Egyptians ransack building housing Israel Embassy

[docmauser1]

Speaking of international law, how about: It is inadmissible to acquire land through the threat or use of force?

If it's arabs, than to acquire land through the threat or use of force is permissible, if it's anyone else - it's a crime against humanity , of course.

 

[waltky]

Israel Was Warned: Ties With Egypt Will Change...

Palestinians warned Israel at start of Arab Spring: Ties with Egypt will change
11.09.11 - Adviser to Abbas told senior official in Netanyahu's government to expect waves of anti-Israel protests across Muslim world following UN vote on Palestinian statehood.

Shortly after the masses began crowding into Cairo's Tahrir Square earlier this year, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to prepare for a dramatic change in the relations between Israel and Egypt. The adviser estimated that the nascent Egyptian protest movement would not stop at regime change, and told his counterpart in Jerusalem that if the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories continued, the new Arab world would show the Israelis that solidarity with oppressed brothers is not exclusively a Jewish tradition. The Palestinian adviser warned that the day after the United Nations vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood, waves of anti-Israel protests would wash over the capitals of Arab and Muslim states.

It is unclear whether Israeli official passed this message on to the prime minister, or if he kept it to himself. Either way, Netanyhau refused Abbas' offer to renew negotiations based on U.S. President Barack Obama's May 19 speech calling for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and agreed land swaps. Simultaneously, Netanyahu made great efforts to convince "the world" that the Israeli-Arab conflict and anti-Israel sentiments are not related to the June 1967 borders but to the May 1948 borders – hence the very existence of Israel. The conclusion was that ending the occupation will not affect Israel's international and regional standing. The result: a political deadlock and new construction in West Bank settlements.

A brief look at history underscores a clear link between political progress in the Israeli-Palestinian arena and a souring of relations with the Islamic states closest to Israel: Egypt, Turkey and Jordan. Budding relations with other countries such as Tunisia, Pakistan, Indonesia and some of the Gulf states, that started forming after the Oslo Accords, have withered as the settlements bloomed. This pattern does not characterize only the regimes, but also other power centers that have an influence on the street. For example, following the Camp David Accords in March 1979, Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Jad Al-Haq (who went on to become Minister of Religious Affairs and the head of the Al-Azhar University) published a breakthrough decree approving the peace with Israel.

Israeli government spokespeople who say the breakdown of relations with Turkey has to do with the Islamic nature of the regime, have apparently forgotten that Turkey downgraded relations with Israel after the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law in 1980, many years before the Justice and Development Party rose to power. Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002 caused a further deterioration in relations, while the disengagement from Gaza in 2005 brought Anakara and Jerusalem closer – until the siege on the Gaza Strip and Operation Cast Lead.

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Crisis threatens Israel's Mideast ties
September 11, 2011 - Israeli leaders are struggling to contain an escalating diplomatic crisis on multiple fronts amid mounting concern that both Egypt and Turkey, the country’s two most important allies in the Muslim world, are slipping from its grasp.

Following scenes of violence and mayhem on the streets of Cairo, Israel was forced to evacuate its ambassador and almost the entire diplomatic staff from the embassy in the Egyptian capital in the early hours of Saturday. The dramatic move followed the storming of the embassy premises by a group of violent protesters on Friday night. Speaking on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said his government was determined to preserve the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt – comments that were echoed by the Egyptian leadership over the weekend. However, the Israeli leader also warned: “This peace is being challenged and those who challenge it are challenging not only the policy but also the state known as Israel.”

The evacuation of the Israeli embassy in Cairo followed a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions between Israel and Turkey. Earlier this month, Ankara decided to expel Israel’s top diplomats from Turkey and downgraded its own mission in Tel Aviv, citing Israel’s refusal to apologise for the killing of nine pro-Palestinian activists by Israeli forces on board a Turkish ship sailing to Gaza last year. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, also warned that his country’s navy would in future protect Gaza-bound ships, raising the possibility of a fresh escalation in the eastern Mediterranean. Separately, the Islamic regime in Tehran welcomed the attack in Cairo, with one adviser calling the US embassy there “the den of espionage”.

Israeli officials worry that tensions with Turkey and Egypt will be exposed once again when Mr Erdogan arrives in Cairo for a high-profile visit on Monday. Turkish officials have in recent days talked down the prospect of a visit by Mr Erdogan to the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip, a trip that would have infuriated the Israeli government. But many analysts say that Mr Erdogan’s visit – with or without the Gaza leg – will put pressure on Egypt’s military government to harden its own line. “If an important non-Arab Muslim majority country is taking a stand, kicking out the Israeli ambassador and saying it is going to be challenging the Gaza blockade and Israel’s behaviour on the open seas, there is pressure on the new governments, particularly in Egypt, also to take a tough stand,” said Bulent Aliriza at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Echoing the question that is currently foremost on the minds of Israeli policymakers, Mr Aliriza asked: “Can Egypt sustain its relationship with Israel when Turkey has taken this position, particularly when the Egyptian street has spoken and has essentially kicked out the Israeli ambassador itself?” In Israel, several commentators and analysts warned that Israeli strategic interests were being eroded on several fronts at the same time. Many pointed to the looming vote on Palestinian statehood at the UN later this month, as well as the apparent lack of warmth between senior US and Israeli government officials. “The tsunami begins,” said a headline in Israel’s Maariv newspaper on Sunday. In the article itself, Ben Caspit argued: “The relations between Israel and Turkey can’t deteriorate any further. Now Egypt, our last significant ally in the region, is teetering and collapsing before the masses.”

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