Middle East/Iran Inside Line: Israel says "IAEA Has Another Classified Report"

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

Israel: Somewhere A Report Proves Our Case. Really: Not satisfied with the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli officials have insisted that the IAEA is sitting on another classified report on Iran’s nuclear programme and called on the Agency to release it.

Italy Jumps Into Israel-Sweden Dispute: Haaretz reports that Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told the newspaper that he and Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt would work to pass a resolution strongly condemning anti-Semitism and taking action against any manifestation of it throughout the European Union at the EU foreign ministers' meeting next week.

As for the claim in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Israeli soldiers had harvested the organs of dead Palestinians, Frattini said it was within the definitiation of“anti-Semitism": “There are limits to freedom of the press that stem from respect for the truth and the duty of every journalist to prove his claims....[These are] terrible conclusions, lying and hurtful, and they have the power to assist all those who seek to incite against Jews or who oppose the existence of the State of Israel.”

On the issue of Sweden's position after the Aftonbladet claim, Frattini said, “The Council of Ministers meeting is the correct forum for Sweden to prove, with concrete steps, its determined stance against anti-Semitism." While the Swedish side is keeping its silence, Yigal Palmor of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said, “Every initiative against anti-Semitism is welcome… But if the declaration is general and does not specifically relate to the article in Aftonbladet, it will not resolve anything.…All we asked of Sweden and the Swedes is that they reject and decry the content of the report. And our position has not changed."

Middle East Inside Line (30 August): Israel-Gaza Tension Rising, Sweden and Israel Still Fighting

Israel Tension with Hamas Rising: The tension between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Gaza has been increasing since Monday. Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket into the Western Negev. A 20-year-old Palestinian was shot dead when he approached a security fence separating Israel and the northern Gaza Strip; the Israeli military claimed that gunmen were placing a bomb near the security fence and opened fire. After the Palestinian's death, mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip injured an Israeli soldier; the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility.

On Tuesday, two Israeli jets dropped bombs on smuggling tunnels in the southern town of Rafah. The IDF said that the airstrike, which killed three Palestinian brothers and wounded seven others, was in response to Monday's mortar shell fire at Israel on Monday.

Israel-Sweden Fight Continues:

After recent tension over Palestine and the "stolen organs" controversy, diplomatic storm clouds are still over Stockholm and Tel Aviv. On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit gave a clear yet a provocative statement in Sweden:

East Jerusalem must be included in a freeze of settlement activity before Middle East peace talks can restart....Jerusalem is Arab and it will continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Washington has denied reports that the Obama Administration dropped the demand for the freezing of settlements in East Jerusalem in exchange for the Israeli concession of a 9 to 12-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.

Middle East Inside Line: US Missile Defense "in Israel", Israeli Views of Obama

Missile Defence in Israel and Turkey: Poland’s Wyborcza newspaper claims that the Obama Administration is not going to place an American missile defense system in Poland and Czech Republic. Instead, interceptor missiles on ships and bases in Israel and Turkey, as well as a possible location in the Balkans, are being considered.

The article quotes Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, "The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defence is concerned, the current US administration is searching for other solutions than the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic."

Ellison claims Moscow's objections are behind the change in plans, "The outcome of this debate, it has been increasingly clear, will see the Polish and Czech option abandoned… the new administration pays more attention to Russia's arguments."

Israel's Verdict on Obama: According to a Smith Research poll taken this week on behalf of The Jerusalem Post among 500 Jewish Israelis, only 4 percent see the Obama Administration’s policies as pro-Israeli. Just over 50 percent consider them more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, and 35 percent stated that they are neutral.

However, it appears that a lot of those who see Washington as neutral also favour some concessions from Tel Aviv. When Israeli Jews were asked whether they would support settlement freeze for a year as part of an American deal, forty-one percent said “yes” whereas fifty percent said “no.” The large minority supporting the freeze is somewhat surprising, given that 85 percent of respondents consider Obama’s demand for a settlement freeze as a potential threat to Israeli interests.

Israel-Palestine Trade Up: According to the Customs Administration of the Israel Tax Authority, Israeli-Palestinian trade has been steadily growing and almost reached New Israeli Shekel 20 billion ($5.28 billion) in 2008, despite the global economic crisis. Of this amount, NIS 14.6 billion ($3.85 billion) was domestic trade between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, while NIS 4.6 billion ($1.21 billion) was Palestinian imports and exports through Israeli ports.

The Tax Authority also stated that the trade has been continuously increasing in the first half of 2009. Three years ago, Israeli-Palestinian trade was NIS 15.6 billion ($4.2 billion). ($11.1) billion.

Turkey's Importance: “Signature Bridge" for an Alliance of Civilizations

The position of Turkey --- geographic, political, economic, and social --- in the Middle East, in "Europe", and in the world has always been a key issue in the evolution of international affairs. This will be no less true in the decade to come; indeed, Ankara's significance is likely to redouble. In this article, Colette Mazzucelli, Oya Dursun-Ozkanca, and Laura Wicks combine analysis with the hope that Turkey's approach to Europe and the "East", including the Middle East, can be a vital response to the notion of a "clash of civilizations".

As the years pass, Turkey’s significance on the Western and global scenes is likely to increase as that country’s interest in joining the European Union begins to wane. Turkey’s geography, which straddles the Western, Slavic Orthodox, and Persian civilizations, raises the question of what it means for this vital country to be a bridge between East and West. The world continues to bear witness to the East in the midst of an early 21st century Renaissance lifting millions out of poverty on an unprecedented scale as the West experiences a crisis, foretold ironically in that period in which too many were prematurely celebrating a mythical “end of history".

The evolution in Europe’s neighborhoods brings strategic considerations to the fore as the balance of power in the world shifts to the Orient. The Union is not likely to enlarge to Turkey or Ukraine in the near future. Without enlargements that double its present market potential to close to a billion inhabitants and which mitigate the staggering impact of aging on its societies, the Union cannot aspire to compete on the global scene with rising powers China, India, or even Brazil.

Turkey is vital to European and global security not only in terms of geopolitics. We must also consider the ways this country can participate in 21st century institutions of governance to develop its specific role in global affairs. In other words, how can Turkey build a “signature” bridge, which maximizes its unique potential to span East-West and North-South relations? The present institutional architecture still reflects the world of 1945, when the interests of rising powers as well as strategically vital states must be taken into consideration in reflections about what Peter D. Sutherland has identified as an “alliance of civilizations”.

Reflections on Europe as “empire by integration” must confront the reality that the Union faces: the persistent challenge of cultural assimilation. For nation-states that have long defined their separate identities on cultural and linguistic homogeneity, the prospect to integrate peoples from diverse civilizations poses considerable difficulties. This is more complicated if one restricts the notion of citizenship. National citizenship can privilege a singular identity as a way to exclude.

In contrast, European citizenship offers hope in the prospects to accommodate inclusiveness within Union member states. A culture of hope is the foundation upon which Europe’s Union must build to avoid those sharp categorizations, which, in Sen’s words, create the “illusion of destiny”. Europe’s security challenge and Turkey’s signature bridge capacity are one and the same: refuting Huntington’s clash of civilizations, which, in the member states of Europe’s Union, is increasingly a clash from within.

Yet this convergence of interests faces tremendous challenges. Enlargement fatigue and the limits of the present EU institution’s absorptive capacities occur as Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise. Terrorism as well as anti-Western ideologies threaten human security inside the Union’s borders. Russia has cultivated its relationship with Iran providing that country with intelligence, technology, and weapons. Stronger EU relations with Turkey, and Russia, will bring the Union into greater contact with Iran, which is the growing regional power in the Middle East and a gateway to the Orient in terms of energy supplies.

With approximately 20 million Muslims living within the borders of the Union, anti-Islamic sentiments in many European countries are on the rise. Just this month, the EU announced a new visa regime that allows the citizens of Serbia, Montenegro, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to travel to Union member states without a visa, while excluding three other Balkan countries with a majority Muslim population: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Kosovo.

Improving dialogue with the Islamic civilization presents a huge challenge for the Union. However, Turkey presents solid evidence that democracy and Islam can be compatible, and the Turkish model in the Islamic world is of particular interest to the United States in terms of the balance of power emerging in the Middle East. As President Obama and his advisors contemplate a comprehensive regional strategy, a stronger relationship with Turkey is the glue to cement an alliance of civilizations. With its 99 percent Muslim population, Turkey has significant soft power potential vis-à-vis the countries in the Muslim world. It plays an important role in the projection of democracy, freedom, the rule of law and human rights in the Balkans, the Middle East, the Black Sea region, Central Asia, the Mediterranean, and North Africa.

The Union should try to put the engine on a different track to engage Turkey in European security. Instead of focusing on the differences in an enduring rhetorical war over Turkish accession, Europe’s leadership must act strategically in ways that consistently strengthen Turkey’s integration into EU frameworks. This is particularly important regarding openness in global trade relations. Turkey’s human capital must be developed to respond to a service-oriented global environment. Education is a key area that must receive more attention in order not to squander the youth potential, which is a vanishing asset as the Turkish population of approximately 72 million ages. As Turkey overtakes Germany in population growth from 2023, the country’s leadership will face the same problem demographically in terms of policy choices as Europe.

This is perhaps the most important reason why the promotion of Turkey’s human capital is essential in the construction of its signature bridge. The Turkish model is still the best hope for the West to combat religious terrorism, which is plaguing many different countries around the world. Avoiding the illusion of destiny, which is wedded to a singular identity for a person or a country, is critical to sustain an alliance of civilizations. Turkey’s evolution makes it possible to recognize both a Muslim country and a modern Western democracy, identities are neither mutually exclusive nor incompatible. These identities are neither mutually exclusive nor incompatible, which is a recognition as necessary in the promotion of the Continent's external security as in the consolidation of domestic peace within Europe's increasingly diverse nation-states.

Dr. Colette Mazzucelli has taught on graduate faculty at New York University's Center for Global Affairs since 2005. Dr. Oya Dursun-Ozkanca, a native of Turkey, is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. Miss Laura Wicks is a recent graduate of the M.S. Program in Global Affairs at New York University.