Video: The TV Series and A New Turkey-Israel Crisis

Israel: Egypt Follows Turkey, Distances Itself from Tel Aviv

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UPDATE 1000 GMT: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now jumped into the issue, declaring at a press conference with Spanish leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero: "We hope Turkey will bolster peace and not extremist elements, and also work towards securing the ties between us, because this is an important country and relations with it are important for peace. I hope we are not witnessing a fundamental change in the path Turkey had been on until a year or two ago."

Earlier this week Israel's Foreign Ministry expressed its disappointment over a drama series Ayrilik (Separation), broadcast by the Turkish State-spshowing TRT1, showing Israeli soldiers and administrators as brutal murderers broadcasted by the Turkish State-sponsored TRT1.



In the first episode of the series, an Israeli soldier shoots a smiling Palestinian girl in the chest, and an Israeli official calls his best soldier and instructs him to form a secret unit to prevent Muslims going to pilgrimage.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized his Turkish counterparts, as and the Israeli envoy in Ankara urgently outlined concern over the show. Lieberman said:

Such a drama series, which doesn't even have the slightest link to reality and which presents Israeli soldiers as murderers of innocent children, isn't worthy of being broadcast even by enemy states and certainly not in a state which has full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israel: Egypt Follows Turkey, Distances Itself from Tel Aviv

Video: The TV Series and A New Turkey-Israel Crisis

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On Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that he would not attend a meeting of Mediterranean Union foreign ministers if his Israeli counterpoart Avigdor Lieberman is present.

The Mediterranean Union was formed in 2008 on the initiative of French President Nicholas Sarkozy to establish economic and political connections between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. As well as the 27 members of the European Union, there are represenatives from Egypt, Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia.

Israel is trying to modify Egypt's position with pressure through several countries including France. So far, however, there has been no response from Cairo.

Israel has another problem. The next venue for the Union is in Istanbul on November 24-25, and after the cancellation of the "international" military exercises, Israel is not on the best of terms with Turkey.

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UPDATE 0730 GMT: No sooner had we posted this than this report came in from Israel's YNet, "Syria said on Tuesday it would hold military exercises with Turkey, shortly after Turkey canceled maneuvers with Israel. 'We held our first joint land military exercise [with Turkey] last spring. And today we have agreed to do a more comprehensive, a bigger one,' said Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib."

Latest signals over the feud between Turkey and Israel, marked by Ankara's cancellation of Israeli participation in military exercises, are mixed. While the Turkish Foreign Ministry had stated that the decision to abandon the "international dimension" of the drill was not against a third nation [Israel], both Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's speech to CNN and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement on Monday targeted Israel and the international community: "When phosphorus bombs were rained on innocent children in Gaza, the whole world, all of humanity, watched from their comfortable chairs and their safe havens."

On Tuesday, after Erdogan's harsh" words, Washington finally broke its silence and criticised Ankara's last-minute manoeuvre. US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "As to the question of whether there was a government that was invited to participate and then removed at the last minute, we think it's inappropriate for any nation to be removed from an exercise like this at the last minute." Asked if Israel was removed from the military operation, Crowley confirmed the report.

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, praised Turkey's decision. Moallem said, "We encourage such cancellations as long as Israel is continuing its aggression and occupation." Baraka stated that Turkey's actions underlined its responsibility toward the Palestinians.

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On Sunday, Ankara made a dramatic last-minute decision to bar Israel from an international military exercise on Turkish soil. Israeli leaders see the decision as a political response linking to Turkey's continuing criticisms over Israel's military operations in Gaza.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke to CNN:

We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved. The situation will be back to the diplomatic track. And that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well. But in the existing situation, of course we are criticizing this ... Israeli approach.

On the same day, Several Israeli defense officials said advanced weapons sales to Turkey would now be reviewed, and a leading academic expert on Israeli-Turkish relations suggested ending support for Turkey on the Armenian genocide issue in Washington if the deterioration in ties continues.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry tried to minimise the issue on Monday:

The international part of the Turkish exercise had merely been postponed and it is inappropriate to draw a political meaning and conclusion from the postponement. it is impossible to accept the assessments and comments attributed to Israeli officials in the press. We invite Israeli officials to [use] common sense in their stance and statements.

This may have eased the situation, as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded:

Israel's relations with Turkey are strategic, and have existed for dozens of years. Despite all the ups and downs Turkey continues to be a key player in our region.

Yet nothing in Middle East is ever limited to straightforward bilateral exchanges. The Turkish-Israeli tension occurs as Ankara's extends its Middle Eastern presence with other ties. On Tuesday, ten Turkish ministers including the Foreign Minister travelled to Damascus for the meeting fo the Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, established last month.

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Returning Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah held talks with Assad in Damascus. Thetwo talked about the Middle East , exchanged national medals, and signed an agreement to regulate taxation. Buthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Assad, described the talks as productive, "strengthening the Arab Islamic position" in the face of Israeli intransigence.

Although Abdullah's visit, his first as King, is not expected to bring a fundamental change in the region, it is a positive sign of the continuation of "engagement" by the Obama Administration with Damascus. At the same time, Syria is not willing to sacrifice its "alliance" with Iran and will portray this meeting as a part of a solid front facing  Israel. As Shaaban said, "Syria's ties with Iran and Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, would help create an effective Islamic bloc."