BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,380, December 24, 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israel has made the mistake of trying to integrate into a declining Arab World. Instead, it should prioritize its integration into the emerging Mediterranean bloc consisting of Italy, Greece, and Cyprus.

One of Israel’s current diplomatic strategies is to court the stable Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Doing so would unlock economic opportunities for all sides while allowing for a close counterterrorism partnership (aimed primarily at Iran and Turkey). It would also sideline the Palestinian issue, which has long been at an impasse.

The value of prioritizing the Arab states is questionable, however. Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria are consumed by internal turmoil and civil war. A once powerful Egypt now relies on international aid. So does Jordan, which is little more than a glorified refugee camp. Lebanon—once an open and promising Arab state—is today little more than a destitute Iranian colony. The Gulf States are sunk deeply in the Yemen quagmire and human rights controversies. The Qatari crisis and Doha’s reluctance to militarily respond to Iranian provocations undermines the prospects for Gulf normalization.

Jerusalem has a better and more immediate alternative toward which it should orient its diplomacy—one that will cement Israel’s role as the dominant military and economic power in the Mediterranean. Israel should look not south for its future but northwest.

There are significant merits to the “Axis of Antiquity” between Greece, Israel, and the Republic of Cyprus. Recently, Turkey and the Tripoli-based militia it supports (along with Qatar) signed a deal demarcating Libyan-Turkish borders at the Mediterranean that infringe on Cypriot, Greek, Egyptian, and other maritime rights, leading Athens to expel the Libyan ambassador. Meanwhile, Italy, Bulgaria, and others have expressed interest in joining the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Initiative.

Israel should capitalize on these opportunities even as it pursues closer ties with the stable Arab countries.

China is expanding economically across the Eurasian landmass with a “New Silk Road.” Israel can create a regional version of this—an “Energy Silk Road,” if you will. Israel can develop and connect its Leviathan gas fields to Cyprus’s Aphrodite fields. A gas pipeline could run through Cyprus to Greece and through the Balkans, up to Romania, and westward to Italy. If Egypt can overcome its differences with Israel and cooperate, it could attach its Zohr gas fields to the regional pipeline as well. Doing so would lift the Egyptian, Greek, and Cypriot economies out of poverty and massively grow the Israeli economy. Given Egypt’s bad relations with Turkey and proxies in Libya, as well as its increased cooperation with Nicosia and Athens, this is not impossible—though as it is busy fighting jihadists in the Sinai, Cairo’s focus will likely remain elsewhere for the time being.

In addition to natural gas, it is also possible for Israel to develop its oil supplies in the Negev, the Golan Heights, and near Jerusalem, and connect them to an additional pipeline.

The Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria have their own healthy supply of oil. Should they achieve independence amid the unrest and international isolation of Turkey and Iran, their economy could develop through creation of their own oil pipeline, which could connect to the Israeli-Greek-Cypriot initiative. Doing so would likely require enormous military assistance—something Israel might be able to provide after it deals with its own threats along its borders. This could be of vital security importance to Jerusalem, as a Kurdish state would be another pro-Western democracy and ally capable of blocking the neo-imperial ambitions of Iran and Turkey as well as containing extremist Arab groups.

Israel, Greece, and Cyprus must change their attitudes toward the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Rather than ignoring it, they should understand that Turkish Cypriots share their wariness toward Ankara. Nicosia, Athens, and Jerusalem should invite Northern Cyprus to participate in the initiative, in a manner similar to the Nicosia Master Plan for the capital city’s shared sewer system. This would elevate the Turkish-Cypriot economy and pry Northern Cyprus further away from Ankara. It could also lead to renewed peace talks on the island and reestablish Cyprus’s historic role as a central economic hub.

Important military, economic, and diplomatic opportunities could result from the establishment of an Energy Silk Road. Given the new Libyan-Turkish provocation, it’s crucial that Israel sell advanced air defense systems to Greece, Cyprus, and the Balkan countries to prevent the cash-strapped Russian and Turkish regimes from infringing on neighboring countries’ turf. It could also do so in the case of Kurdish independence, and make an effort to persuade the US to sell Patriot or THAAD missile defense systems to those countries. Given that America supports the initiative but wants to withdraw from the region, this should be an easy task—one that can enrich both Washington and Jerusalem. (A joint defense mechanism of all involved countries, as well as increased Israeli naval capabilities, might be required to see this through.)

Much as the Allies of WWII penetrated Europe’s “southern soft underbelly,” Israel can do the same. Southeastern Europe has blocked harmful anti-Israel EU resolutions and is more inclined to support Jerusalem than to support Ramallah. Making Europe more dependent on Israeli energy exports would deepen this relationship while prying Brussels loose from its dependency on Iranian and Arab oil. That alone would weaken the EU’s automatic pro-Palestinian stance.

At the same time, Israel should continue pursuing its interests with the Gulf monarchies—particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Those states are modernizing and secularizing, and they want to participate in counterterrorism and economic initiatives with the Jewish state. This could include Arab investment in the Energy Silk Road, perhaps with pipelines running from Egypt and Israel into Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and the UAE.

For the time being, however, in view of the unreliability of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Israel would do well to explore alternatives to its north.

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Dmitri Shufutinsky is a graduate of Arcadia University’s Masters program in International Peace & Conflict Resolution. He lives in Kibbutz Erez, Israel as a Lone Soldier in the Garin Tzabar program. He was drafted into Michve Alon on December 15.

The Washington Post

By Can Dundar

Dec. 24, 2019 at 11:26 am EST

Büşra Nur, “wonderland” With several stunning videos that share in the life became the subject of the day in Turkey.

Here is the exaggerated wedding … And here is the entrance image from the door of the Ottoman-style pavilion, accompanied by a lullaby specially composed for the newborn with his newborn baby mev

There are two reasons why the videos are the subject of national debate: The conservative Islamists criticize the enthusiasm of Büşra Nur with the headscarf, while AKP opponents question how her husband, who was a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Health, used to accumulate this fortune.

Following this discussion, social media revealed that Büşra Nur was not an exception, as some might think. And the debate has moved to another dimension: Erdogan’s Turkey, there is nothing to be surprised ostentatious piety and the blending of extravagant consumption. A Twitter account called “# AKPCocuklari edi documented the luxury of those who managed to get close enough to have a photo taken by President Erdogan.

When he came to power, Erdogan had refused to move from his modest home in a remote neighborhood of Ankara to the Prime Minister’s residence. Now in its eighteenth year in power, he boasted that he lived in one of the world’s largest houses. “Self-palace built in 1000 rooms” if their criticism , “Wrong, you know, there are 1150-odd rooms,” he answers.

Emine Erdoğan, his wife, who once hesitated to shake the hand of men, is now rich enough to travel with a $ 50,000 Hermes bag…

Most of the new Islamist riches came to this point thanks to state-funded foundations and public tenders, the award of closeness to the Erdogan family.

Şafak Çak , the popular interior architect of the Muslim society , says that the city’s new Islamic elite enjoys leaf thrones, Svarovski stones buried in parquets, giant screens broadcasting from the Kaaba, Louis Vuitton toilet papers and air conditioners spraying rose water.

Most of them, like Erdoğan, teach their children in America and prefer Maldives or Dubai for their holidays. The women are covered with a Dior scarf over Ferre’s topcoat, and Hermes walks around with bags in their arms.

Known for his radical Islamist views New Contracting newspaper writer Abdurrahman Dilipak, falling to a last summer language “veil bachelor party” images of the sharing As he wrote :

“’Modern conservatives’ have come to the point where your lips are cold. We now have halal beer, wine and champagne. There are ladies with hijabs playing at the yacht parties. There’s nothing to look for in the Gulf countries. This includes the relatives of politicians and bureaucrats. Haram money does not look like it is in the wallet. ”

Women with headscarves disagree with these criticisms. One of them reacted to this conservative pressure in another Islamist newspaper:

“We expect them to dress like their mothers why the likeness of her youthful women?” Text , why would deal DUğUylA what others wear conservative man, he was questioning they look at their moral behavior.

It seems that Islamic politics, which has been regarded as a provincial crop for many years, is becoming urbanized, secular and secular.

Western taste patterns and the passion of consumption are infiltrating to the most remote parts of society. Political Islam is having a hard time persuading women to call home for an election campaign. This is why Büşra Nur’s flamboyant wedding and mevlit videos have created such a great debate. Büşra Nur, shrugging similar criticisms of Islamists and secularists, “I have nothing to deal with them. I earn more than my wife and I give you my social media tax “, he said .

In 2012, Erdogan promised to nesil raise a religious generation ”. But Bekir, a reliable pollsters are heavy, this “social engineering” project that gave opposite results showed :

According to the research, the rate of prayers, fasting and head covering among young people has decreased gradually in the last 10 years. While the number of young people who defined themselves as “traditional conservative” or “religious azal declined, the percentage of those who defined themselves as“ modern i rose from 29 percent to 42 percent. He believes that this is not about the weakening of religious beliefs, but about urbanization. Thanks to technology, the rhythm of life has also changed. They have less time to worship. Therefore, young people today are very different from the previous generation with their moral and cultural forms. ”

The country’s secularists see the increasing visibility of headscarved women as a threat. Islamists are on the alert that the turban is not enough to protect women from the modern-secular way of life.

The new generation of Turkish Islamists is shaped by the double pressure of capitalist consumption and government-encouraged religiosity.