Rasim Aghayev: "We are now facing the act of revenge, typical for
Israel and thus aimed at both tactical and strategic goals"

06 January 2009 [17:30] – Today.Az

"The offensive in Gaza, currently held by Israel, has been prepared
for long, said famous political scientist Rasim Aghayev.

According him, when an offensive is held by all rules of military art,
it seems excessive to him to speak about who is to be blamed for it.

"We are now facing the act of revenge, typical for Israel and thus
aimed at both tactical and strategic goals. The tactical goals of
Israel are caused by an intention to terminate the radical wing of
Hamas and the intention to rehabilitate after the defeat during the
previous military actions in Lebanon, where Israeli army faced strong
resistance of Islamic organizations.

As for the strategical purposes of Israel, it aims to become a
dominating force in the Near East. This is connected with the fact that
since the USSR collapse the world order, preserved by previously
reached agreement, has collapsed as well. Therefore, the United States
supports Israel in open, Russia preserves neutrality, while Europeans
observe the developments as the moments of one more fight movie.

No one wants to recognize the fact that the policy of force Israel was
orienting to for the past ten years, is currently failing. Yes, Israel
is able to eliminate the radical wing of Hamas, but in the result this
externally backed offensive in the Gaza strip made Palestinians
stronger, while implies their readiness to military actions with any
enemy", said Aghayev.

As for the position of Azerbaijan considering the statement of the
Foreign Ministry of our country about Azerbaijan’s support to efforts
of Palestinian people for attaining peace and stability in the region
and creation of an independent Palestinian state, the expert said.

"Azerbaijan’s position in this conflict had been balanced before the
current offensive of Israel in the Gaza strip. But our country needed
to display a clearer position due to the fact of killing civilians in
this region. Our country needed to define its attitude towards
Palestinians. As not only Israel is bellicose at this stage, but
Arabians also share their responsibility for the continuation of war,
though it is, certainly, necessary to find peaceful ways of the
conflict settlement. And in this connection, Muslim countries,
including Azerbaijan, could play their positive role", said the expert.

He noted that Azerbaijan’s policy towards Israel is developing
successfully and he considers that there are areas for deepening and
expanding the relations.

"Yes, today world Armenians poses a threat to Azerbaijan and therefore,
we need allies in the face of the Jewish lobby.

But this circumstance must not cause the distancing of our country from
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but promote activity work in
Azerbaijan for rapproachment of the conflict parties and the soonest
and peaceful resolution of this conflict, while our distancing from the
conflict may weaken the position of our country in the Muslim world",
concluded the expert.