Last week, on the 14th of January 2010, the Institute of Strategic Thinking hosted an expert on the Middle East issues, Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, who is the Professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies at the Center for Global Affairs, New York University. Dr. Ben-Meir made an explanatory and trustworthy speech for two hours and tried to answer all questions about Israel and the Middle East conflict. During his speech, Dr. Ben- Meir essentially pointed out the bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel and Turkey’s importance in the Middle East region. Recently, Israeli and Turkish governments experienced great problematic events, which caused mutual misunderstandings and worsened the bilateral relations and created a diplomatic crisis. Before mentioning these misunderstandings and the role of Turkey in the Middle East peace process, Dr. Ben-Meir outlined the developments in the region after the September 11 attacks in U.S.A. 

He started his speech by comparing the Bush and Obama administations and afterwards he mentioned that the invasion of Iraq was an erroneous step; it had a great impact on the Israel and Palestinian issue and therefore lessened the importance of the issue itself. Dr. Ben-Meir’s approachment towards the new administration seems to be more positive than the Bush and Clinton administrations. “The president, who has strengthened America’s hands and credibility because of his appeal and moral standing, will certainly have greater sway than his predecessor” (Click -1). President Obama’s methods are unlike to his predecessors and his policies like; making a peaceful speech in Cairo and appointing George Mitchell as the Middle East special envoy, was a kind of as “reconciling differences”, said Dr. Ben-Meir. However, it would not be so easy for the US government to regain its political standing in the region. It is so concrete that especially after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US lost its credibility among the Arab states and also the Obama administration could not suceed in reanimating Palestinian – Israeli negotiations.

During his speech, Dr. Ben-Meir criticised the policies of Bush administration and as a result of his policies, he stated, the changing circumstances changed in favour of Iran in the region. “The Bush administration’s post-9/11 doctrine and the two wars that followed in Afghanistan and Iraq placed Iran in the center of any future development in the Middle East” (Click - 2). Dr. Ben-Meir reminds that Iran’s close relations with Hezbollah and Hamas, its anti political rhetoric towards Israel and its nuclear armament projects shows that Iran is trying to become a regional hegemon in the Middle East and therefore Turkey should be careful.

After emphasizing the policies of the US administration and President Obama’s aim to restore the US stance in the region, Dr. Ben-Meir continued his speech by explaining the remedy to end the Israel-Arab conflict. According to Dr. Ben-Meir, six different steps needed to forward the process. First of all, the US should support any efforts that intends to provide peace for the Arab states and it should embrace the Arab Peace Initiative. Secondly, an electoral system and a coalition government should be obtained and the results should be accepted by the international community, as well as neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan. Thirdly, and most importantly, the Israel’s concession through political and economic relations with Palestinians should be achieved and reopening of the crossings between Israel and Gaza should be implemented. Fourthly, because of having a special role on the Middle East, greater involvement in the EU is needed, in terms of financial, security and institutional provision. Fifthly, Hamas should be brought into the negotiating process with Israel, at this juncture referring to Hamas’s reliance on Turkey he brought up the sixth step. According to Dr. Ben-Meir’s statement Turkey should, must, can a very significant role in dealing with Arab-Israeli conflict ‘now’ and ‘in the future’ and Turkey should work on bringing Hamas into the political process.  

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir stressed the importance of Turkey’s strategic relationship with Israel and the necessity of resuming the bilateral relations, in spite of experienced diplomatic crisis. The latest developments like the Davos crisis, Turkey’s criticism of Israel concerning the Gaza attack, Turkish TV film (Valley of Wolfs) that vilify the Israeli troops and finally Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Dan Ayalon’s attitude towards the Turkish ambassador Oğuz Çelikkol increased the tension between Israel and Turkey. His citing that Ayalon must be fired and criticizing the Israel government as not compelling reason and not taking incentive to move forward to solve the problem, at least satisfied the audience about Dr. Ben-Meir’s realistic approachment towards Turkey and Israel. “Israel must realize that Ayalon is now a liability and must be fired not only because of his terrible diplomatic gaffes, but because his actions will reflect on Israel’s image in the eyes of the international community” (Click - 3). According to Dr. Ben-Meir any kind of an incoherence between Turkey and Israel could lead a turmoil in the region and therefore the prerequisites of parts should be overcoming the differences and restoring relations through dialogue, collaboration and cooperation.

As a result, the speech of Dr. Ben-Meir concerning the latest developments in the Middle East was very informative and enlightening. It seems that his reasonable explanations including his critiques towards Israel were welcomed by the majority of participants.

Handan Hilal Köse