The above video is more or less where Turkey wants Israel, but Israel isn’t playing Archie to Turkey’s Otto. More on this story. “Turkey tells Israeli diplomats to leave,” by Suzan Fraser for the Associated Press, September 5:
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) “” Turkey deepened its rift with Israel on Monday by vowing to work for the recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations and by saying it has notified high-level Israeli diplomats they have two days to leave the country.
Late last week, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador after Israel refused to apologize for the botched Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists last year. Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives.
A U.N. report released last week called the Israeli raid “excessive and unreasonable,” but also said Turkey and flotilla organizers contributed to the deaths.
The dispute has brought relations between the once-close allies to the verge of collapse, and injected a new element of instability into an already volatile region.
Turkey said Monday it has notified Ella Aphek, the Israeli Embassy’s deputy head of mission, that she and other senior Israeli diplomats must leave by Wednesday now that Turkey has decided to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Israel to the level of second secretary.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday that Turkey will work to lobby other nations “until we obtain the highest number of votes” for a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly beginning on Sept. 20.
On Saturday, Davutoglu said Turkey would start procedures to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
The United States has indicated it will veto any Palestinian statehood vote in the absence of a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Palestinians hope a U.N. vote in their favor would isolate Israel and put heavy pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from captured territories.
That’s exactly right. They want a land grab, a do-over for the wars they and the Arab states surrounding Israel could not win.