Greece, a useful voice in the region
The reaction to the attack by Hamas reconfirmed the deepening strategic cooperation between Greece and Israel, which is totally independent of the growing mistrust between Jerusalem and Ankara that makes any rapprochement between the two, at least in the short or medium term, extremely difficult.
Greece has taken a clear stand against the terrorist action, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself – in line with humanitarian and international law as “collective punishment is prohibited by the laws of war” – while at the same time making a clear distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people.
Athens has emphasized the need for Israel to act in a way that minimizes the humanitarian cost.
For its part it is trying to contribute to a viable path to peace as the war will undoubtedly lead to more deaths of innocent people – the bombing of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in an Israeli airstrike last Thursday being a painful reminder of this reality. On the diplomatic front Athens has repeatedly taken the position that for a sustainable peace to be attained, leading to stability in the wider region, a two-state solution should be pursued through the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
A medium-size country, Greece acts as a credible and reliable Western voice in the region, the result of being on the one hand, a sincerely close friend of Israel, and on the other, a country with historic ties with the Arab world.
In this capacity it should be ready to facilitate any undertaking towards peace, given its geographic proximity and, more importantly, the respect it commands on all sides.
