Dünya BAŞOL - ARAB SPRING AND ISRAELI SECURITY: THE NEW THREATS (original) (raw)
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Israel’s Security Concern of Arab Uprisings
2019
The regional security of the Middle East has been changed since the so called Arab Spring started in late 2010. This paper seeks to study the Israeli strategic situation in the changing regional security of the Middle East since the Arab Uprisings incepted. The research questions focused on the main concerns for Israel since the Arab Uprisings incepted and the response of Israel. Israel looked to the uprisings as a strategic change which could affect its security. Even though Israel seems more stable while other regional powers were affected by conflicts, Israel has been faced new challenges in fragile region. The main security challenges emerged for Israel were the liquidity of the region for ambiguous future, the rise of the non-state armed groups within the region and the emerging influence of Iran in the region. Israel relied on its strategic relations with the US and other super powers and its strategic military superiority in the region to deal with the situation. It worked as...
Master Thesis at the University of Vienna, Department for Political Science
The revolutions and upheavals, which lastingly changed the nations of the Middle East and North Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring, do have a huge impact on the security architecture of the region. This master thesis is concerned with the consequences of the Arab Spring on the security of Israel in the regional system. The Jewish State has a special status in this system, which makes it distinctively affected by these pervasive changes. Therefore, the system and parameters that are dominating in respect to Israel, get briefly analysed. The regional system ante Arab Spring was characterized by autocracies and a power constellation that meant stability for Israel, now all of this has changed dramatically. The thesis will use three countries as examples on how these changes happened and affected Israel and its national security and threat perception. The case of Egypt shows how one of the two nations, with which Israel had agreed on a peace treaty after decades of war, increasingly became a security risk for the Jewish nation after the toppling of the old autocrat in 2011. In Syria, one of Israel's enemy nations and closest ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the uprising has escalated into a civil war, and is on the brink of becoming a failed state. The once safest border Israel had is becoming an increasingly “hot” border. The Jihadists that turned the civil war into an sectarian battlefield between Sunna and Shia are a massive threat to Israel's security. Because all Jihadist movements share the ultimate goal of the “liberation of Jerusalem”. The third example, Lebanon, shows how national liberation movements can have a regional impact. The Shiite Hezbollah-militia has actively joined the fighting in Syria alongside the ruling Assad-regime. At the same time, the fight against Israel is still a central agenda for the group. Its war against the Sunni rebels in Syria made it possible for them arm themselves from Syrian stocks and gain experience on the battlefield. As soon as they return to Lebanon, they will become a security problem for Israel. The Arab Spring had implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well, although Palestine was not directly affected by the upheavals. Especially the anti-Israeli Hamas had high hopes for the uprisings in their first year. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the mother-organisation of Hamas, came to power; the security vacuum on the Sinai peninsula made it possible for the organisation to smuggle weapons into Gaza. But the people's movements also showed to the quarrelling Palestinian leadership (Hamas and Fatah), that the pressure from the streets could become a danger for them as well. The agreement between the two factions can be seen in this light. But a unified Palestinian leadership is a radical change on the security level for Israel. A unified leadership means unified positions and a stronger voice on the international stage. And a unity government with Hamas-involvement is unacceptable for the Jewish nation. The Arab Spring also had direct consequences for the Israeli option for action towards Palestine. Before the revolutions, Israel could be sure that its reactions on the rocket fire from Gaza would certainly be criticized by the Arab world, but that no one would take action against Israel. The autocrats that ruled the neighbouring countries could not afford open conflict with Israel for various reasons. Furthermore, they did not need to give in to public sentiment, which often demanded a more aggressive stand on the matter of Israel and Palestine. But now, these autocrats are weakened or toppled, and for Israel, a new situation has emerged: there are now several other actors that have to be considered in its policy towards Palestine. And the old power structures in the region are gone. The Arab Spring has changed the regional system in the Middle East dramatically and incited a struggle for regional hegemony with religious rage. With the revolutions, Israel lost an order that guaranteed a certain form of security and predictability for the Jewish nation. The fall from power of the old order and the anarchy that is now dominating the region has shrunk the Israeli room for manoeuvre considerably and weakened its position in the regional system.
The 'Arab Spring': Implications for US –Israeli Relations
Israel Affairs, 2014
This article argues that the 'Arab Spring' has ended the long-standing US – Israeli common strategy of supporting pro-Western and semi-secular autocracies in the Arab world. During these tumultuous events Washington chose to support the rebellions to varying degrees, thus exacerbating Israel's concerns regarding the adverse regional implications attending this shift (notably the ascendance of Islamist regimes and the diversion of world attention from Iran's nuclear quest). By way of ameliorating such threats, the US needs to pursue a policy of supporting pro-democracy groups in the region while formulating a clear policy to deal with the threats from Iran and radical Islamist groups. All in all, the 'Arab Spring' has created a highly volatile strategic environment thus making Israel an even more valuable strategic ally for the US
The Arab Spring and Israel's Relations with Egypt: A View from Turkey
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2016
works in the Turkish Ministry of National Defense and holds a PhD in International Security and Terrorism. He has had articles published on Israel's domestic politics and foreign policy. Dr. Agdemir's latest research focuses on Israel's foreign relations and security issues in the Middle East.
Israel, the Arab Spring, and the unfolding regional order in the Middle East: a strategic assessment
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2017
Since 2011, geo-strategic interactions have exerted pressure on various political communities. In particular, uncertainty over the foreign policy intentions of new leadership elites and the nature of the unfolding regional security system in the Middle East have impacted the strategic questions Israel must answer: how can Israel rationally assess the new environment? What foreign policy approach would best serve Israel’s distinct national interests? Using insights from the levels-of-analysis framework and from the realist theory of International Relations, this article aims to explore Israel’s reading of recent regional developments and its attitudes and behaviours towards the attendant and emerging strategic challenges. The analysis reveals that the Arab Spring uprisings exacerbated the already anarchic Middle East environment, aggravating mistrust and antagonism in Israel. The urgency of the attraction of protectionism and militarism in Israel was an expression of the realist approach to Israel’s primary strategic consolidation. With time, the regional dynamic has evolved into a more predictable—but still complex—structure than it was during its early phase (2010–2013). Although there have been signs of potential regional political eruptions, other developments have promoted continuity in the Middle East, which plays to Israel’s strategic advantage.
2009
From its advent, Israel had a more skeptical-and in retrospect a much more realistic-view than those of leading Western powers regarding the dynamics and likely trajectories resulting from the "Arab Spring". Israel never bought into the "Spring" idea, viewing the upheavals that erupted in early 2011 across much of North Africa and Middle East as being closer to Tehran 1979 than to Berlin 1989. Israel is today effectively surrounded by a deadly mixture of new Islamist regimes (dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood but also by new Salafist parties), increasing weak states, and chaos. This paper examines this turbulent reality and outlines how Israel has adapted its foreign policy so far to deal with it. [From its advent, Israel had a more skeptical-and in retrospect a much more realistic-view than those of leading Western powers regarding the dynamics and likely trajectories resulting from the "Arab Spring". Israel never bought into the "Spring" i...
ARAB SPRING AND THE ARAB -ISRAELI CONFLICT
The Arab Spring as waves of protests brought down several dictator regimes that some of them were a pro-Israeli government. Israel, even if they wanted to, they could not stay away from Arab neighbors, especially with the continuation of the historical conflict with the Arab world, because of the Palestinian issue and the consequent tensions and animosities. Pledge Israel and its leaders are aware that what was happening in the Arab neighbors have impact in various fields and levels, which is a historical issue has been to prepare for it by setting up scientific institutions aim to monitor development in the Arab world, analyze and understand the meanings of these reflections on Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The fear of Israel was real, when the people were attacking of Israel’s embassy in Egypt, and the long peace treaty between Egypt and Israel has threatened. In opposite, signing an understanding deal between Fateh and Hamas, and re-opening of the Rafah crossing at the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip that Israel has seen it as a threat to its national security. In addition, escalating Syrian civil war and growing terrorist groups in Syria has made the situation more complicated for Israel. The paper tries to evaluate the importance of the political uprising in the region on Israeli situation. Likewise, illustrate the impact of the Arab spring on the Arab-Israel conflict, and then how their relation has an impact on the security stability in the Middle East.