Mahmoud Abbas' plan to seek the United Nations support for Palestinian membership has caused Netanyahu to call for direct peace talks. Thes talks had collapsed after Netanyahu's refusal to freeze settlements on the West Bank, where it has been going on since 1967 and has seen over 500,000 armed and subsidised settlers, living in luxury with water, super-highways and verdant gardens, while Palesrinians continued a life of harassment, (by settlers), muilitary occupation ("the lagest open-air prison in the world") and deprivation, (poverty and unemployment are rampant)
     Thomas Friedman, columnist,writing in the New Your Times...." I've never been more worried about Israel's future. The crumbling of the key pillars of Israel's security--the peace with Egypt, the stability of Syria, and the friendship of Turkey and Jordan_coupled with the most diplomatically inept and startegically incompetent government in Israel's history have put Israel in a very dangerous situation". The ineptitude and incompetence is due mainly to Lieberman and his extreme right wing supporters holding Netanyahu hostage because of his lust for power and Netanyahus intransigence in dealing with Turkey and the settlements...he does not move unless he is forced, he deals in obfuscation and bluster. The dangers lie in the fact that Israel is isolated with only the USA a reliable ally ( but whose relationship with Pres. Obama is strained over Netanyahu's lecturing the preisdent over his suggestion of peace talks based opn pre 1967 boundary with land swaps), no friend in the Arab world and potential problemns on the Lebanese, Egyptian and Syrian borders and also a Palestinian state without recognised borders.
     " It is a time when Israel has to be very careful", says George Birnbaum, former Chief of Staff to Netanyahu. "They are increasingly isolated in the Middle East and in the world" He continued, "the vote isn't good for anyone. It means recognizing a country without a border.It's not good for Israel, the Palestinians or the United States which will be in a terrible position in the Arab world". Obama is caught between a rock( Jewish voters in the upcoming election) and a hard place ( Arab mistrust/anger). He has said that the USA will use its veto in the Security Council. Abbas will the go the National Assembly, where he will be supported for "obser  
     The problems in Egypt, Yemen and other countries, the uncertainty in Syria and Lebanon and even Jordan, could see " the region end up with several Iranian satellite states"fears Birnbaum.
     Isreal was created by a vote of the United Nations. That vote also created a Palestinian entity. While Israel established its state against the opposition/war of the surrounding Arabs, the Palestinians heeded the advice of their brother Arabs and refused to recognose Israel, demanding the entire territory. In 1948 Israel successfully defended irself against the Arab attacks. It proceeded to build a militarily secured state, but in1956 joined France and Britain to wage war against Egypt over the Suez Canal. Then in 1967, launched a "pre-emptive" strke and in six days routed the Jordanians and took over the West Bank, ( called Judea and Samaria by irredentists) and seized the Sinai from the Egyptians. The Sinai was returned to Egypt after the Camp David Accord ( Egypt's prime minister Essam Sharaf has recently said that the Camp David Accor is not "sacred"), but a land grab started on the West Bank. 500.000 Jewish settlers occupied large tarcts of the West Bank. They are religious zealots armed to the teeth and they will not go easily. They killed  Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin when he negotiated what to them was a sell out and they now hold Netanyahu "hostage".
     Such is the situation. Abbas cannot give in and lose face ( his head?). Netanyahu has Lieberman and religious extremists/settlers to contend with and President Obama who celebrated the "Arab Spring" is left to hold the "bag"   

     Spring is turning to autumn and the hopes of Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans, Syrians and Yemenis are waning. Emergency law is re-introduced in Egypt following the ransacking of the Israeli embassy, Gadaffi is still fighting, Syrians and Yemenis are still dying and Israel finds itself without its two ally ,Egypt and Turkey and the prospect of a Palestinian vote on statehood in the United Nations. In the latter, its only ally, America may risk the wrath of the Muslim world and veto such a move, but then the General Assembly will surely vote in favor of "special status" for the Palestinians. The times, they are a-changing.
     The past week has not been good for Israel. First, Turkey, an ally, expelled Israel's ambassador, over Israel's continued refusal to apologise for the death of 9 Turks on the raid on the aid ship. Later the Turkish prime minister threatened to use its navy to accompany aid flotillas to the Gaza Strip and also to challenge Israel's plans for gas exploration and export in the eastern Mediterranean. Erdogan told al Jazeera that he would use his warships to prevent Israeli commandos from again boarding Gaza bound ships and from letting Israeli exploit natural gas resources at sea. Dan Meridor, Israel's intelligence minister called the threats "grave and serious" Of course it is. ( Israel and Cyprus had reached agreement dividing the water between the two of them for gas drilling. Turkey call the division illegal and Lebanon also reject it. Turkey will support Lebanon and things could escalate. Turkey has had clashes with Greece over drilling and demarcations.) Israel in the meantime, led by foreign minister Lieberman, is seeking closer relations with Armenia, Turkey's historical rival, and with the minority Kurds in Turkey. This can get out of hand, very quickly.
     Next, Egyptians, angered over the death of 3 soldiers, killed by Israel along the border, while pursuing terrorists, ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo and tore down its flag, the symbol of 31 years of peace between the two countries. Pressured by the Americans, who were callled upon by the Israelis for help, the military-led govt. re-imposed the hated emergency laws. It must be noted that the Islamic Brotherhood was not involved in the sacking of the embassy. It was done by the secularists, the ones who led the charge against Mubarak. Those who want democracy and human rights for themselves in Egypt and eleswhere are more and more demanding the same for the Palestinians. No longer are the "tyrants" there to thwart their objectives and no more are they turning a blind eye to the sufferings of the Palestinians. As Benyamin Ben Eliezer, Labor MP and former defense minister noted "The world is tired of this conflict and angry at us because we are viewed as conquerors ruling over another people. If I were Bibi Netanyahu, I would recognise a Palestinian state. We would then negotiate borders and security.Instead nothing is happening.We are left with one ally, America and that relationship is strained too" .  
       The Palestinians will ask for statehood (Israel was created by the UN. as Abba Eban once noted " the UN has our birth certificate"). Israel will oppose it.  The Americans will use its veto (injudiciously, but one must be aware of upcoming presidential elections and AIPAC and its "amen lobby, wield a lot of power). The Palestinians will then go to the General Assembly and it will with a huge majority, vote in favor of "special status", allowing Palestine to speak directly for its self.
     Israel will be even more isolated and not just in the Muslim world, and  having lost its two Muslim "friends", Egypt and especially Turkey,  in greater danger.. Netanyahu will no longer be able to play his favorite game of "dissing" the American President.

     Until 2003, Gadaffi was a pariah, shunned by the West, accused of all manner of wrongdoing from supporting ,"liberation groups" eg from ANC to IRA, to arming them to even committing acts of terrorism eg. Lockerbee. He had been bombed by Reagan, sanctioned by Bush et al and embargoed by Blair et al, but all started to change when he decided to renounce his attempt to get nuclear weapons and to destroy his biological and other WMDs. He was welcomed with open embrace by Tony Blair on his visit to Tripoli, where he was also visited by Condy Rice, with whom G. was so enamoured that he had a special photo album made of her. Others also, the French and the Italians flocked to his door.
     The big attraction of course was oil, and Libya had a lot of it, almost 2% of the world reserves, and the West and China wanted to get their hands on it. The West was particularly concerned about the huge contracts that China had signed with him ( Saddam had also made the mistake of signing huge Contracts with China to the exclusion of the West, prior to its invasion by "oilman" Bush and others). The West especially Britain and Francwe had been locked out, together with the USA.and they were hurting economically and oil was the key.
     Gadaffi was now the "poster boy" of the West (one of his sons would be invited by Hillary Clinton to the State Dept later) and Berlusconi was proud to call him a "friend". It was reported that the CIA also wanted to write his speech, in 2003, denouncing nuclear weapons, Gadaffi was also  a crucial ally in the fight against al Qaeda and Islamist/Jihadist. He had been battling them, especially in Benghazi, from where many had  gone to Iraq to fight the American invasion. Gadaffi had put many of them in prison( hundreds were freed after the rebels took Tripoli...what mischief will they cause? especially with so much weapons from shoulder- fired missiles to mustard and sarin gasses etc. available, now that Gadaffi does not control them).
     The CIA and MI6 quickly formed a close relationship with Moussa Khoussa, the feared and hated head of Libyan External Security Org.( he fled to Britain in the early days of the rebellion...warned ahead of time by his buddies?). Torture is illegal in USA and Britain, so Libya became the "rendition"place of choice. At least 8 prisoners have been sent there by the CIA according to documents found in the ransacked offices of the External Security Org. There are more reveleations and embarassments to come. The co-operation was extensive and lasted until the Feb. uprisings, just before the NATO. bombings began. Abdel Hakim Bellaj, now military leader   of the rebels has claimed that he was arrested and tortured by the CIA, in March 2004, when he was head of the Islamic Fighting Croup, whose objective was to overthrow Gadaffi   
     This marriage of convenience was very close while it lasted. Why the about face? Was it because there was new leadership in USA and Britain or was it because Gadaffi was getting too close to the Chinese,"b who have been using their $3 trillion in reserve to uy'  Africa and its resources, very troubling indeed to the West, especially the former colonial masters, Britain and France who were therefore most eager to get rid of Gadaffi and brought a reluctant Obama aboard. Oil is the key as it was and still is in Iraq.
     This is not over and it will not be over, even if Gadaffi is captured/ killed. There will be instability and hatred for years to come. The Middle-East and North Africa will be a hot bed for terrorist activities and the West will pay dearly for its double-dealings.