Word: israelism
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...combination of the failure of the long-established Western and Arab players to manage Israel's conflicts with its neighbors and a seismic political shift underway in Turkey has prompted Ankara to seek to restore some of the regional clout enjoyed by its Ottoman forebears. Since its election in 2002, the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) has renewed political and trade relations across the Middle East, promoting itself as a mediator in long-standing conflicts. It achieved a breakthrough in May by bringing together Syria and Israel for their first direct talks in eight years, and it played...
There's a historic echo in the fact that Turkey is being tapped to provide the troops to keep the peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the latest Gaza cease-fire proposals: for hundreds of years, Istanbul was the seat of power for an empire that, among other things, maintained tranquility between Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land. But since its founding in 1923, modern Turkey has shied away from any involvement with the Muslim world, once ruled by the Ottomans, instead orienting its foreign policy firmly toward the West. The predominantly Muslim nation is officially secular...
...what's different now? Mubarak's apparent pledge to tighten controls along Egypt's border with Gaza - with the implicit goal of preventing Hamas from building new missiles to strike Israel with. That appears designed to fulfill Israel's main condition for ending its offensive: rendering Hamas incapable of firing missiles into Israel, through either military defeat or an effective arms embargo. And while Israel hasn't officially accepted the Sarkozy-Mubarak plan, its response to the proposal contrasts with its earlier vows to fight on. "Israel welcomes the initiative of the French President and the Egyptian President to bring...
...primary way of making it work, of course, is obtaining a pledge from Hamas to stop firing missiles into Israel from its Gaza stronghold - something the group has repeatedly refused to do. Yet that may be in the works. Mubarak's evolution from holdout to co-author of Sarkozy's slightly simplified plan suggests that Egypt's may be the first of several positions to shift in the region. It's likely that Mubarak's reversal was made with the knowledge that similar moves are afoot toward the same end - notably securing Hamas' acceptance of an enduring truce with Syria...
...Turkey is playing a far more proactive role in the region; we recognize that," says a Western diplomat based in Ankara. "A country that is Muslim but secular, with close links to the West and Israel but also good relations with Arab countries, is obviously very helpful in terms of mediation and promoting regional solutions to regional problems...