There can be no security for Israel if Palestinians do not have their basic rights.

What are the sources of recent unrest in East Jerusalem? What does Israel want to achieve? How is this received by Palestinians? What is a proper course of action by the international community?

Israel has emerged unchallenged despite the level of its impunity this year. This evasion speaks to the international pattern where state officials' voice outrage against its impunity but do not follow up with concrete sanctions.

Almost every Zionist practice that Palestine has had to endure bear either direct or symbolic resemblance to Nazi policies.

The peace process, just as all other components of the Israeli occupation, is merely meant to maintain a permanent state of crisis management for a permanent occupation.

Although a clear, distinctive line exists between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, Israeli circles have a tendency to distort the meaning of anti-Semitism in a way to include anti- Zionism as part of it.

Syria and Israel are two semi-states which base their identities on pretended hostility.

Israel so preoccupied with who should stay in power in Turkey, that they cannot read what is really happening in Turkish domestic politics.

Since 2000, relations regained its historically fluctuating pattern and this continues to characterize the nature of relations between Turkey and Israel today. When Turkish-Israeli relations were formalized in March 28, 1949, Turkey became the first Muslim state to recognize the state of Israel; however, relations were kept at a minimum level for decades. From 1949 to the early 1990s, relations were very fragile and followed a fluctuating pattern. This pattern was replaced by the “honeymoon years” starting from the late 1990’s. The late 1990s marked by the soft coup of 1997, also known as the “February 28 Process,” constituted an exception in the pattern and level of relations between Turkey and Israel. Since 2000, relations regained its historically fluctuating pattern and this continues to characterize the nature of relations between Turkey and Israel today.

Prof. Efraim Inbar - whose works on Turkish-Israeli relations deserve much credit - recently wrote an op-ed piece "An open letter to my Turkish friends" in The Jerusalem Post in which he paints a grotesque picture of Turkey's new foreign policy vision and domestic political developments. It misleadingly confines the multi-dimensional Turkish foreign policy vision to politics of ideology that is reminiscent of the Cold War years.

The current meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian presidents in Ankara comes only a few weeks before the multilateral summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in the US.  

Masud Barzani’s recent statements about Kirkuk are nothing new. We have heard other passionate statements from him before. What is new is the comparison between Kirkuk and Diyarbakir. This is something that will be talked about for years to come.Apparently, Mr. Barzani made this statement during an interview with al-Arabiyyah TV back in January 26, 2007. The Turkish government is in shock, and for a good reason.