Turkey bids farewell to Israel and the west
The deterioration of relations between Ankara and Jerusalem is a Turkish initiative, over which Israel has no influence. The hostile stance taken by Turkey towards Israel is part of the major transformation of Turkey's foreign policy. In fact, Turkey is turning away from the West. Its position diverges from that of the West on Hamas, but also on other important issues. Ankara hosted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused of war crimes, despite the protest of the European states. Turkey is the only member of NATO to have hosted Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Turkey is also growing closer to Syria, which is anti-American and deep in the Iranian camp. Moreover, Turkey has stepped up its activity in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Undoubtedly, Erdoִgan feels more at home in Middle Eastern markets than in Western cities. Turkey has also tightened its relations with Russia, which aims to curb the role of the US in international affairs. Indeed, Turkey did not hesitate to deviate from American preferences. It announced that it will not join sanctions against Iran and in the past month has strived, together with Brazil, to extricate Iran from its uncomfortable diplomatic position due to its ongoing nuclear program. Backing the flotilla and Hamas, Turkey also affected negatively the dim prospects of the proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians - a major American priority. Unfortunately, Turkey slides away from the West into an independent posture largely colored by the Islamist tendencies of the current government.Regarding "Israel and the palestinians", oh, I'm afraid it's not that simple, aside from their not being an actual race, as Golda Meir once made clear. But since that's what Inbar has chosen to bring up, I guess I gotta ask: what will the BESA Center he works for do when Egypt, whose one-time dictator it's inappropriately jointly-named for, do when they turn against Israel, which is quite possible? Will they whitewash the horrific Anwar Sadat, who was a nazi spy during WW2? It makes me very sad that even today, the truth about Sadat may not be told about in Israel's educational curriculum.
Update: speaking of which, Egypt is going to strip citizenship from those who marry Israelis. How's that for progress?
Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, Europe, iran, islam, Israel, jihad, Latin America, terrorism, turkey
Which reminds one that Israel made peace with Sadat, not with the Egyptian people. Israel repeated that mistake with the Palestinians and Jordan. All three societies remain virulently anti-Israel. It shows that peace has to be built from the bottom up not from the top down. Even an enlightened leader cannot deliver the benefits of peace if there is no real change in his society's attitudes. And in those Arab societies, Islamists are either in power or waiting in the wings to take over.
Posted by NormanF | 6/06/2010 11:56:00 AM