the world may have bid farewell to colonial hegemony long ago. But the world's most volatile and sensitive region remains hostage to its imperial past and its divisive legacy in some way or another. Which is why leaders such as Erdogan come as a ray of hope in an otherwise dark and dull Middle Eastern sky. I wonder why no other Muslim leader has had the courage to hold a mirror to the West over Iran? You didn't hear a single voice of protest across the Middle East against this relentless campaign targeting Iran. Is it because Iran is a Shia nation and majority of the Muslim world is Sunni? Or do we truly believe the fiction that Iran's nuclear programme and its so-called expansionist ambitions are targeted at its Arab and Muslim neighbours? How can we ignore the historical reality that until our colonial masters arrived, Arabs and Iranians, Sunnis and Shias, had coexisted in peace and harmony since the dawn of Islam? The disastrous, eight year-long war between Iraq and Iran, the only Arab-Persian conflict in post-Islam history and that claimed nearly a million lives, was a gift of the West. When will we realise that from Palestine to Pakistan the Muslim world is on fire today because of our silence and inaction over the games big powers have been playing in the region for decades. And we are silent once again even as the whole world debates the UN report on Gaza and demands action against Israel. Hundreds of peace activists, human rights groups and bloggers around the world have been running a tireless campaign to hold Israel to account for its war crimes. It was thanks to their noble efforts that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) decided to refer Goldstone's findings to the UN Security Council. Defying US pressure and a boycott by the Europeans, the UNHRC voted 19 against three to send the report on Gaza to the Security Council. The matter now rests before the five permanent members of the Security Council. Those big five have to decide if Israel should be asked to probe the Gaza war crimes or to recommend that the International Criminal Court take action against Israel. The US is likely to do neither. Israel's patron saint could simply veto any UN initiative against Israel, as it always has. The Gaza report stands no chance in the UN as long as the US is there to protect Israel. And it will continue to protect Israel -- even while its hands are dripping with the blood of innocents -- as long as the Arab and Muslim countries do not speak in one voice. The report by the South African Jewish judge is not without flaws. First of all it puts Israel and Hamas on the same level for crimes against humanity during the recent Israeli offensive on Gaza, which is absurd. One is a nuclear power and the most powerful military force in the Middle East and the other is a resistance group. All Hamas has at its disposal are its rudimentary rockets. Even more absurd is Goldstone's recommendation asking Israel to investigate its own crimes against Palestinians. Even if it does so, to mollify the world opinion, how legitimate can such an exercise be, and what would it achieve? Surely, Israel cannot resolve to punish itself. However, the UN report is crucial in that it sets a historic precedent of confronting a criminal, ruthless power set against an utterly defenceless and long persecuted civilian population. Israel has gotten away with murder, literally, all these years because the world failed to confront it and its protectors. This is why it keeps killing and terrorising the Palestinians again and again. This will stop only if the Israelis are made to pay for their appalling crimes. And the Goldstone Report provides a rare opportunity to do so. By a strange coincidence, the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council and the larger General Assembly are with two countries that are sympathetic to Palestinians -- Turkey and Libya. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon is under intense pressure to end the world body's inaction on the Israel issue. All that is needed is unity in the ranks of Arab and Muslim states. Only this can persuade the US from blindly protecting Israel. So can the Arab and Muslim countries, and all reasonable people everywhere, please stand up and speak out for a change? History will not forgive them if they fail to do so yet again. * The writer is opinion editor of The Khaleej Times.
