However, as Cyprus and Israel reach out to build that relationship, the change in policy will require a deeper change in orientation toward each other and perhaps toward the region. This is a difficult process that needs to take place not only in the political echelon and public opinion (where strong anecdotal evidence suggests it
Cyprus feels much like home to an Israeli: rocky hills; familiar food; same sea; and a similar existential sense of living on the edge of a volcano. Many Israelis have been to Cyprus for vacations or for business, and, because their own country lacks civil marriage, Cyprus provides a convenient foreign registrar. And more Cypriots
While worldwide attention focused on the conflict in Libya, ongoing strife in the Arab world, and the disasters striking Japan, important events took place in Israel that may reshape some of the political architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean. Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, brought his Foreign and Trade ministers and some sixty
Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Greece, reciprocating the visit of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to Israel last month, should have caused some rethinking in Ankara. Even if we take at face value the Israeli and Greek assertions that the meetings were not directed against Turkey, closer strategic cooperation between Israel and Greece will necessarily
