Turkey-Israel Relations and Erdogan
There are people in Tel Aviv who rule out the possibility of restoration of relations with Turkey as were in the past, without Turkish guarantees for a change in (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan’s hard-hitting policy and harsh statements against Israel. These are his policies which have caused many breakdowns and blows to the relationship of the two countries in recent years. There are problems not between Israel and Turkey, as much as between the Israeli government and Erdogan personally, as has been expressed by many influential Israeli voices, including Yitzhak Levanon, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt. He wrote in Maariv newspaper: “I do not think that there is a problem for Israel with the country called Turkey. Its strategic weight and its regional role are clear. But Israel has a problem with the head of the state, President Erdogan.”
Without a fundamental change in the Israeli policy towards Palestinians, anticipation of a repetition of what caused the cracks and successive crises which have afflicted the relationship of the two countries and the loss of confidence between them in the past, Erdogan’s actions, statements, and reactions will be under the Israeli gaze, and the real rapprochement between the two countries will be at the lowest level. Trust between the two countries will not be restored without a real change in the Turkish president’s attitudes towards the country, which is trying to build relations with major strategic interests.
[by Atef Saadawy in Sky News Arabia]
Iraq Criminalises ‘Normalisation’ with Israel
The Iraqi Parliament passed a bill prohibiting and criminalising ‘normalization’ with Israel. The bill stipulates prohibition of diplomatic, political, military, economic or cultural relations, or any other relations of any other kind, with Israel. It has also decided penalties for life or temporary imprisonment for any Iraqi who would encourage ‘normalization’.
The bill was passed in the backdrop of two important developments: The first was a conference held in Erbil last September, in which clans and academic figures were called for normalisation with “Israel”. The second development was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s recently targeting the headquarters of the Israeli agency Mossad in Erbil.
The law criminalising normalisation with Israel has stifled all voices which have tried to promote the idea of “normalisation.” It has also aborted all Israeli attempts to penetrate Iraq to achieve its objectives which it completed in several Gulf and Arab countries, during Donald Trump era.
From Mesopotamia, Iraq, by passing the bill, has made it a historic day in support of Palestine and Jerusalem. It has also portrayed the common image of more than 270 Iraqi parliamentarians, who emerged from under the dome of Parliament, and voted in favour of a law criminalising normalisation with “Israel.” It is a picture of a victory for Iraq first, then Palestine and Jerusalem later. It also sends a message to the Palestinian people that Iraq refuses to sell Palestine at a cheap price, and will remain side by side with Palestine.
[by Sharhababil Al-Gharaib in Al-Mayadeen]
Compiled and Translated by Faizul Haque