HELSINKI, July 6, (Agencies): Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday said Israel had no intention of apologising for a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship in which nine people died.
Lieberman’s comments, during a visit to Helsinki, came ahead of a much anticipated meeting in Washington between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It also followed Turkey’s insistence earlier Tuesday that Israel should apologise for the May 31 raid.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists — eight Turks and a dual Turkish-US national — were killed in the assault.
“We don’t have any intention... to apologise. We think it is maybe much better to downplay the issue,” Lieberman said.
“We’ve had for many years very friendly and very stable relations with Turkey,” he added.
Lieberman also stressed that Israel’s relations with the United States were “very good.”
The Washington meeting is meant to help put an end to an unusual public rift over Israeli settlement building and help invigorate the Jewish state’s peace talks with the Palestinians.
“As between friends, sometimes we have some disputes and misunderstandings,” Lieberman said, referring to the US.
Earlier Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a television interview that Israel must apologise for the May 31 bloodshed and pay compensation.
“Israel should either apologise and pay compensation unilaterally as a result of its own inquiry ... or if it does not want to do that... it should wait for the results of (a probe by) an international commission,” Davutoglu told the TGRT channel Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out an apology and a senior government official reiterated Monday that “Israel will never apologise for defending its citizens.”
Lieberman, speaking in Helsinki, also warned that Iran’s ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons could set off “a crazy nuclear arms race” in the Middle East.
“You must understand that if Iranians gain nuclear capability, we will see a crazy nuclear arms race in the whole Middle East with consequences I don’t even want to think about,” he told reporters in the Finnish capital.
Iran’s nuclear ambition “is the biggest threat to the Gulf countries, it’s the biggest threat to the Middle East,” he added at the joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb at the end of a one-day visit.
Israel, which has the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has backed US-led efforts to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability through sanctions, but has also refused to rule out military force.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme is aimed solely at peaceful purposes.
Israel is easing its blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza to allow in virtually all consumer goods, items from household cleaners to timber that had been barred from import for years.
But because Israel will continue to ban most travel and exports and restrict the import of desperately needed construction materials, the new rules are unlikely to restore the territory’s devastated economy or allow rebuilding of all that was destroyed in last year’s war.
The White House welcomed the changes that were announced Monday as Netanyahu flew to Washington for a meeting with President Barack Obama. International Mideast envoy Tony Blair said Israel’s measures “should have a dramatic influence on the daily lives of the people of Gaza and on the private sector.”
The new blockade rules come in response to an outcry following a deadly Israeli raid on a blockade-busting flotilla at the end of May.
Gaza business leaders and rights activists said the measures are far short of what Gaza needs, and that the only active cargo crossing, Kerem Shalom, may not be enought to bring in all the goods now permitted.
Israeli officials said the remaining restrictions, including on exports, are essential for maintaining security.
On Monday, goods dropped off at Kerem Shalom included washing machines, which were previously banned from import. Aid supplies that had been transported on the intercepted flotilla also found their way to the crossing, including previously banned mattresses.
Israel started restricting movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza after the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, by Hamas-allied militants. A year later, when the Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza, Israel — backed by Egypt — imposed a fuller closure, allowing in only a few dozen types of humanitarian goods like basic foods and medicine.
Israel says it will lift the blockade if Hamas releases the soldier, recognizes Israel and renounces violence. Hamas, which is considered a terror organization by the US, Israel and the European Union, has rejected those terms.
Meanwhile, A delegation of European foreign ministers on Monday accepted Israel’s invitation to visit the Gaza Strip and said it was an “important opportunity” to monitor the implementation of measures announced by Israel.
Israel has largely refused to let foreign diplomats pass through its checkpoints into Gaza since it tightened its blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas Islamists seized control in 2007.
In a joint letter, the foreign ministers of Italy, Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany thanked Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for the invitation.
“In the joint written reply, we said we would gladly accept the invitation and hoped that the measures announced by the Israeli government regarding Gaza would soon be implemented,” the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The steps that had already been taken were “a noteworthy and encouraging sign of Israeli policy towards Gaza”, it added.
Netanyahu, facing mounting international pressure, announced in June that Israel would ease its embargo on Gaza to let in all good except for arms and materials that could be used for military purposes.
The blockade has been criticised as collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in a bid to weaken Hamas, which refuses to meet Western demands that they recognise Israel and renounce violence.
Israel came under strong pressure to soften the policy after an international outcry when its commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on May 31 during a raid on a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships.
The German Foreign Ministry said the European diplomats aimed to conduct talks with the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority during their visit throughout Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
An Israel official said last month the delegation would not meet Hamas officials.