Turkish PM, Abbas in Egypt

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday kicks off an 'Arab Spring' tour in Egypt, where a diplomatic flurry is underway ahead of a Palestinian push to win UN statehood and as Israel's regional ties hit a new low.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is also visiting Cairo to attend an Arab League meeting later yesterday and for talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who stopped in Egypt on her way to Israel.
Erdogan will also visit Tunisia and Libya, where popular uprisings such as that in Egypt have toppled long-standing autocratic regimes, as he bids to forge stronger ties with Arab nations as Ankara's relations with Israel sour.
Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador over the storming by Israeli naval commandos last year of a convoy of ships trying to reach Gaza in defiance of the blockade, killing nine Turks.
Egypt's relations with Israel also worsened, with protesters ransacking the Jewish state's embassy in Cairo on the weekend forcing the ambassador to flee after the killing of six Egyptian policemen on their common border last month as Israel hunted militants after a deadly attack.
The Palestinians' determination to push for UN membership has triggered wide concerns in Israel, where Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday called for the 15-member inner security cabinet to convene for a debate on Israel's complex regional relations.
A strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, Erdogan arrives late yesterday in Cairo and the next day he will address a ministerial meeting of the Arab League and hold talks with top Egyptian officials aimed at boosting ties.
State television said Abbas and Ashton arrived separately in Cairo and quoted top Palestinian official Nabil Shaath saying that the diplomatic flurry was a "positive" sign for the UN membership bid.
Yesterday evening Abbas will attend a special Arab League committee meeting devoted to the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, just days before heading to New York to seek UN membership for Palestine.
Abbas is expected to submit a formal request on September 20 for the United Nations to accept Palestine as its 194th member.