The Hurriyet Daily News published today an article entitled " Obama, Israel and the new Middle East ".
"U.S. President Barack Obama’s first presidential trip to the region was in April 2009, only a few months after the 2008 Gaza bombings. Once again, Obama is set to visit the Middle East only months after the Gaza bombings. It’s not just Obama, the president’s new secretary of state will also visit nine countries, including Turkey, next week." the article starts.
" The current apparent tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu and the Obama administration, whose recent actions left no doubts about its support of Israel, are only rhetorical. There is no longer a Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt. Bashar al-Assad is struggling to survive beneath the ruins of a collapsed Baath regime in Syria. Most importantly, the status quo Washington expected to see in Ankara no longer exists. " the article reads.
" Israel has lost allies in the region, first Turkey, followed by the Mubarak regime in Egypt, and finally its comfortable enemy, the Baath regime. Obama will soon visit Israel – a country that only communicates with its neighboring countries via Washington, which is an ocean away, " Taha Özhan writes.
" Reviving the Middle East peace process comes to mind as one of the objectives of this trip. Although what kind of peace process can be achieved with Mahmud Abbas, who has lost all legitimacy after the Palestinian Papers were leaked to the media, and Israel, which has bombed Gaza twice in five years and has bolstered its occupation of Palestine even more with new settlements, is a complete mystery. "
" As long as the U.S insists on the old order of the Middle East via its support for Israel, it will soon no longer possess the necessary political software to deal with the new Middle East, " the article ends.
