 The militaries of Israel and Turkey are trying to salvage an alliance severely damaged as Ankara realigns its position in the Middle East. A one-day trip to Turkey by Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak on Sunday will be the highest-level visit by an Israeli or Turkish official to the other country since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's explosive confrontation over the Gaza conflict with President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2009. Already this week, a Turkish military team has been in Israel to test Heron unmanned aerial vehicles that Israel has contracted to sell to Turkey for just under $200 million. A senior Israeli official also was in Ankara this week to keep that much delayed deal on track. Analysts say it is no surprise that the main effort to restore the relationship is coming from the two militaries, which have formed its bedrock ever since the alliance was formed in the mid-1990s. At the time, the alliance gave Turkey access to technologically advanced military equipment and Israeli intelligence capabilities. Turkey was fighting a brutal counterinsurgency war with Kurdish militants who had bases in Iraq and Syria. Turkey and Syria came close to war in 1998. Israel and Turkey signed more than 20 military agreements in the 1990s. One called for four joint air force training sessions a year in each country. The two navies participated in joint exercises and staff officers collaborated on war-game simulations.
Deals like Israel's modernization of 54 Turkish Phantom jets helped military exports reach $1 billion during the decade. Israel also supplied radar systems and missile components. "Turkey is the only regional partner Israel has in terms of military relationship," said Gerald Steinberg, a political-science professor at Bar Ilan University, located outside Tel Aviv. "It once offset conventional threats from Syria, and was a threat to Hezbollah and Iran that Israel could strike from the north through Turkey." But in the past decade, the collaboration has become less vital. Military trade dropped off. While Israel won a $688 million contract to modernize Turkish tanks, the Heron deal has been a bone of contention. Mr. Erdogan's avowedly Islamic government is taking a much tougher view of Israel's role in Gaza and the West Bank, even as he restores relations with its Muslim neighbors, where criticizing Israel is popular. Turkey last year held its first joint military exercises with Syria, signed dozens of agreements with Iraq, and last week established visa free travel with Lebanon. For Israel, the relationship with Ankara also has become less critical. A growing commercial relationship with India is overshadowing military business with Turkey, Israeli analysts say.
And the conventional military threat from Syria has diminished and Iraq has been removed for now as a foe. Still, Turkey's military has significant contracts for arms purchases from Israel that it wants to see completed, says Hüseyin Bagci, professor of international relations at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. "On the political side, both governments are playing to domestic audiences and the latest conflict served both sides. On the military side, both sides try to arm each other," says Mr. Bagci. Analysts believe the relationship will survive, though in reduced form, if only because for Turkey to become hostile toward Israel would severely complicate its relationship with the United States, and end support it has received from the Jewish lobby in the U.S. Congress. Indeed, since Turkey's high-profile removal of Israel from planned NATO air exercises last fall, the two militaries in December conducted a joint search-and-rescue exercise in the Mediterranean. Also in December, President Peres and Turkey's President Abdullah Gül met on the sidelines of the climate conference in Compenhagen. But this week's dispute over the Israeli foreign ministry's deliberate, televised humiliation of Turkey's ambassador has exposed a rift within the Israeli government over how to handle Turkey, says Alon Liel, a former foreign ministry director general. A hard-line camp is led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who wants to preserve Israel's honor in the face of attacks on its policy toward Palestinians—attacks that Mr. Erdogan makes frequently. The second camp is led by Mr. Barak, who reflects the desire of Israel's defense establishment to preserve ties with an important trade partner.
Unlike Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Barak also wants to resume peace talks with Syria, says Mr. Liel. Turkey had been mediating talks with Syria when the Gaza conflict began. WSJ 
 Thousands of weapons caches have been placed in homes scattered in 160 villages in southern Lebanon, senior defense officials said on Tuesday, a day after one such stockpile exploded in the home of a Hizbullah operative in Tayr Filsay, near Tyre. On Tuesday, the IDF released video taken from an Israeli aircraft of the home, which belongs to Abdul Nasser Issa, a low-level Hizbullah operative. The blast took place at around 8 p.m. on Monday, and an hour later Hizbullah men are seen carrying weapons out of the home and loading then onto a truck. In the footage, seven men are seen carrying a four-meter-long device, thought to be a Katyusha rocket or launcher. Hizbullah is thought to have more than 30,000 rockets of various ranges and sizes. The men took several hours to clear the home. For the first few hours, the area was sealed off by Hizbullah and the Lebanese army. Contrary to media reports, Israeli defense sources said on Tuesday that no one was killed by the blast but that one person was lightly injured. The officials also dismissed Hizbullah claims that the explosion was caused by IDF ordinance left behind during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The Israeli aircraft followed the truck as it drove about 4 km. to another village called Deir Qanoun al-Nahr. There, the truck pulled up at another home and the group of men unloaded the weapons. "Hizbullah uses civilian homes to hide its weaponry," an IDF officer said. "This is a direct violation of UN [Security Council] Resolution 1701." President Shimon Peres spoke Tuesday about the blast and said that Hizbullah had turned Lebanon into a "powder keg" that will - in the end - damage Lebanon. "It is Hizbullah which is endangering Lebanon, not Israel, just as it is Hamas which is endangering the Palestinian people," Peres said.
"We have evacuated all of the territory and are now extending a sincere hand to the Lebanese people. Lebanon could have long since become the Switzerland of the Middle East. It is Hizbullah and Hamas that are preventing this economic flowering and peace and security for the region." Hizbullah acknowledged that the home belonged to one of its members, but would not give any other information. Hizbullah legislator Hussein Haj Hassan said Israel was exaggerating the incident, to "take advantage of it for political interests." Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut that his mission was concerned about the incident. "We are keeping a close eye on this because of its relevance to Resolution 1701 while waiting for the outcome" of the investigation by UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army, he said after meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev called on Tuesday for an investigation by UN peacekeepers on the explosion in Tayr Filsay. In a letter of complaint sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council, Le Luong Minh of Vietnam. Shalev said Israel has "considerable" reason to believe the house where the explosion took place served as an arms storage facility for Hizbullah. In her letter, Shalev said that in the aftermath of the explosion, Hizbullah operatives sealed off the area and attempted to remove evidence. "Only three months after the explosion of a Hizbullah arms depot in the village of Khirbat Silim, yesterday's explosion is another example [showing] that the Hizbullah terrorist organization possesses illegal weapons in Lebanon, south of the Litani River, in violation of Resolution 1701 as it builds a military infrastructure within the civilian population," Shalev wrote. "The aforementioned incidents leave no doubt regarding Hizbullah's modus operandi to place its military weapons and facilities in civilian villages and houses." The UN Security Council is set to meet on Wednesday, where Palestinian and Arab diplomats are expected to focus on the Goldstone Report, which accuses Israel of war crimes during its offensive against Hamas in Gaza last winter. Source: JPost
Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said yesterday that Israel would abide by all the commitments made by previous governments and that the new administration understood that Middle East "stability will entail a two-state solution". The comments were significant because Mr Ayalon, a former ambassador to Washington, is a key confidant of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and both are leading figures in the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu party. The remarks came as Mr Lieberman began a week-long visit to Europe, his first trip as Foreign Minister. Israeli President Shimon Peres is due to meet Mr Obama in Washington tomorrow. Israeli and Palestinian politicians have begun posturing in the lead-up to Mr Netanyahu's May 18 talks at the White House. His first meeting with Mr Obama is likely to be dominated by the drive for an agreement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that "a two-state solution is the only solution". Mr Netanyahu, while not opposed to a two-state solution, has put a number of qualifications, including that any Palestinian state should not be allowed to have an army. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday outlined his main requirements to resume peace talks with Israel. "Our conditions and vision are part of the two-state solution, which also involves halting settlement building and the policy of house demolitions," Mr Abbas said after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah. King Abdullah is emerging as a key figure in the peace talks as he begins a tour of the Middle East to win support for a two-state solution among Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. After yesterday's meeting, King Abdullah and Mr Abbas issued a joint statement: "The two Arab leaders demanded a halt for all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly Jerusalem, and rejected all Israeli steps that seek to change the nature of the holy city through encroachment on its holy places and emptying the city of its population either by deportation or demolition of houses." Source: The Australian
 RIVAL Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah resumed talks in Cairo yesterday to negotiate a national unity government as hostilities between the two reached new lows. The first of four sessions ended without a breakthrough on the key questions of security, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and elections, said senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath. However, "the climate was positive", he said. "The issues are complex and we are taking an open approach towards them," said Hamas's senior Gaza leader, Mahmud Zahar, confirming that talks would continue overnight. "The dialogue is in its final phase," the state-run MENA news agency quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying. "Egypt has put forward proposals to bring the two sides together ... and will listen to their responses." A national unity government could then begin talks with Israel aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meetings came two weeks after Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, accused Fatah, responsible for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, of attempting to assassinate one of its leaders. Egyptian officials have been trying since the end of the Gaza war in January to broker a peace deal. This is their third attempt and is seen by many observers as likely to be the last for some time if it fails. The key points of difference appear to be Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist and renounce violence. Another major difference involves the role of the Palestinian police and security officers - many security personnel in the West Bank are trained by Jordan or the US, which Hamas says is unacceptable. The Cairo talks resumed as Israel's Foreign Ministry said recognition of Israel as a Jewish state was an essential condition for any resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. This followed comments last week by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he did not see recognition of Israel as a Jewish state as a pre-condition for peace talks. Israeli president Shimon Peres warned yesterday that if Israel was drawn into another war it "will always win". "We do not want war, but if it is forced upon us ... we will always win. The fallen have left behind them a strong and assured country," he said. Source: The Australian
 * Iran demands UN respond to Israeli "threats"
* Israeli officials hint Israel could attack nuclear sites
* Obama hopes engagement will defuse crisis
UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday called on the United Nations to respond firmly to what it described as Israel's "unlawful and insolent threats" to launch an attack on Tehran's nuclear installations.
Israeli officials, including President Shimon Peres, recently have suggested that the Jewish state could use military force to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, as the West suspects it is doing.
Iran insists it is only interested in building reactors that peacefully generate electricity.
Its U.N. ambassador, in a letter to Mexican U.N. Ambassador Claude Heller, said Israel was violating the U.N. charter and urged the international body to respond clearly and resolutely. Mexico holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council.
"These outrageous threats of resorting to criminal and terrorist acts against a sovereign country and a member of the United Nations not only display the aggressive and warmongering nature of the Zionist regime, but also constitute blatant violations of international law," Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee wrote.
The letter came two days after Peres told Israel's Kol Hai radio that Israel would respond with force if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refused to soften his position on proceeding with an uranium enrichment program.
"We'll strike him," Peres said in the interview.
An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted last month by Atlantic magazine as saying the government was weighing the military option.
Khazaee said the remarks were "unlawful and insolent threats" based on "fabricated pretexts."
OBAMA WORRIED
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said that Israel should be "wiped off the map," has vowed to continue his country's nuclear program.
Iran said on Monday it would welcome constructive dialogue on its nuclear program with the the five Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- as well as Germany.
The Security Council has adopted five resolutions demanding that Iran freeze its uranium enrichment program, three of which imposed sanctions against Tehran. Iran has so far refused to stop enriching uranium.
In his interview with Israeli radio, Peres also urged Ahmadinejad to speak with U.S. President Barack Obama, who has promised to adopt a policy of engagement with Iran and has said he is willing to meet with its leaders.
Washington cut off ties with Tehran in 1980 after militants seized the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital. Former U.S. President George W. Bush pursued a policy of isolating Iran during his eight years in office.
U.S. officials, diplomats and analysts say Obama opposes the use of military force against Iran's nuclear sites but is worried Israel, which bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osiraq in 1981, might bomb Iranian sites if engagement fails.
If Tehran continues to enrich uranium, analysts say, Obama will have no choice but to support a push for a new round of U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic later this year.
(Editing by Paul Simao)
By JPOST.COM STAFF  President Shimon Peres.
Photo: AP In an interview with Kol Hai Radio, Peres also said that the arrest before the weekend of a Hizbullah terror cell in Egypt was a blow to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's power. "Ahmadinejad recruits forces against us, but there are also forces against him," Peres said. "What happened in Egypt created a fierce opposition and we must unify all his opponents - the Sunnis and the Europeans, as well as those afraid of nuclear weapons and terror." Peres went on to say that he hoped Obama's call for dialogue with Ahmadinejad would be heeded, but warned that if such talks don't soften the Iranian president's approach "we'll strike him." "We certainly cannot go it alone, without the US, and we definitely can't go against the US. This would be unnecessary," stressed the president. Peres also referred to the case of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, imprisoned in the US, saying that even if Israel had done more, it wouldn't have secured his release as "until now, all our appeals to America have been answered with an iron wall." Source: Jerusalem Post
 John Lyons, Middle East correspondent | February 20, 2009
ISRAEL'S new political powerbroker Avigdor Lieberman has announced he will support Benjamin Netanyahu to be the country's next prime minister.
The leader of the the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party declared he would support a government formed by the hawkish Likud leader over Kadima's Tzipi Livni.
Mr Lieberman had refused to publicly reveal who he will support since last week's election in which his party won 15 seats, making it the country's third-largest party in the Knesset behind Kadima and Likud, and ahead of Labour, which won 14.
He had said only that he wanted to see a right-wing government in power.
The momentum towards Mr Netanyahu and the Right bloc had strengthened with an apparent decision by a large number of the Knesset members to support the Likud leader.
The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that factions comprising 77 members of the Knesset had decided at meetings yesterday not to join any prospective government led by Ms Livni.
It reported that apart from Likud these factions included United Torah Judaism, Shas, Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union.
The paper said: "When the Labour faction meets (on) Thursday morning, it is expected to join Meretz and the three Arab parties in deciding to remain in the opposition no matter who forms a government, to protest the assurances that Kadima gave Yisrael Beiteinu in pursuit of Lieberman's endorsement."
Although Kadima won 28 seats in the election, compared to Likud's 27, the Right bloc won more seats than the Centre Left bloc. For this to benefit Mr Netanyahu the bloc would need to remain as one behind Mr Netanyahu - which it appears to have done.
President Shimon Peres was meeting party officials overnight (AEDT) before deciding who would be tasked with forming a new government. Under the constitution, Mr Peres is required to make a judgment about who is most likely to form a stable coalition government.
Both Mr Netanyahu and Ms Livni had said they would support a national unity government with the other as part of it - each stipulating they be the leader.
In another development, Israel's cabinet met yesterday and decided there would be no longer-term ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza unless the Israeli soldier captured in 2006, Gilad Shalit, was released.
A fragile ceasefire exists but the Israeli cabinet and Hamas have been considering a more formal 18-month ceasefire plan negotiated by Egypt.
The cabinet unanimously supported the sudden insistence of the outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that no deal would be considered without the 22-year-old's release.
The Egyptian proposal would see Hamas' central demand - that all crossings between Israel and Gaza be opened - in return for Israel's two main demands: the end of rocket fire into southern Israel and the end of weapons smuggling into Gaza along the Egyptian border.
The Israeli cabinet said after its meeting: "Israel is not negotiating with Hamas or any other terrorist organisation to reach understandings or arrangements with it on a ceasefire. Israel will respond quickly, strongly and continuously to the continuation of terrorist actions against it from the Gaza strip."
Some humanitarian aid is able to pass through the border crossings but the cabinet statement said "expanded activity" would be discussed only upon the release of Sergeant Shalit.
Hamas has insisted his release be negotiated separately in an exchange involving hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Meanwhile US Democrat Congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison landed in Gaza yesterday, in the first such visit since Hamas took power there in June 2007.
The two visited Izzbet Abed Rabbo, a community in northern Gaza devastated during the deadly 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18. Source: The Australian
 Richard Beeston, New York | November 18, 2008
ISRAEL believes there is a chance for dialogue with Iran if Barack Obama succeeds in uniting the international community behind a common policy.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said his country's most implacable foe could be brought to the negotiating table, but it would depend on a new political climate and economic factors, in particular a falling oil price.
The 85-year-old politician said he expected Israel to achieve peace with its Arab neighbours in his lifetime, and even predicted that he would one day visit Damascus and Riyadh.
Mr Peres's upbeat message will no doubt be dismissed by many in the Middle East as the musings of a lifelong optimist.
Certainly no recent Israeli leader has expressed any positive view of Iran, whose nuclear policy and support for militant groups are regarded as the major threats to the Jewish state.
But Mr Peres insisted he could see new opportunities in the region, citing his invitation to attend a multi-faith conference in New York last week, initiated by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.
"If there will be a united policy on Iran and there is a new (lower) price for oil, then Iran will have to come to terms with a proportionate reality of our times," the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former prime minister said.
"If the Iranians feel there is a body politic behind (the push for talks) and they cannot just escape by sending (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad to spread quick wisdom, then there is a chance."
But he said no progress was possible until Iran had met three conditions: to halt its controversial nuclear and ballistic missile programs, to withdraw support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and to stop the use of "terror".
His remarks coincided with a major US policy review of relations with Iran, which President George W. Bush included in his "axis of evil".
President-elect Barack Obama has hinted he is prepared for "direct diplomacy" with Tehran.
There is even talk of opening a US interests section in Tehran, the first diplomatic mission since the 1979 Iranian revolution, when the US embassy was seized by students and US diplomats were held hostage for more than a year.
Mr Peres held out hopes that Israel could reach a "land for peace" agreement with Syria over the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
"I think Israel is ready to make peace with Syria and pay the cost," he said, confirming talks with Damascus were continuing.
But he warned the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that peace was "not a cocktail".
Mr Peres said Israel would accept a deal only if Syria halted its support for militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
"The problem with Syria is not so much the land but the peace," he said. "Several Israeli prime ministers indicated they are ready to give back the land. But the Syrians do not indicate they are ready to provide peace."
As for Britain, Mr Peres said it could play an important role in the region, though he did admit being concerned about growing anti-Israeli sentiment in the country.
"I don't understand the criticism," he said.
"Why are they criticising us? That war is an ugly story. We know it. I can assure them we did not invite it and we are not happy with it, and as we have shown, we are ready to pay the cost. I do not take their superior position. They do not go into the realities of the situation. They just want to be politically correct." Source:The Australian from the Times
 By Hamid Mir Sunday, August 17, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Israeli President Shimon Peres is desperately trying to help his friend President Pervez Musharraf and is putting indirect pressure on the coalition government through different diplomatic channels not to impeach him, Foreign Office sources reveal.
The sources claim that Peres wants a safe exit for Musharraf and he is also ready to provide security to his friend outside Pakistan. These sources also claim that Peres and Musharraf are in regular contact with each other for the last three years. Both met first in Davos in January 2005 and since then they have been writing letters to each other and exchanging pleasantries on telephone regularly.
According to the sources, Peres wrote his first-ever official letter to Musharraf in October 2007, appreciating his efforts in the fight against terrorism. Musharraf, in his response, thanked the Israeli president for his support and good wishes. These letters were exchanged through diplomatic channels of Turkey.
Peres called his Pakistani friend again a few days ago. Though the details of their conversation were not available with the Foreign Office yet it is believed that Peres offered his friend some help.
Informed sources are of the view that Israel has strong friendly relations with Turkey and is in a position to provide security to Musharraf in Turkey. One close friend of Musharraf is also busy in lobbying for him in the Jewish lobby in the US these days. This friend of Musharraf has met many leaders of the World Jewish Congress recently. Musharraf even praised this friend publicly in recognition of his services for facilitating him to address the Jewish lobby in New York. This special friend still enjoys ministerial status in Pakistan without being elected and despite the fact that he is an American citizen. It has been learnt that the same friend is requesting his American Jewish contacts to do something for the safe exit of Musharraf through Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Peres had openly said in October 2001 that he prayed for the life of Musharraf every morning as he (Musharraf) had signed his death warrant by changing the Afghan policy of Pakistan. After that, Musharraf also came into contact with the late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. He also met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak in January this year in Paris.
Diplomatic sources claim that Musharraf is the most popular Pakistani leader in Israel. He was the first Pakistani leader who was invited to address the World Jewish Congress in the US in 2005. After that historic event, the then foreign minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri met his Israeli counterpart Silvon Shalom in Turkey in 2005.
Musharraf had asked the Foreign Office in early 2007 to prepare a plan for the recognition of Israel but it did not materialise due to the political turmoil started in March 2007. It is also pertinent to mention here that Indian National Security Adviser MK Narayanan was the first foreign leader to come out openly in support of Musharraf on Wednesday, saying his impeachment would only help extremist elements in the country. The same Indian leader had declared on December 19, 2007 that India could trust Musharraf but not Benazir Bhutto.
Musharraf knows that he is still popular among the Indian and Israeli establishments and has a lot of friends in Western capitals as well. If provided a safe exit, he can find a new role for himself in international diplomacy.
Highly placed sources in the coalition government claim that Musharraf is now completely isolated and he has informed Asif Ali Zardari, through the governor Punjab, that he would resign if provided special indemnity. However, the coalition government is not ready to provide him indemnity and in that case he would face the first-ever humiliating impeachment process, which would definitely make history in Pakistan.
Hamid Mir is the Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad and he has also interviewed Osama bin Laden, Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, General Pervaiz Musharraf, Hamid Karzai, L K Advani and other international leaders.
Source: Canada Free Press
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The militaries of Israel and Turkey are trying to salvage an alliance severely damaged as Ankara realigns its position in the Middle East.
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