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Israel Surrounded as Arab Spring Turns Darker
(Bloomberg) Jeffrey Goldberg - The attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo grew from a rally in Tahrir Square called "Correcting the Path." Its organizers meant to pressure the country's military rulers to accelerate political changes. But it is easier to burn an Israeli flag than reform the Egyptian government. Actually, Israel's crises with Egypt and Turkey are both rooted in an Israeli decision to relinquish Palestinian territory. In 2005, then-prime minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew 8,500 settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza and pulled out the army. The territory was handed over, in its entirety, to the Palestinian Authority. Gaza quickly became a launching pad for rocket attacks against Israeli towns. In response, Israel blockaded Gaza to keep out weapons. The flotilla was trying to breach the blockade. In Egypt, the story is similar. The attack on the embassy in Cairo was part of an angry reaction to the accidental killing of at least three Egyptian soldiers last month after terrorists, including some from Gaza, crossed the Israeli border from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and killed eight Israelis. This occurred, after decades of quiet, because Israel had ceded Gaza to the Palestinians.