Israel seen increasingly isolated in Middle East

by Hassan Turk

Many Jewish scholars reject right-wing governments' policies and encourage Israel to be a good neighbor for the nation's sake since new policies are changing the international systems and political powers in Middle East.
 

When reading the Jewish history one may think that betraying friends is a common thing among the Jews. Both the Bible and the history of Jewish people suggest that Israelis considered themselves as God’s chosen people. God sent Moses to save Israel from Pharaoh and promised to give the Israelis a land to live in peace and harmony. For forty years the Israelis followed Moses in search of the Promised Land. During their journey they witnessed miracles as that of manna and the division of the sea. But as soon as they felt safe they betrayed both Moses and God and worshiped a golden calf and killed the prophets that God sent them. In turn, God punished the Jews once again. The Romans destroyed King Solomon’s temple and expelled the Jews from their land. That’s how Jewish exile started.

For centuries, thousands of Jews were slaughtered and abused in foreign lands and condemned to wander the world. However, the Jews claim that living in Europe was the worst thing that ever happened to them. The famous Magna Carta, which many westerners consider as the first document addressing freedom related issues, actually favored the British rather than the Jews. Also during the Crusades many Jews were killed. In 1492 Spain’s Catholic Monarchs began a persecution against Muslims and Israelis, so the Ottoman emperor sent his ships to receive the Sephardic Jews. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Jews living in Eastern Europe were exterminated and Tsar Alexander III restricted their rights. This encouraged ideologists like Theodor Herzl to think of returning to the Promised Land. The Holocaust was the reason that accelerated the Jewish return to Palestine.

The UN established the Israeli State after unfairly dividing the Palestinian territory, which resulted in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. After a long time the Jews finally have their own territory, which they will defend by any means. On many occasions Palestinians have attacked UN facilities to protest against UN resolutions.

Turkey was the first Muslim country that recognized the Israeli state established in 1949. This country has also signed several military, economic and diplomatic agreements with Israel. But Israel also betrayed its historical ally by attacking Turkish passenger vessel Mavi Marmara. Turkey has demanded an official apology, compensation to victims’ relatives and a lifting of the blockade on Gaza as conditions for normalizing its heavily strained relations with Israel.

Netanyahu's government rejected Turkey's demands since his government is a coalition of parties and chancellor Lieberman’s party – who strongly opposed apologizing to Turkey – is a majority in coalition.

These incidents are causing Israel’s regional isolation at the wrong time as currently the Middle East is living a revolutionary wave known as "the Arab Spring". Previously, the Israeli government felt safe because most regimes were puppets of both the Israeli and US governments, but in the future the governments of Arab countries will be elected by the population's vote. The Arabs have begun protesting against the Jews and any agreement with the State of Israel. A few weeks ago Egyptians attacked the Israel embassy which resulted in the withdrawal of embassy staff. Also in Jordan protesters took to the streets demanding the dissolution of the Israel Peace Treaty signed in 1994. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected for his criticism to Shimon Peres - the president of the State of Israel - as well as his firmness regarding the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara and for supporting the creation of the Palestinian state. Recently during an interview, Egypt’s Prime Minister Esam Sharaf claimed that "the Camp David Accords are not a sacred thing". Today’s leaders listen to their peoples’ voice and those wishing to come to power should heed people’s demands. According to Turkish Prime Minister Israel should not continue to be "Middle East’s spoiled child".

Many Jewish scholars reject right-wing governments' policies and encourage Israel to be a good neighbor for the nation's sake since new policies are changing the international systems and political powers in Middle East.

Israel and the U.S. should be aware of the political changes in the region as well as softening their policies regarding Arabs and learning from history.