Dr Adham Saouli: Allies aim to get a message over to Israel

DAVID Cameron's stance on Gaza comes at a time when America is saying that the situation in Palestine is not sustainable.

He took the opportunity in his speech to voice concern about what's happening there and it's important that he said this in Turkey at a time when that country is playing an increasing role in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister probably thinks that if Turkey's bid for EU membership is approved it will strengthen the UK and US influence in the Middle East if they are key supporters of Turkey.

Hillary Clinton has said that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable and given the special relationship between the US and the UK it looks as though Mr Cameron wanted to articulate that point as well. Reasons why Gaza is talked about as not being sustainable include the humanitarian problems and the stalemate with Hamas.

The UK and US relations with Israel are still strong and David Cameron's comments don't present anything dramatically new, with both nations sympathetic to the state of Israel.

There's no radical shift here. It's more a case of the allies wanting to get a message over to Israel about the situation in Gaza. But we have to wait and see what happens on the ground before comparing David Cameron's approach to that of previous administrations, as we don't know how the UK government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown would have reacted to some of the changes that are taking place.

The UK clearly believes that Turkey has a very important role as a NATO member and that it could play a role in talks with Iran on the nuclear issue.

There's very much a view that Turkey could be a good ally in resolving some of the most important problems facing the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

• Dr Adham Saouli is a lecturer in international relations at the University of Edinburgh's school of social and political science