The International Talk Show - 17.09.2011 | Quadriga

Middle East Upheaval - Israel Sidelined The political upheavals in the Middle East have been piling pressure on Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In Cairo, an enraged mob stormed the Israeli embassy building, Turkey's relations with Israel have worsened in recent months and the Palestinians are pushing towards statehood without Israeli cooperation.

The former political allies are taking up antagonistic positions. Erdogan keeps pressing for an Israeli apology for its attack on a Turkish aid convoy to Gaza and has expelled Israel's ambassador. Israel is now without a strategic partner in the region. Erdogan said the issue was a matter of Turkish honor. On Tuesday in Cairo Erdogan affirmed his country's bid for a leadership role in the Islamic world. His visit to Egypt also caused additional difficulties for Netanyahu, because the Egyptian people are already seething against the Jewish state. While pursuing Palestinian terrorists who had attacked a bus full of Israelis in Sinai, Israeli troops killed five Egyptian border guards. Israeli leaders expressed regret at the incident only after being pressured to do so. The rage in Cairo at the killings spilled over into open violence as the Israeli embassy was stormed and the ambassador forced to flee. Both Egypt and Turkey reject Israeli policy toward the Palestinians.

Amid this turmoil, the Palestinians have said they would seek official recognition of Palestine as an independent state at the United nations next week. Although the US, many European countries and Israel oppose the move, it stands a chance of at least partial success. The general Assembly could approve the motion, even if US President Barack Obama has vowed to veto the motion in the Security Council. Obama said the Palestinian initiative is counterproductive and called on both sides to seek a negotiated two-state solution.But Washington also says that Netanyahu's hardline policies are isolating Israel The question is how long the Israeli people will keep supporting their government's policies, especially now during the Arab Spring. Demands for a change of course are growing louder... and the country's discontented youth have already demonstrated their staying power when it comes to demonstrating.

What do you think? Middle East Upheaval - Israel Sidelined.Send us an e-mail at: Quadriga@dw-world.de

Our guests:Margret Johannsen has been a senior research fellow at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) in Hamburg since 1997. She co-edits the Institute's annual Peace Report. She is also a lecturer at the University of Hamburg on the Master of Peace and Security Studies postgraduate program. From 1987 to 1997 she organized and contributed to IFSH's peace education service. She studied in Berlin and Hamburg, writing her doctoral thesis on"American nuclear weapons in Europe". She has written numerous books and articles on the Middle East conflict.

Ilan Goren has worked in Berlin as European Affairs correspondent for Israel's Channel 10 News, in London for Israeli national radio and as a writer for the Washington Post and the German magazine Der Spiegel. He studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the London School of Economics, during which time he also worked as a reporter for the Israeli newspaper Kol Ha'Ir. He currently works as an author writing on politics.

Renée Abul-Ella is active in several projects dealing with immigration and integration. A Palestinian, she came to Germany after studying journalism in Cairo. She has worked in Germany as a correspondent for the Palestinian news agency WAFA.