Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Turkey No Longer Seen as 'Honest Broker' After Erdogan Outburst

HAARETZ: Turkey's role in mediating the Israeli-Arab conflict has been compromised by its leader's repeated censure of Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government official said Monday.

"He won't mediate anything any more," the official said. "His stint as mediator between Israel and the Arabs is over, that's for sure. He won't be accepted as an honest broker by Israel at all."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose Israeli policy. He said no official decision had to be taken, but that Israeli leaders spoke about Erdogan in such a way that made it clear they did not have faith in him as a mediator.

Any Israel discontent is directed at Erdogan personally, and should not be misconstrued as a rupture with Turkey, whose cooperation Israel values, he added. >>> Associated Press (Yoav Stern contributed to this report) | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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