10-15-2003, 09:11 AM
[url="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1064989335264&p=1006953079845"]Jerusalem Post article (Oct 1st)[/url]
Quote:Good-bye Cairo, hello New Delhi.
Since 1948, Jerusalem has advanced an "outer ring" regional foreign policy doctrine, whereby it seeks to advance ties with non-Arab countries nearby in order to counterbalance the hostility of the "inner ring" neighbors. In the past, Iran and Ethiopia were linchpins of this policy, now the stars are India and Turkey.
Twenty years ago few would have imagined either country in this role. Back then New Delhi was firmly in the Soviet orbit, implacably hostile to Israel. Ankara, too, was in the throes of a pro-Arab policy.
But the end of the Cold War and the Middle East peace moves of the early 1990s - Madrid and Oslo - gave both countries an excuse to upgrade relations with Israel. Once they did, Turkey and India felt the benefits of the ties, and - even as Madrid fizzled and Oslo died - things took off.
What makes this even more impressive is that Turkey is a Muslim country, and India - with 140 million Muslims - has the second largest Muslim population in the world. Not only is Turkey Muslim, but its new governing party has strong Islamic roots (in the same sense that Shas has strong Jewish roots). Yet the ties remain strong because the ties are to Turkey's - and India's - advantage.
These benefits have ensured that Ankara and New Delhi continue to want to foster their ties with Israel, despite their traditional sympathy with the Palestinians, and despite their close ties to the Arab world.
What are these benefits? First are the arms sales. Israel provides both countries with quality military hardware they are currently hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
Turkey is unable to buy certain weapons systems in the US because of strong Armenian and Greek lobbies that place riders and amendments on all kinds of arms deals to Turkey. And India is still, to a certain degree, the victim of a US arms embargo clamped down after New Delhi detonated two nuclear devices in 1998.
Israel is more than willing to fill the breach.
Furthermore, both countries - until recently not reflexively thought of as part of the West - are trying to shore up their Western credentials. Israel provides a good entry point. No only do ties with Israel go over well in Washington, but ties with Israel improve relations with Washington.
Fears that India or Turkey's close relations with Israel would damage their relations with the Arab world have not materialized. Turkish officials argue that they never got anything tangible from their support for the Palestinians anyway, and Indian officials maintain that since India is such an important strategic state, the Arab world will not want to endanger ties with New Delhi by making them conditional on a cold shoulder to Israel.
Israel, of course, is overjoyed, only too eager to help. Defense pacts have been established with Turkey, and counterterrorism working groups established with India. The ties provide financial oxygen for the military industrial complex - oxygen needed for Israel to retain its qualitative edge in arms.
And, no less importantly, the relationships have relieved the country's sense of diplomatic isolation.
Who knows, India and Turkey may even one day join the US and Micronesia in voting against anti-Israel motions in the UN.