Gilad Shalit crossed into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula this morning at the start of a highly emotional day of prisoner exchanges between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas. The 25-year-old soldier captured five years ago by Hamas will be receiving a hero’s welcome in Israel, and Palestinians will celebrate the return of 477 prisoners, the first batch in the 1,000-to-one exchange.
Just a day after the visit to Tripoli by Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, the Libyan National Transitional Council played host to another foreign leader – Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The Brits and the French might have regarded it as a bit cheeky of Erdogan to roll up in Tripoli to try and bask in the success of the revolution, given that the Turkish prime minister had initially opposed Nato intervention. But the Turks saw it a bit differently. Some of the papers here in Istanbul reported that the British and the French leaders had rushed to Tripoli to upstage the Turkish prime minister. Erdogan himself seemed to see things this way, remarking sniffily – “We’ll see who gets the better reception.”
Ever since I first saw the Besiktas football ground in Istanbul, I have wanted to watch a match there. It is the most spectacularly situated stadium I have ever seen – right in the centre of the city, just above the Bosphorous on the European side.
Tonight I had a chance to mix pleasure with business, since Besiktas were playing Maccabi Tel Aviv. Given the state of relations between Turkey and Israel, this felt more like a political event than a mere football match.
It is safe to say that the US government is dreading the prospect of a UN Security Council vote on Palestine’s bid for statehood later this month. At present the Americans reckon they could well lose such a vote 14-1, which would be a humiliation. It is possible that Britain, France and Germany (in particular) might abstain – but the Americans aren’t counting on it.
The crisis in Israel’s relations with Turkey and Egypt - combined with the anniversary of 9/11 - casts an interesting light on the question of Israel’s relations with the neocons in America. If you remember, at the time of the invasion of Iraq, one of the most popular conspiracy theories was that US policy was being driven by a cabal of neoconservative thinkers – many of them Jewish – who were accused of acting at the behest of Israel.
There is no doubt that many of the neocons were and are strong supporters of Israel. But there were actually always philosophical differences between important neocon thinkers like Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol, and the Netanyahu government. Above all, they differed on the desireability of democracy in the Arab world.
The news that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, is considering visiting the Gaza Strip raises the possibility of a sharp escalation in Turkey’s dispute with Israel. The two countries dispute dates back to 2010 and Israel’s storming of the Mavi Marmara, a ship that was trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza – some eight Turkish citizens were killed during the Israeli attack.
In this week’s podcast: Is the conflict in Libya finally coming to an end? The world’s new craze for gold; and, Gaza, renewed violence dashes hopes for ceasefire.
Presented by Gideon Rachman with James Blitz and Edward Hadas in the studio in London, and Tobias Buck in Jerusalem. Produced by LJ Filotrani.
Audio IMF post-DSK, Obama vs Israel, and Thai elections
In this week’s show, we look at the candidates to be head of the IMF; After president Obama’s speech calling for Israel to move out of territory it has occupied since 1967, where now for US-Israel relations? And our correspondent in Bangkok discusses the forthcoming elections in Thailand. Presented by James Blitz, with economics editor Chris Giles and Jerusalem bureau chief Tobias Buck in the studio, and Tim Johnston in Bangkok. Produced by Rob Minto
President Obama’s “big speech” on the Middle East yesterday kicks off a week in which Washington will spend a lot of time focussed on Israel. AIPAC, the main pro-Israel loobying group is having its annual conference this weekend. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister is in town for that, and for a speech to Congress. Netanyahu and Obama, who get on very badly, have already had a minor spat over Obama’s call yesterday for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders. And although he couldn’t say so publicly, I suspect the Israeli leader will also be exasperated by what the Israelis regard as a typically naive American embrace of the “Arab spring” in Obama’s speech.
Audio Libya, Portugal, Israel
In this week’s podcast: Seven days into the allied military action, Colonel Gaddafi holds on; we ask, is Portugal about to succumb to Eurozone fever?; terrorism returns to Jerusalem – is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about to turn violent again? Presented by Gideon Rachman with James Blitz and David Oakley in the studio, Peter Spiegel in Brussels and Tobias Buck in Jerusalem. Produced by LJ Filotrani
| About this blog | About Gideon | Blog guide |
FT.com latest world news
For views and opinions on the European Union from Peter Spiegel, Joshua Chaffin, Alex Barker and Stanley Pignal, follow the FT's Brussels blog here.
The FT's Global Insight column
Older entries