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ISRAEL BELIEVES KURDISH INDEPENDENCE IS 'FOREGONE CONCLUSION'
Thursday, June 26th, 2014
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman meets with U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry in Paris
TEL AVIV--Israel told the United States on Thursday that Kurdish
independence in northern Iraq was a "foregone conclusion" and Israeli
experts predicted the Jewish state would be quick to recognize a
Kurdish state, should it emerge.
Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business
ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic
group a buffer against shared Arab adversaries.
The Kurds have seized on recent sectarian chaos in Iraq to expand
their autonomous northern territory to include Kirkuk, which sits on
vast oil deposits that could make the independent state many dream
of economically viable.
Washington wants Iraq's crumbling unity restored. On June 24, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry visited Iraqi Kurdish leaders and urged
them to seek political integration with Baghdad.
Kerry discussed the Iraqi crisis with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman in Paris on June 26. "Iraq is breaking up before our eyes
and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish
state is a foregone conclusion," Lieberman's spokesman quoted him as
telling Kerry.
A day earlier, Israeli President Shimon Peres had a similar message
for U.S. President Barack Obama, who hosted the dovish elder statesman
at the White House.
Briefing reporters, Peres said he had told Obama he did not
see unifying Iraq as possible without "massive" foreign military
intervention and that this underscored Kurdish separation from the
Shiite Muslim majority and Sunni Arab minority.
"The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is
democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality
to women," Peres said.
He added that neighboring Turkey appeared to accept the Kurds' status
as it was helping them pump out oil for sale.
A history of silence Israel last week took its first delivery of the
disputed crude from Iraqi Kurdistan's new pipeline. The United States
disapproves of such go-it-alone Kurdish exports.
There are some 30 million Kurds on a swathe of land running through
eastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran. They
have hesitated to declare independence in Iraq, mindful of opposition
from neighboring states with Kurdish populations.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said there were currently no formal
diplomatic relations with the Kurds. Israeli officials declined to
comment, however, on the more clandestine ties.
"Our silence - in public, at least - is best. Any unnecessary
utterance on our part can only harm them [Kurds]," senior Israeli
defense official Amos Gilad said on Tuesday.
Asked on Israel's Army Radio whether Kurdish independence was
desirable, Gilad noted the strength of the Israeli-Kurdish partnership
in the past and said: "One can look at history and draw conclusions
about the future."
Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East
Israeli intelligence veterans say that cooperation took the form of
military training for Kurds in northern Iraq, in return for their
help in smuggling out Jews as well as in spying on Saddam Hussein's
regime in Baghdad and, more recently, on Iran.
Eliezer Tsafrir, a former Mossad station chief in Kurdish northern Iraq
who is now retired from Israeli government service, said the secrecy
around the ties had been maintained at the request of the Kurds.
"We'd love it to be out in the open, to have an embassy there, to have
normal relations. But we keep it clandestine because that's what they
want," he told Reuters.
Ofra Bengio, an Iraq expert at Tel Aviv University and the author
of two books on the Kurds, said last week's oil delivery and other
commercial ties between Israel and Kurdistan were "obviously" part
of wider statecraft.
"I certainly think that the moment [Kurdish President Masoud]
Barzani declares independence, these ties would be upgraded into open
relations," she said. "It depends on the Kurds."
The Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has denied selling
oil to Israel, whether directly or indirectly. The Israeli government
declined to comment on Friday's oil delivery.
http://asbarez.com/124469/israel-believes-kurdish-independence-is-foregone-conclusion/
Thursday, June 26th, 2014
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman meets with U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry in Paris
TEL AVIV--Israel told the United States on Thursday that Kurdish
independence in northern Iraq was a "foregone conclusion" and Israeli
experts predicted the Jewish state would be quick to recognize a
Kurdish state, should it emerge.
Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business
ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic
group a buffer against shared Arab adversaries.
The Kurds have seized on recent sectarian chaos in Iraq to expand
their autonomous northern territory to include Kirkuk, which sits on
vast oil deposits that could make the independent state many dream
of economically viable.
Washington wants Iraq's crumbling unity restored. On June 24, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry visited Iraqi Kurdish leaders and urged
them to seek political integration with Baghdad.
Kerry discussed the Iraqi crisis with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman in Paris on June 26. "Iraq is breaking up before our eyes
and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish
state is a foregone conclusion," Lieberman's spokesman quoted him as
telling Kerry.
A day earlier, Israeli President Shimon Peres had a similar message
for U.S. President Barack Obama, who hosted the dovish elder statesman
at the White House.
Briefing reporters, Peres said he had told Obama he did not
see unifying Iraq as possible without "massive" foreign military
intervention and that this underscored Kurdish separation from the
Shiite Muslim majority and Sunni Arab minority.
"The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is
democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality
to women," Peres said.
He added that neighboring Turkey appeared to accept the Kurds' status
as it was helping them pump out oil for sale.
A history of silence Israel last week took its first delivery of the
disputed crude from Iraqi Kurdistan's new pipeline. The United States
disapproves of such go-it-alone Kurdish exports.
There are some 30 million Kurds on a swathe of land running through
eastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran. They
have hesitated to declare independence in Iraq, mindful of opposition
from neighboring states with Kurdish populations.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said there were currently no formal
diplomatic relations with the Kurds. Israeli officials declined to
comment, however, on the more clandestine ties.
"Our silence - in public, at least - is best. Any unnecessary
utterance on our part can only harm them [Kurds]," senior Israeli
defense official Amos Gilad said on Tuesday.
Asked on Israel's Army Radio whether Kurdish independence was
desirable, Gilad noted the strength of the Israeli-Kurdish partnership
in the past and said: "One can look at history and draw conclusions
about the future."
Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East
Israeli intelligence veterans say that cooperation took the form of
military training for Kurds in northern Iraq, in return for their
help in smuggling out Jews as well as in spying on Saddam Hussein's
regime in Baghdad and, more recently, on Iran.
Eliezer Tsafrir, a former Mossad station chief in Kurdish northern Iraq
who is now retired from Israeli government service, said the secrecy
around the ties had been maintained at the request of the Kurds.
"We'd love it to be out in the open, to have an embassy there, to have
normal relations. But we keep it clandestine because that's what they
want," he told Reuters.
Ofra Bengio, an Iraq expert at Tel Aviv University and the author
of two books on the Kurds, said last week's oil delivery and other
commercial ties between Israel and Kurdistan were "obviously" part
of wider statecraft.
"I certainly think that the moment [Kurdish President Masoud]
Barzani declares independence, these ties would be upgraded into open
relations," she said. "It depends on the Kurds."
The Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has denied selling
oil to Israel, whether directly or indirectly. The Israeli government
declined to comment on Friday's oil delivery.
http://asbarez.com/124469/israel-believes-kurdish-independence-is-foregone-conclusion/