jerusalem | There were important issues on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Israel last week. Still, Russian newspapers seemed most impressed that Putin — the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit the Jewish state — wore a kippah on his head when he visited Yad Vashem.
Most of the major dailies ran a front-page photograph of Putin sporting the yarmulke.
The action was seen as particularly important because Putin previously had avoided wearing a kippah, even during a visit to a Moscow synagogue a few years ago. It gained him even more acclaim after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to wear a yarmulke last week when he visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.
On their recent groundbreaking visits to Jerusalem, Putin and Erdogan both offered their countries’ services as “honest brokers” in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Pundits suggested that neither leader was entirely sincere and primarily sought an international achievement to prop up his falling popularity at home.
Still, analysts say, the talk of Turkish and especially Russian mediation could have a significant outcome. It could spur President Bush into appointing a high-ranking Middle Eastern peace envoy. A number of former U.S. officials, including former ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, insist a dedicated envoy is vital if there is to be real progress.
Though Israeli leaders tend to be dismissive of major Russian- or Turkish-sponsored mediation, they acknowledge that Israel has much to gain by nurturing ties with both countries, which could help meet Israel’s long-term interests.
Israel has a major strategic interest in curbing Russian sales of arms and technology to potential enemies like Syria and Iran; it has a flourishing military relationship with Turkey; and in another major strategic departure, it wants to import natural gas from Russia through Turkey via a still-to-be-laid underwater gas pipeline.
Then, too, the more ties are strengthened, the greater the chances that Russia or Turkey will be allowed to play a mediating role in peace diplomacy.
In making his case for Russian mediation, Putin argued that it could serve as a counterweight to a U.S. Middle East policy that he described as destabilizing and risky. Bush’s efforts to foment democracy in the Arab world could encourage such radical Islamicists as the Muslim Brothers in Egypt, possibly even sweeping them to power, Putin maintained.
Israel is worried by Russian steps to resume arms sales to such former Arab clients as Syria and the Palestinians. To win Israeli confidence, Putin promised that as long as he is president, Russia would do nothing to harm Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League noted both positive and negative aspects of Putin’s visit.
“At a time when efforts to depict Israel as an outlaw state continue in many circles,” the ADL noted in an analysis, the image of a Kremlin leader appearing at the Western Wall “is one more powerful reversal of historic enmity and denial.”
Yet the ADL noted that “there were troubling elements that cannot be obscured,” such as Russia’s surprise invitation to hold an international conference in Moscow on the Israeli-Palestinian issue — the “mischief-making’ idea was summarily shot down by Israel and the United States, but could resurface.
Many in Moscow’s Jewish community were unimpressed by the visit, which was touted by the Kremlin as a way to show Russia’s growing influence in the Middle East.
“This was a historic visit without any historic results,” said Mikhail Chlenov, secretary general of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and a longtime Russian Jewish leader.
“There was a talk with Sharon about anti-Semitism and terrorism,” he said. “But I suspect when Russia is asked what is being done to curb Russian anti-Semitism, the answer would be not much.”
As for the Turks, Alon Liel, a former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry who served as a diplomat in Ankara, says he’s convinced they can play a constructive role in helping Israel work with the Palestinians and Syrians. Erdogan, a devout Muslim, says he knows Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas well and can be helpful.
Putin and Erdogan did make progress on global terrorism issues. Sharon agreed to set up direct hotlines to their offices for the speedy exchange of intelligence information. Israel now has such arrangements only with the United States and Britain.
The main strategic issue in the talks with Putin was how to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon. The Russians want to continue supplying Iran with nuclear technologies but say they don’t want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
They square the circle by proposing the establishment of an effective international regime for monitoring Iran’s nuclear programs. If the Iranians object, Putin told Sharon, Russia would be prepared to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran.