Two apologies

Last week, there were two incidents from which we should take heart. In the opaque and often zero-sum (win-lose) world of diplomacy or positioning, there were three nations involved in two apologies.

From the Guardian newspaper, "Australian prime minister Julia Gillard delivered a historic national apology in parliament on Thursday [March 21] to the thousands of unwed mothers who were forced by government policies to give up their babies for adoption over several decades. More than 800 people, many of them in tears, heard the apology and responded with a standing ovation.

Prime Minister Gillard speaking before Parliament and mothers who lost their children to questionable adoption procedures. Photo from Australian Broadcasting Service

"Today this parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologises for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies, which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering," Gillard told the audience. "We acknowledge the profound effects of these policies and practices on fathers and we recognise the hurt these actions caused to brothers and sisters, grandparents, partners and extended family members," she said. "We deplore the shameful practices that denied you, the mothers, your fundamental rights and responsibilities to love and care for your children," she added.

Many in the audience were moved with grief and thankfulness for the public apology. Photo from China Post

Gillard committed A$5m to support services for affected families and to help biological families reunite."

It was particularly heartwarming to note the response from those affected - a standing ovation. How healing for a nation.

Members of the audience place flowers in remembrance of families split up by the adoption policies.

Israel and Turkey

While US President Obama visited Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan during a trip last week, a phone call either instigated or orchestrated by the administration was especially admirable.

As the Jerusalem Post describes it, "In a dramatic development that occurred just as US President Barack Obama was leaving the country, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan for the first time since the Israeli prime minister took power in 2009. Netanyahu voiced regret for the loss of life in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, apologizing for any mistakes that led to the death of nine Turkish activists. Breaking a three-year deadlock, the two agreed to normalize relations.

The ship Mavi Marmara was a Turkish ship taking part in an attempt to break a blockade set by Israel to prevent arms smuggling to the Gaza strip. The ship was not smuggling weapons itself, but attempting to highlight lack of essential supplies in Gaza. Activists on board the vessel were killed by Israeli commandos, who maintained they were defending themselves upon boarding the vessel.

The conversation was facilitated by US President Barack Obama, taking place during Obama's prolonged meeting with Netanyahu on Friday afternoon. "The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security," Obama said in the statement released by the White House just before he ended a visit to Israel.

"I am hopeful that today's exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper cooperation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities," the president said.

US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. If some sort of face saving on the part of the two countries was all that was needed by President Obama to get these two leaders to talk on the phone, congratulations is in order. The two countries have a huge conflict on their borders and much to lose if the Syrian civil war spirals further, taking Lebanon with it.

From Ynet News, "Turkey, for its part, agreed to drop all charges against a group of former Israeli military commanders including former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi [who was in charge of the IDF during the 2009 blockade - Teatree]. "Erdogan told Binyamin Netanyahu that he valued centuries-long strong friendship and cooperation between the Turkish and Jewish nations," the statement from Erdogan's office said. ...

Netanyahu [for his part] said he saw the interview that Erdogan gave the Danish newspaper recently, in which Erdogan stepped back from his statement equating Zionism with racism, and Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for the clarification."

So this apology could be optimistically viewed as an opportunity to reset these two countries longstanding relations, and a welcome relief to see a Muslim and a Jewish nation finding ways to get along. The chance to rekindle a working relationship is especially important in light of the unraveling of Syria between them (both Turkey and Israel having borders with Syria).

Securing chemical weapons, containing Hezbollah in Lebanon, shaping the Syrian opposition away from rising Islamic extremism are common goals for both Turkey and Israel.

The value of public apologies ...

Israeli-Hamas truce, Egypt's Morsi takes the spotlight

The geography of the Middle East, much of which is in turmoil of one kind or another.

The conflict between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip cooled off with an announcement of a truce. 166 Palestinians and six Israelis died in the 8 days, and both sides claimed victory of sorts. As one report describes the aftermath, "Israel said it reached its objectives, while Hamas claimed victory because Israel didn't make good on threats to send ground troops into the territory, as it had done four years earlier. Israel's air force carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza militants fired roughly the same number of rockets, including some targeting the Israeli heartland cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time."

The report continues, "The truce is to lead to a new border deal for Gaza, with Egypt hosting indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel has shunned Hamas as a terrorist group and refuses to negotiate with it directly. Israeli demands that Hamas halt weapons smuggling into Gaza, while Hamas seeks free movement for people and goods in and out of Gaza."

Palestinian fishermen launch from the Gaza strip

Sometime soon, Palestinian fishermen will be able to go out to sea six miles instead of three (Israel watches the sea and fishing vessels closely to prevent arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip). Farmers will soon be able to plant and reap closer to the border with Israel, utilizing some of the 300-meter wide security strip once imposed on by Israel. Israel, for its part, pounded Hamas infrastructure, and has the opportunity to draw up more agreements regarding the sealing and interdiction of smuggling tunnels rife along the Egyptian/Gaza border.

Farmers near the Israeli-Gaza border will soon be able to expand into acres closer to the fence itself

One of Israel's top objectives is to cut out weapons smuggling from Egypt to the Gaza strip. Many of the airstrikes during the 8-day conflict targeted tunnels such as these.

The details of a new border deal at the same time brings Egypt back into the spotlight. Since Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization, it will not deal with Hamas directly. Egypt plays the 3rd party communicator with Israel on Hamas's behalf, but has new challenges of its own.

New powers announced by Egypt's President Morsi

One day after the truce announcement, Egypt's new President, Mohammed Morsi, raised domestic and international concern with his own announcement. As a Washington Post article describes, "Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi took extensive new powers for himself Thursday, freeing his decisions from judicial review and ordering retrials for former top officials, including ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The decree, issued a day after Morsi won international praise for fostering a cease-fire in Gaza, appears to leave few if any checks on his power. The president said all of the decisions he has made since he took office in June — and until a new constitution is adopted and a parliament elected — were final and not subject to appeal or review. The announcement, read on state television by Morsi’s spokesman and broadcast repeatedly with accompanying nationalistic songs, shocked many in this struggling country, and street protests quickly erupted."

Egypt's President Morsi claiming his new announced unlimited power

Brave Egyptian women part of street protests ...

A BBC article analyzes the move this way, "The president said he was acting to protect the revolution. Specifically, he wanted to prevent the courts from disbanding, for a second time, the assembly that is writing the Egyptian constitution. There were reports that the courts might be about to do this.

That could seriously derail the transition to democracy, further delaying new parliamentary elections, which could deter Egypt's political leaders from taking tough decisions while they wait for the vote. ... They were not direct political appointments, but many Egyptians suspect they are still loyal to the old regime. The same applies to the prosecutor-general, whom the president sacked. His replacement moved quickly to re-open criminal investigations into the former president, his family, and former regime officials.

On both of these issues, President Mursi will have the support of many Egyptians. But it is the way he has gone about it that has aroused such fury. The president failed to consult with other political forces, acting in an autocratic manner reminiscent of his predecessor. Indeed, he has taken more power than Hosni Mubarak ever claimed, with almost no constraints at all. And his attempt to sideline the judiciary is reminiscent of the early power-grab of the Free Officers in 1954, the beginning of what is now being seen as six decades of military dictatorship in Egypt.

As a result, many Egyptians fear the real agenda is not to protect the revolution, but to increase the power of President Mursi, and of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement from which he comes. In particular, there is an accusation that the underlying aim is to enable the constitutional assembly - currently dominated by Islamists - to write an Islamist constitution for Egypt. That is why President Mursi's move has produced such bitter, and potentially dangerous, divisions in the country."

Egypt's Morsi (right) receives new powers provided by Himself

Egypt's new Pharaoh?

So here we find ourselves, watching to see where "Arab Spring" will take this major Arab power. Perhaps the most provocative words came from Nobel peace prize winner and former U.N. atomic energy agency chief Mohamed El Baradei. He lashed out at the declaration, which effectively puts the president above judicial oversight. "Morsi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences..."

ElBaradei with his 2005 Nobel Peace Prize is an Egyptian that was recently hoping to lead Egypt himself as part of a secular pro-democracy party.

Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip enter deadly conflict

In just a few days time, a small number of rockets originating from the Gaza strip and fired into Southern Israel has escalated into the retaliatory killing of the Hamas military chief, three Israeli civilians and 13 Palestinians dead, dozens more wounded, hundreds of missiles with at least one reaching Tel Aviv for the first time, and Israel calling up 30,000 reservists for what could be a major offensive into the Palestinian enclave.

The quick rise in the seriousness of the action underscores the volatility of the borders between Israel and Gaza, and the general wariness of the Israelis as the military also fired into Syria in response to a stray mortar hitting an IDF army post.

Israel back in the news with retaliatory attacks in both Syria and the Gaza Strip

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Trails of smoke from rockets fired from Gaza into Israel

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Israel has batteries of anti-rocket missiles as part of its "Iron Dome" defense network. Such an anti-rocket missile is launched here with accuracy, though the sheer number of rockets from Gaza have allowed dozens through ...

Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip are increasingly capable of longer and more accurate targeting - some weapons having come from the recent civil war in Libya, others directly from Iran. The coastal Israeli city of Tel aviv has been targeted, as has Jerusalem though in that case the rocket was intercepted by an Iron Dome defense missile.

The erupting conflict is set against a background of the continuing bloody conflict in Syria - where dozens are killed every day, over a million Syrians displaced, and Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey increasingly drawn into the civil war.

What a mess.

It demonstrates the difficulty of the UN in dealing with any Middle East tension, and represents a great challenge to Egypt, in how to respond to Hamas and associate militants while maintaining a cold peace with Israel.

A few more details on the Israeli offensive which represents the largest wildcard - how deep, how extensive, and how deadly will it be.

From CBS news, "Waves of airstrikes on more than 100 militant targets quickly followed the assassination of Hamas mastermind Ahmed Jabari. The air attacks continued steadily into the early hours Thursday, targeting the armed group's training facilities and rocket launchers in Israel's most intense attack on the territory since its full-scale war there four years ago.

Tank shells and naval gunfire backed up the air onslaught. Few in the territory's largest urban area, Gaza City, heeded the call for dawn prayers, and the only vehicles plying the streets were ambulances and media cars.

In Washington, the United States lined up behind Israel. "We support Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties," said a State Department spokesman.

School was canceled within a 25-mile radius of Gaza. People living in areas hugging the frontier were ordered to stay home from work, save for essential services, and shopping centers were shut down. Israeli police stepped up patrols around the country, fearing Hamas could retaliate with bombing attacks far from the reaches of Gaza.

Israel said the airstrikes Wednesday were the beginning of a broader operation against the Islamic militants. They also said a ground operation was a strong possibility in the coming days if Hamas didn't take steps to rein in the rocket fire.

The Israeli military says it has destroyed dozens of the militants' most potent rockets -- the Iranian-made Fajr, which is capable of striking Israel's Tel Aviv heartland -- as well as shorter-range rockets.

In all, the military estimates Hamas had 10,000 rockets and mortars in its arsenal before the military operation began.

In a nationwide address, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel could no longer stand repeated attacks on its southern towns. Days of rocket fire have heavily disrupted life for some 1 million people in the region, canceling school and forcing residents to remain indoors.

The tragedy of war

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BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Omar, at Shifa hospital, killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

An injured Israeli baby is held by a security officer inside an ambulance at the scene where a rocket, fired from Gaza, landed in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi