Israel-Gaza: Conflict stalls Arab-Israeli rapprochement
By Frank Gardner
image captionThe agreements were signed during the final months of Donald Trump s presidency
The worsening conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is causing considerable embarrassment for those Arab governments that recently normalised relations with Israel.
The much-trumpeted Abraham Accords - that saw the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan all sign agreements with Israel - were always going to be hostage to events on the ground. Now those events have descended into deadly violence, any further public warming of relations between the Arab states and Israel has been put on hold.
The Abraham Accords, concluded with such fanfare in the final months of the Trump administration, saw several Arab countries not only formalise their relations with Israel but also embark on unprecedented cooperation with it, across a wide range of sectors including security and intelligence. Within weeks of the signings in Wash
Modern Diplomacy
Published 1 week ago
Democracies have an inbuilt flaw when their own processes can be employed to undermine them. It is what has happened in Hungary in the last decade, and Hungary is not alone.
In his youth the current prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, was an ardent dissident leading a youth movement, Fidesz, and in 1989 he was calling for the removal of Soviet troops and free democratic elections. Opposition to single-party socialist rule was eventually successful, and he was elected a Fidesz member of the National Assembly in 1990.
In 1998, his party won a plurality, and he served his first term as prime minister until 2002 when the socialists returned to power. However, a landslide victory in 2010 gave Orban a two-thirds supermajority, and with it the power to amend constitutional laws.
SHARE
Turkey is “undermining Nato’s strategic relevance” in the Middle East with Ankara’s military campaigns making it harder for the alliance to bring stability, leading security academics said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s interference in conflicts was making Turkey “the most unpredictable actor” in the region, the Royal United Services Institute was told.
The military excursions, largely mounted to deflect domestic attention from the failing economy, could also lead to a greater conflict as Turkey continues to encroach on Iran’s “sphere”.
Ankara’s actions are causing significant difficulties for Nato as it sends more troops to stabilise Iraq, while Turkey, which joined the alliance in 1952, conducts its own military operations in the north of the country. “By doing so it actually undermines Nato’s strategic relevance and weight,” said Maria Fantappie, a special adviser for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. She said this was a “key challeng
Modern Diplomacy
The peace and prosperity in Afghanistan have been a mere myth for decades. With a succession of invasion by a blood-ridden Taliban rule followed by a 2-decade long US invasion, the said country has seen little tranquillity when it comes to human rights and secure living. While the US vowed to ensure a democratic regime laced by a rule of law in Afghanistan, the withdrawal seems anti-climactic: especially after spending trillions of dollars and suffering thousands of soldiers in warfare. As the egress nears, however, the one glimmer of hope dwindles faster than expected. The hope of peace. It is ironic, however, as to how an invasion initially programmed to contain terrorism is culminating whilst the transition witnesses similar bloodshed and instability.