Mideast Media Sampler 08/19/2011

From DG:

1) Clarity

Back in February, Barry Rubin warned:

Another problem is border security. Again, we are told that it is in the interest of Egypt, especially the army, to avoid having terrorists cross the border into Israel. Yet similar logic has often proven mistaken in  previous, similar cases. With junior officers and soldiers sympathizing with Islamism or radical nationalism, the orders of the generals back in Cairo might not be followed with a high degree of discipline. There are already reports of al-Qaida planning to infiltrate into the Sinai to launch cross-border attacks.

He bolstered his case by referring to an article in the Jerusalem Post:

According to information obtained by Israel, Iran has been working to build new infrastructure in the Sinai that can be used to smuggle advanced weaponry in large quantities into the Gaza Strip.
“Iran wants to take advantage of the current anarchy in Egypt and establish a stronger foothold in Gaza,” a senior defense official said. “They are building new capabilities, upgrading smuggling mechanisms and studying the new military presence there to see how it will affect them.”

Yesterday we saw the results of the increased anarchy in the northern Sinai, as the New York Times reported in Attacks Near Israeli Resort Heighten Tensions With Egypt and Gaza:   

Armed attackers, described by the authorities as Gazans who had crossed into Israel from Egypt, carried out multiple deadly attacks near the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat on Thursday, prompting a fierce Israeli bombing raid on Gaza and threatening to escalate tensions there. 

Eight Israelis were killed and more than 30 were wounded in the attacks near Eilat, the most serious on Israel from Egyptian territory in decades. The attacks highlighted how the fallout from the Egyptian revolution — lawlessness in the northern Sinai Peninsula and a softer line in Cairo toward Iran and the militant group Hamas — had frayed ties with Israel. 

The Israeli military said it had killed at least four of the attackers in the desert near the Egyptian border. Hours later, it retaliated with several airstrikes on Gaza. In the first such strike, six Palestinians, several of them members of a militant group, were killed, according to the group’s spokesman and medical officials in Gaza. 

 The reporting is generally solid, but the following paragraph is a little disturbing:

The latest attacks threatened to create new strains in the relationship between Israel and Egypt. Tensions have grown since the Egyptian revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, a steadfast ally who helped hold in check the public’s widespread sympathy with the Palestinians and hatred of Israel. 

This sounds a lot like Thomas Friedman. Mubarak may have been an ally in many ways, but Mubarak's Egypt was also known for publishing antisemitic propaganda too. So Mubarak, in fact, fueled the "hatred of Israel." And the reason Mubarak was allied with Israel, was because Israel had surrendered the Sinai to make peace with Egypt. Instead of portraying peace with Israel as the favor bestowed by an unworthy dictator, Kershner at least should have pointed out that Israel sacrificed tangible assets to make peace with the Egyptian people.

The Washington Post covered the terror attacks here. There's a notable quote from an Israeli official: 

An Israeli official described conditions in Sinai, where Bedouin tribes involved in smuggling and illegal arms sales have defied the central government, as “a Wild West situation,” adding that militant Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda-inspired factions, have established a presence in the region. 

“This is not just a problem for Israel and Egypt,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “There’s a global interest in making sure Sinai doesn’t become a no man’s land and a platform for regional terrorism.”

 2) Turkey has no regrets

Yesterday I wrote about Israel's refusal to apologize to Turkey for the deaths that occurred when Israeli soldiers were attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara last year. The New York Times reported:

Turkey has demanded an official apology, compensation to victims’ relatives and a lifting of the blockade on Gaza as conditions for normalizing its heavily strained relations with Israel, formerly an important ally.

 It was interesting to see that Turkey Retaliates for Deadly Rebel-Kurd Attack

In Turkey the bodies of the eight Turkish soldiers killed by the Kurdish rebel group the PKK are being returned to their home towns. The deaths have caused both public and political outrage in Turkey. Turkish armed forces have bombed PKK bases in neighboring northern Iraq and the government is under mounting pressure to take a tougher stance against the rebels.

Hundreds of people protested in Istanbul throughout the night against the killings of eight Turkish soldiers by the Kurdish rebel group the PKK. One of city's major highways was blocked by the protestors, waving Turkish flags and chanting anti-PKK slogans.

At the same time, the Turkish air force, backed by artillery, bombed Kurdish rebel bases in Northern Iraq.  With 34 soldiers killed in the past few weeks, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under mounting pressure to crackdown on the PKK.  

Turkey believes that its soldiers should not be attacked with impunity, but that Israel shouldn't have the same right.


3) A reporter in Homs

Usually, the material in the New York Times blog, The Lede is highly biased. Yesterday the blog published some observations by an unidentified reporter from the Syrian city of Homs. In a sense there's nothing extraordinary about the report. Except that it was written and transmitted at all.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Middle East.