Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with Sultan of Oman Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said in Muscat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Oman, which Tel Aviv does not have diplomatic relations with, reignited the debate about the future of ties between Gulf states and Israel, and thereby the impact this would have on the Palestinian issue. Previously, Yıtzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, also former leaders of Israel, visited Oman in 1994 and 1996, but Netanyahu's visit in late October drew far more attention.
Reshaping the Middle East
Throughout history, the Middle East has never before been through such a tumultuous period. The current Middle East is essentially trying to be reshaped today. That is why the relationship developed between actors is now more important than ever. That is why, during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first trip to the Middle East after his election, he stated that it was time for new alliances. The countries and actors that formed a rapport and those that drifted apart must therefore be evaluated carefully.
Iran and Palestine are principal matters
There are two matters that have dominated the international agenda of the Middle East for the past two years. These issues have been held under the spotlight more than the civil war that has ravaged Syria for more than seven years. The first is whether Iran is a threat, and the second is how the lack of a solution in the Palestine-Israel conflict will shape the future. These matters are so deep that even Jamal Khashoggi, who was slain in Istanbul, is not free from these discussions. Because just before his murder, Khashoggi stated that viewing Iran as the main source of the conflicts in the Middle East caused a serious problem and that the pains experienced today were caused by this. According to Khashoggi, the basis of many of the arguments in the Middle East were based on the Israel-Palestine matter.
Israeli forces detained 19 Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military on Tuesday.The individuals were arrested for “suspected involvement in popular terrorist activities”, the army said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of these activities.The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.According to Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities, including scores of women and hundreds of minors.Israeli army wounds iconic Palestinian protester
Israel arrests 19 Palestinians in West Bank raids
Is Oman a mediator?
There is a rapprochement between Arab countries and Israel that is growing each day in the reshaping Middle East. Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to Israeli airplanes, Arab leaders held secret meetings with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and finally the Sultan of Oman hosted Netanyahu despite lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Another issue that needs to be noted is that Netanyahu’s visit came just days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to Oman. This situation indicates that Oman is taking on the mediator role. However, this situation should not be explained through mediation alone. It is necessary to recognize that this rapprochement means that the statements which Israel has made over the years regarding improving ties with Arab countries have now been actualized, more than ever before. Israel is legitimizing these moves made based on the common enemy, Iran. In a period where especially the U.S. has demonized Iran, Israel seeks to expand the rift between Muslims by expending chaos in the region.
Israel benefits
Muslim communities of the Middle East are entrenched in serious chaos and conflict. Many Muslim countries like Libya, Yemen and Syria are ravaged by war. Despite conducting elections nearly a year ago, Iraq and Lebanon have not been able to form a strong government. Many Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Egypt, have drawn themselves into a number of problems by becoming directly or indirectly involved in the civil wars of their neighbors. In addition to all this chaos, countries have engaged in an arms race by establishing coalitions against each other. When a common enemy is formed, Israel enters these alliances and makes serious gains. While Middle Eastern countries are polarizing among each other in order to overcome the chaos they live in, Israel emerges victorious.
Israeli soldiers wounded a young Palestinian man Monday whose photo has become recognized worldwide as a symbol of Palestinian resistance.The photo, which went viral on social media and attracted the attention of the world’s media, was taken by Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Hassona during a demonstration demanding the lifting of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.With a Palestinian flag in one hand and a slingshot poised in the other, the photo of 22-year-old Aid Abu Amr amid black smoke mirrors Eugene Delacroix’s 1830 artistic representation of the French Revolution titled "Liberty Leading the People" with revolutionaries being led by a woman bearing a French flag and a bayoneted musket.Abu Amr was taking part in protests at the northern Gaza border against Israel’s land, air and sea blockade when Israeli troops intervened.During the intervention, Abu Amr was wounded in the leg by live bullets.For the last seven months, Palestinians in Gaza have been staging regular demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to demand the right to return to their homes in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948.They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.Since the rallies began on March 30 this year, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.Iran accuses Israel of failed cyber attackIsrael razes Bedouin structures in West BankIsrael arrests 17 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli army wounds iconic Palestinian protester
Arab nations silenced
Israel opted to maximize its own interests in the region after the Trump administration stepped in. Netanyahu’s Oman visit must be evaluated in this light. With the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement signed in the Obama period, Iran once again became the enemy and began to be perceived as a threat by Middle Eastern states. The fact that Iran is seen as a threat does not only distance the Palestinian issue from the global agenda but also strengthens the position of Israel in this conflict. Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and opening the rights and earnings of refugees to debate can be counted as great victories for Israel during its conflict with Palestine. To pull the U.S. to its side and spread fear among Arab countries by declaring Iran as the common enemy are perhaps the clearest gains of Israel in terms of silencing criticism of its own invasion policies. However, Israel is not just content with these gains, but is also making investments for the future. Oman is one of these investments.
Israel is trying to influence Oman
Oman’s distance from many clashes, especially in the Middle East, makes it a frontrunner for the role of mediator. Oman played a key role in the nuclear treaty with Iran and made a significant contribution to the deal. From this perspective, Oman is expected to become a mediator as the U.S. has lost this role. Israel is trying to direct Oman, which is likely to assume the role of mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, by keeping a grip on it.
Iran's telecommunications minister accused Israel on Monday of a new cyber attack on its telecommunications infrastructure, and vowed to respond with legal action.This followed comments from another official last week that Iran had uncovered a new generation of Stuxnet, a virus which was used against the country's nuclear programme more than a decade ago."The Zionist regime (Israel), with its record of using cyber weapons such as Stuxnet computer virus, launched a cyber attack on Iran on Monday to harm Iran's communication infrastructures," Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said.Israel razes Bedouin structures in West Bank"Thanks to our vigilant technical teams, it failed," he said on Twitter. Iran would take legal action against Israel at international bodies, he added, without giving details.His deputy Hamid Fattahi said more details would be revealed in the coming days, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran's Natanz underground nuclear site.It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.Israel arrests 17 Palestinians in West BankLast week, Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran's civil defence agency, said Iran had neutralised a version of Stuxnet."Recently we discovered a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts ... and was trying to enter our systems," Jalali was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency. He gave no further details.In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear programme in November 2007.Tehran agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to curb the programme but President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it in May, with Israel's backing. Washington fully restored sanctions on Tehran on Monday.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week called for stepped up efforts to fight enemy "infiltration" in a speech to officials in charge of cyber defence, state television reported. 
Iran accuses Israel of failed cyber attack
Sowing the seeds of harmony or chaos?
Netanyahu’s visit was widely covered by Gulf media outlets, and it was evaluated as being significant in terms of Middle Eastern peace. On the contrary, Iranian media, which has good ties with Oman, portrayed the trip as a new seed of chaos. Iranian media stated that this visit would spark conflict and corruption among Muslim countries, and underlined that the Palestinian issue would be overshadowed by these visits and relations. Rather than evaluating this visit as part of an alliance against Iran or as part of such an effort, the Iranian press interpreted it more in the light of the Palestinian issue.
Diplomatic success for Israel
Israeli press evaluated the visit as a strategic move. During the same week, three visits made to Gulf countries at ministerial and prime ministerial levels were highlighted as a diplomatic success. In particular, the symbolic meaning of the recitation of the Israeli national anthem during sporting activities in the United Arab Emirates was noted. Netanyahu's visit to an Iranian friend - Oman - was dubbed as another step in the isolation of Iran and also labeled as important for the continuation of peace and stability in the Middle East.
Israeli forces on Monday dismantled Palestinian structures in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank for lack of building permits, according to a Palestinian anti-settlement activist.“An Israeli force raided the Bedouin community in al-Hadidiya in the Jordan Valley and confiscated several structures there,” Aref Draghma told Anadolu Agency.He said Israeli forces sealed off the area and made it off-limits for locals and reporters.He said structures in the area had been repeatedly demolished by Israeli forces on claims of being built without permit in Area C.There was no comment from the Israeli military on the report.Israel arrests 17 Palestinians in West BankGazan child dies of wounds from 2014 Israeli warIsrael, Gaza close to ceasefireIsrael seeks to expel some 10,000 Bedouin residents of what is known as the E1 Zone, which sits on 15 square kilometers (5.8 square miles) of land in East Jerusalem, to make way for a series of Jewish-only housing units linking Jerusalem to the Ma'ale Adumim settlement.If implemented, the plan would effectively cut the West Bank in two, preempting the possibility of a territorially-contiguous Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders.Under the 1995 Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- was divided into Areas A, B and C.Area A falls under the PA’s administrative and security control; Area B falls under the PA’s administrative control and Israel’s security control; and Area C falls under the exclusive administrative and security control of Israel.Area C is currently home to around 300,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are Bedouins and herding communities who predominantly live in tents, caravans and caves.Israeli forces raid Jerusalem governor’s officeHamas hails Tunisian court ruling against Israeli visitOIC slams Brazil decision to move embassy to Jerusalem
Israel razes Bedouin structures in West Bank