Word: arabs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...further rows seem inevitable. Turkey's newfound ambition to become a major regional power broker has seen an energetic forging of ties with Arab and Central Asian countries. Asserting a foreign policy increasingly independent of Washington, Turkey has not hesitated to criticize Israel's actions against the Palestinians, defend Iran's nuclear program and expand economic ties at a moment when the U.S. seeks to isolate Tehran, and repair relations with Syria. Israel's leaders warn publicly that they believe Turkey is moving into the region's Islamist orbit, and hard-liners within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government...
...visa requirements for Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and signed a raft of agreements with each country designed to improve trade and cultural exchange. Since publicly chastising Israeli President Shimon Peres over Gaza at a conference in Switzerland last January, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become a hero on Arab streets, and the latest diplomatic spat with Israel won't do his popularity any harm. Beirut daily Al Akhbar's headline on the Ayalon apology story praised "Sultan Erdogan" and exalted that "Israel understands only Turkish...
...this accord, Egypt has to watch its border and should not allow any third party to cross the border in order to attack Israel." As for blocked aid convoys, she says: "This aid has been used as ... a kind of propaganda to bring the attention of the other Arab communities and the international community against Egypt...
...From the reaction in the Arab press, and from people in the Arab world, there is no justification for what Egypt is doing [regarding Gaza]," says Marina Ottaway, Director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But it's unlikely to mean much in current domestic politics. "Essentially, it's just one more sign of the differences that exist between government actions and public opinion, but I do not expect any dramatic repercussions...
...Indeed, public outrage may mean little for a regime that is not exactly dependent on a democratic mandate. "You are not talking about a Western society under a Western regime," says Hala Mustafa. "[Popularity] is not calculated this way in Egypt or in the Arab world in general. Popularity is not the element or the factor that could really influence the regime or push the regime to adopt this policy or that one." But for an already unpopular regime, an unpopular approach to Gaza may still be a step onto ever thinning...