Ha’aretz, Israel
Jan 11 2009

Where have our friends gone?

By Zvi Ba’rel

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked to speak with his
Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert just before the start of Israel’s
offensive in Gaza. Olmert avoided Erdogan because he did not want to
tell the Turkish premier about the coming attack. He did not want to
be in Menachem Begin’s situation when Begin spoke to Egyptian
president Anwar Sadat one time in 1981 and did not tell him Israel was
about to attack Iraq’s nuclear reactor. As a result, Erdogan was
enraged and insulted. Turkish sources say Erdogan’s campaign of
insults against Israel in recent weeks is a reaction to this.

"Israel is the biggest provoker of terror in the world," the Turkish
justice minister accused. Erdogan no longer wants to talk to Olmert,
ties between Ankara and the Israeli ambassador have been cut off, an
Israeli basketball team was attacked by fans in Ankara and Israeli
tourists are advised to hold off on trips to Turkey. "Being in Ankara
feels like being in a hostile Arab country," an Israeli official
stationed in Turkey told Haaretz.

In Jordan, Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi gave a speech in parliament
asking to "re-evaluate ties between Israel and Jordan," the first time
this has happened since the two countries made peace. No denials or
corrections were issued. "Jordan and Israel have important mutual
interests," an Israeli foreign ministry official said
indifferently. Do they? Does that argument take into account Jordan’s
delicate position regarding the Palestinians, Hamas or its general
public? How does that official respond to the Jordanian ambassador’s
return to Amman?

Qatar, which is on the list of moderate countries, still allows in
Israeli representatives and holds talks with Israel, but it is now
closer to the Syrian-Iranian axis than the Saudi-Egyptian one. Of all
the cease-fire initiatives, Qatar favors the one by Syria, which
supports Hamas. Qatar favors this over the Egyptian proposal. Saudi
Arabia, another moderate, has started to talk about "turning its back"
to its peace initiative unless the international community stops
Israel.

Just three weeks ago the regional leaders were euphoric. Turkey spoke
about continuing mediation between Israel and Syria, and its president
was about to visit Jerusalem; Syria talked about direct negotiations
with Israel; Jordan was steadfast in its traditional position of
guaranteed friendship with Israel; the foreign ministers of Qatar and
Israel acted like best buddies; and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud
al-Faisal said his country had no intention of abandoning the Saudi
peace initiative just because the Israeli right was benefiting from
it.

Such scenes have disappeared. Even our friendly partner, Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has cut his ties. Israel is again
in a familiar situation: a threatened state, not speaking to any of
its neighbors and not willing for anyone to waste its time with talks.

Short-term tactics – that’s all Israel is capable of. On the issue of
relations with Turkey? They’ll need us when the U.S. Congress debates
the massacres of the Armenians. Upset Jordanians? They get water from
us and signed a free trade agreement with the United States thanks to
us. Qatar? It leans on our U.S. ally for support. Now it wants to join
the axis of evil? And Syria too is turning its back on us? We’ve told
everyone there is no partner for peace. Our key industry is war, not
peace or talks with our neighbors. We want only want Arabs as enemies.

For a moment it seemed like we convinced ourselves that ties with the
Arabs were not important until it turned out we needed Egypt’s help to
solve our "problems" with Hamas, and that Qatar helped solve the
crisis in Lebanon. And Jordan is able to keep the border safe and
until only recently we wanted so badly to meet with the Saudi king.

And there’s one more small, pestering problem keeping us from enjoying
our indifference toward our neighbors. Who has gained so far from the
situation? So far it is Hamas, which can claim to have undermined
greatly Israel’s ties with Turkey, Jordan and Qatar. And it has only
just begun.

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