ISRAEL ATTEMPTS TO MAKE RUSSIA MAJOR PLAYER IN MIDEAST
Lamiya Adilgizi

Journal of Turkish weekly
Aug 29 2009

Israel’s close relations with Russia and Turkey’s decreasing role in
Israel’s foreign policy have marked the transformation of Russia into
a considerable power in Middle Eastern affairs.

A recent meeting between Israeli President Shimon Peresand his Russian
colleague, Dmitri Medvedev, in Sochi supported this point.

On Aug. 18, the Israeli president, during his meeting with Medvedev,
expressed his confidence in Russia’s role in the Middle East peace
process, for which there has yet to be a solution. The Russian
president said conflicts persisting in the Middle East should be
solved as quickly as possible and Russia, as a part of a quartet of
international mediators, is ready to assist in this solution.

However, regional experts disagree with this statement. Adjunct senior
research fellow Shlomo Gazit from the Institute of National Security
Studies (INSS), a think tank based in Israel, told Sunday’s Zaman
that although he highly regarded Turkey’s ambitions to help bring
about reconciliation between Israel and Syria after their long-lasting
territorial dispute, he is not optimistic about the results of these
efforts. Commenting on the Israel-Syrian indirect talks, Gazit,
a prominent expert on Israeli foreign policy, said: "I am a strong
supporter of Israeli-Syrian peace talks, and I would like very much
to see a political settlement between our two countries. From this
point of view, I highly appreciate the present Turkish initiative,
which tried to bring peace between Israel and Syria."

"We have enormous respect and great appreciation for Turkish
efforts. But they have not succeeded — not because of the Turks,"
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated on Tuesday. This
does not necessarily mean that Israeli-Syrian talks have failed under
Turkish auspices. "Nevertheless," Gazit continued, "I am afraid the
present Turkish approach has no serious chance for success."

Stating that the Turkish negotiation efforts were ambiguous and their
success seemed improbable, Gazit also noted that Israel no longer
trusts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his outspoken
criticism at Davos concerning Palestinians. "Turkish [Prime Minister]
Erdogan is not presently considered in Israel as an honest broker,
following his attitude and statements during the recent military
encounter in the Gaza Strip," he noted. Moreover, the expert believes
direct negotiations are imperative between Israel and Syria.

The Israel-Syria indirect talks began with Turkey’s mediation to secure
the return of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, to
Syria. Despite over a year of negotiations, the two sides failed to
reach a clear solution. Ayalon said on Tuesday that Israel will no
longer continue talks with Syria under Turkish mediation. He stated
that direct talks are a prerequisite to continue the negotiations.

Huseyin Sumer, an independent analyst based in Ä°stanbul, speaking
with Sunday’s Zaman, stated that he does not think Israel is trying to
bypass Turkey and replace Turkey with Russia. "This case is similar
to Azerbaijan-Turkey relations when Turkey attempted to normalize
relations with Armenia so Ä°lham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan,
went to Moscow," Sumer said. According to the expert, Turkey has begun
to undertake proactive policies. He thinks that Turkish foreign policy
became more influential, which strained relations between Israel and
Turkey. Mentioning the problems between Israel and Turkey, Sumer says
these problems should not be the reason for stalled relationships
between the two countries. "There are unnamed thousands of Israeli
companies currently operating in Turkey. Turkey and Israel have
bilateral military agreements with each other." Referring to these
facts, Sumer concludes that Israeli-Turkish relations are unlikely
to worsen in such a way.

International Strategic and Research Organization (ISRO) head Sedat
Laciner told Sunday’s Zaman, "Israel wants to take a position to
protest Turkey by sidelining with Russia." "However," he immediately
pointed out, "they cannot get any tangible results out of this. Russia
blamed Israel, saying it sold weapons to Georgia during the August
2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia. Russia also has a close
relationship with Iran and Syria. This means that Russia cannot be
like Turkey in mediating the talks. Israel, in fact, lost much by
keeping Turkey out of the talks."

Comparing Russia and Turkey, the expert says Turkey and Russia are not
similar countries. "Turkey became a natural broker between Syria and
Israel due to its increasing role in the Middle East. Israel gained
much from Turkey, and it was Turkey that brought Israel and Syria
together," Laciner said, adding that Israel cannot find a country
like Turkey and Turkey wants the best both for Syria and Israel.