Digging in, the essence of Netanyahu's foreign policy

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The years-long diplomatic effort to integrate Israel as an accepted neighbor in the Middle East collapsed this week, with the expulsion of the Israeli ambassadors from Ankara and Cairo, and the rushed evacuation of the embassy staff from Amman. This is the lowest point in Israeli foreign policy since the groundbreaking visit to Jerusalem by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977. The region is spewing out the Jewish state, which is increasingly shutting itself off behind fortified walls, under a leadership that refuses any change, movement or reform and is dealing with debacle after debacle.

The talk about peace has given way to threats of war. In Cairo, the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this week celebrated his country's return to the leadership of the Middle East, nearly a century after General Allenby and his troops expelled the Ottomans from here. He exploited his visit to tighten the ring around Israel and warned, in his sonorous voice, "Israel's aggression is endangering its future."

Even King Abdullah II of Jordan, the most moderate of the Arab states and an ally of the Zionist movement since pre-state times, joined the threat mongers: "Jordan and the future of Palestine are stronger than Israel; it is the Israelis who are worried today ... Your situation is more difficult than ever," the king told an Israeli acquaintance in the United States.

Next week, Israel is likely to suffer another diplomatic setback, perhaps the most crushing in its history, when the Palestinian Authority asks the United Nations to declare that it is a state. The wording of the declaration and the procedures have not yet been finalized: with or without a mention of the 1967 boundaries; via the Security Council, where there will be an American veto, or at the General Assembly, where the Palestinians are assured of a huge majority - but only for a "depleted" state, which is not a full member of the United Nations.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/digging-in-the-essence-of-netanyahu-s-foreign-policy-1.384824

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1. Why Jordan's king lashed out at Israel

It is difficult to explain King Abdullah of Jordan's angry statement four days ago that his country would fight any attempt to turn it into a substitute Palestinian homeland.

An Israeli official suggested on the Ynet Internet site that the king's reaction stemmed from his kingdom's precarious situation. But contrary to this official's claim - a wretched one in itself in view of rising Israeli-Jordanian tensions - it appears Abdullah was reacting to a statement from Israel. Specifically, he was reacting to something said by Maj. Gen. (res. ) Uzi Dayan, a Likud member and chairman of the national lottery, Mifal Hapayis.

On Sunday, Dayan spoke at a panel discussion on "The declaration of a Palestinian state and its impact on the Middle East peace process" during a conference at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. There, he said that if the United Nations recognizes a Palestinian state, then the Oslo agreements have failed and there is no peace process, so Israel is facing a new reality.

"Ultimately," he said, "the best thing is a Palestinian Hashemite kingdom headed by the king of Jordan," with its capital in Amman and consisting of three provinces: the current kingdom of Jordan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He later confirmed this to Haaretz.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/why-jordan-s-king-lashed-out-at-israel-1.384722