Panetta couldn't be more polite in telling Israel that it really is time to take a different approach. Reading between the lines it sure does sound like a warning to me.
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/us-to-i ... s-1.884318
Dubai: The US has told Israel that it is crucial to find ways to communicate with other nations in the region if it wants to enjoy peace and stability.
The statement by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta before landing in Israel yesterday on a Middle East tour was described by some reports as a warning in a blunt assessment.
However, many analysts in the region believe it doesn't reflect a change in the US policy towards Washington's close friend in the region, Israel.
"It is a friendly advice, not a stern reprimand," said Hunaida Ganem, General Director of the West-Bank based Palestine Forum for Israeli Studies.
"It is an objective reading of the reality, therefore the US is telling Israel how to handle issues with the least possible losses," Hunaida told Gulf News.
For Washington, "it is obvious that (Israel) sorting out its problem with Turkey is a central issue, especially that Israel has lost its three strategic allies in the region. Iran in 1978 after the revolution, Turkey (lately) and Egypt recently," Hunaida said in reference to tensions between Turkey and Israel in the past few weeks over the Gaza flotilla raid, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed.
Ankara has downgraded its diplomatic ties with Israel to second secretary level early in September. Turkey is demanding an apology and a compensation over the incident happened on May 31, 2010. Israel has refused several times to meet the Turkish demands.
"I think for the security of that region, it's really important that we do everything possible to try help them re-establish relations with countries like Turkey and with Egypt," Panetta was quoted as telling reporters on his plane before landing in Israel.
With the end of Hosni Mubarak's rule in Egypt and popular unrest elsewhere casting doubt on the premises underlying Israel's security, Panetta said Israeli leaders were fully aware of the challenges they faced.
"I think they recognise that it's important to try to do whatever they can to try to improve those relations," he said.
"At this dramatic time in the Middle East, when there have been so many changes, it's not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that's what's happening," he said.
According to Hunaida, some Israeli think-tanks have already ringed the bell over the change in the international community's position vis-a-vis Israel in the past few years.… To them, the "removal of the [international] legitimacy for Israel" because of its policies towards the Palestinians "constitutes the second strategic danger facing Israel's existence after the Iranian threat".
Panetta was scheduled to meet Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak after which the two men were to hold a joint news conference. Then he was to travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad before heading to occupied Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said.
Panetta said the most important thing now is for Israel and its neighbours "to try to develop better relationships so in the very least they can communicate with each other rather than taking these issues to the streets."
His visit comes at a particularly critical time.
The UN is looking into a Palestinian request to recognise an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
