The Israeli raid against the six-ship flotilla which carried armless civilians, the fact that nine civilians, four of whom were citizens of the Turkish Republic, lost their lives during this raid, is utterly frustrating, agonizing. It must be condemned. Diplomatically expressed as 'disproportional use of power', the raid was, with the words of Barones Tonge, who was a speaker at the United Nations Palestine's Indispensable Rights Commission that I have recently attended, was a 'violent attack', just what the 'disproportional use of power' expression is trying to mask. Since our belongings are on their way back, the first thing to do now is try to understand what is going on so that we can find an answer to the question 'what in the world was that ship doing over there?' Letting rhetoric aside, what is really going on? What policy should be set following a cool-headed analysis? Why is it wrong to look at the Palestine matter focusing on Gaza, as done in Turkey? Let's have a look at what has been going on.

Looking at what has happened, the first lesson to be learned is that of Israel's. Covering the problem up is just like shooting around with your eyes shut. It doesn't solve the problem, plus, you might end up hurting yourself. Basically, this is what has happened. The Palestine policy of Israel has to change comprehensively. Israel can not be safe by ignoring the way the Palestinian people live. Thus, she has not been. This exact point is what the international society has to make Israel understand. The future of Israel depends on how quickly a Palestine Government with a strong institutional structure can be founded. Palestine's capacity construction and prosperity is not harmful to Israel. It is beneficial.

What bothered me the most about Israel lately was the fake feeling of safety. I personally think the source of this feeling lies in the policy of building up walls between Israel and Palestinian settlements which first started with Ariel Sharon. It wasn't smart of them to expect that with this wall, the issue will go away by itself. The basis of what we encounter today is this policy based on disengagement and separation. This, is the first lesson.

The second lesson that should be learned is that it is only Hamas who has benefited from this last incident, though temporarily. The success here, however, is related to rhetoric, in reality. Hamas has brought the Gaza matter to the agenda of world's public opinion as the Palestine matter. This, of course, is a success. Just on May 29, İsmail Haniyef himself was telling how the 'aid flotilla' operation was a 'win-win situation': "It is a success if the flotilla breaks the blockade and arrives to Gaza; it is also a success if Israel intervenes and they can't make it to the harbour." In this case, the 'disproportional' raid of Israel towards the civilians is the grand prize for Hamas.

Palestine, for some time now, has been going through a period where Hamas has been losing power. How has Hamas been losing power? Egypt's powerful intervention in order to ensure Palestine's unity had started to drain the financial resources of Hamas. Egypt is Gaza's door to knock. Thus, Egypt holds the destiny of Hamas in its hands. In the last couple of months, Gaza could only pay its civil servants half their pay checks. Nearly all the people in Gaza depend on these civil servants' pay checks to survive. However, there is not any shortage of goods. Some reports even say that the craftsmen have been complaining about the lowered prices due to excess supply of goods. In Gaza, there is income shortage. Now, a new picture has emerged. The 'West Bank First' policy that has been going on for quite some time, will have to be revised. The key to this, is first to build a cooperation platform among Palestinians. It is important to obtain results from this platform. From this point of view, it can be seen that Egypt works in a more active manner than Turkey. President Erdoğan has some things to learn from Hüsnü Mübarek, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in this respect. This, is the second key point that should be taken into consideration.

Moving on to the third point: although there is a process of destruction in Gaza, under the ruling of Hamas, there is a construction process in West Bank. The theoretical infrastructure of Palestinian government is being built. A new program is carried out, boycotting the goods that are manufactured in the illegal Israeli settlings in West Bank, without interacting with Israel. Please note that the boycott in Palestine is not against all Israeli products. Only the products produced in the factories installed in the illegal settlings in West Bank are boycotted. Approximately 20 thousand Palestinians who work in those factories receive one third the wage they receive in Israel. Occupational health conditions are worse than they are in Israel according to the reports of ILO. Palestine, for the first time, has started producing permanent political perspectives instead of giving immediate reactions. This is a positive progression. Our government might take a lesson from this. The source of the positive progression is the West Bank. Along with West Bank, similar permanent political perspectives should be put in practice in Gaza, immediately. This is the third point.

Turkey can contribute to each one of these three issues above. Turkey might take on a role to help find a 'midway' that Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian government in West Bank can meet. In order to do that, Turkey must maintain the role of being the one to whom the three countries can trust. What Turkey needs to learn might be this: Turkey should undertake its role. It is important to stay calm in respect to the perspective of becoming the regional actor. It is crucial for the regional actor to be able to analyze a geography that exceeds the region.  This matter shows us that there is a problem. Is the only way to get along with the neighbors, becoming enemies with allies?  No. It is not the rhetoric that matters, it is the result.

This commentary was published in Referans daily on 03.06.2010