Cyprus: US and Israel Clash with Turkey over Control of the Eastern Mediterranean

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 11 Aug 2025

Vanessa Beeley – TRANSCEND Media Service

The Island of Cyprus finds itself caught in the eye of the corridor-hegemony storm with Washington, Israel, and the UK on one side, and Turkey, China, and Russia seeking dominance and influence.

9 Aug 2025 – In this article I have greatly expanded on my previous piece on the developments in Cyprus. Written originally for UK Column.

In May 2025, the 8th President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, welcomed the President of the infanticidal Zionist project with open arms:

Neighbours, friends, strategic partners. A forward-looking discussion with my good friend President Isaac Herzog on addressing challenges and creating opportunities for our neighbourhood. Cyprus is a reliable, stable, trustworthy partner committed to regional cooperation.

In the above photo, Herzog and Christodoulides embraced on Cyprus amidst Zionist genocidal campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.

Christodoulides also met with Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The main topic of conversation was the emerging regional trade routes. Netanyahu referred to the controversial India Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC), indicating the importance of Cyprus towards the successful completion of a project that is heavily dependent upon the ethnic cleansing of Gaza to come to fruition:

One of the ideas that we talked about is IMEC, which is a very revolutionary and transformative development that we want to bring into place. I discussed it with Mr. Modi, Narendra Modi of India, just a few days ago. We want to have a common discussion with him. We also want to have a trilateral meeting in Israel between Israel, Cyprus and Greece. We’ve done that over the years. We want to renew it as soon as possible, and that is one of the things we’ll do.

When Netanyahu presented his ‘blessings and curse’ map at the UN General Assembly, you can clearly see that the corridor passes through Cyprus en route for Europe.

For his part, Christodoulides genuflects to Zionist pretensions of supremacy in the region:

I was informed today that we have 110 flights from Israel every week to Cyprus. We can increase also Cypriot visits in Israel. We need to discuss regional developments, the situation in Syria and Lebanon [emphasis added]. There is one neighbour that always is trying to create problems in our neighbourhood. We’ll exchange notes.

Cyprus Was Historically High on the Zionist Agenda

A reply to one Presidential post on X pointed out that one of the founders of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, “asked Britain if the Zionists could have Cyprus — UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said no and they had to ‘find a spot in the English possession where there were no white people as yet’”. This is where the story of the Zionist expansion into Cyprus begins.

That quote is taken from a Turkish academic paper entitled ‘Zionist Plans and Cyprus 1896–1948’. The first Zionist ‘contemplations’ concerning Cyprus include Herzl pondering acquisition of Cyprus and offering it to Turkey in exchange for Palestine in June 1896. The Zionist strategy was to colonise Cyprus and form a base or ‘vantage point’ from which to launch their invasion of Palestine. From the paper:

A proposal put forward in January 1901 that England should exchange Cyprus for German East Africa led Zionist leader Herzl to speculate: ‘Germany would then have to welcome a Jewish settlement in Cyprus with delight. We should rally on Cyprus and one day go over to Eretz Israel and take it by force …’

The following words are part of a speech during the Third Zionist Congress in 1899 by Zionist David Trietsch. Born in Germany, he was one of the founders of the Zionist movement and expounded the theory that practical colonisation in Palestine was more important than political negotiations.

Jews shouldn’t seek refuge in lands favourable for European settlement, as they would encounter resistance in every such country. They also won’t be able to efficiently settle in tropical regions. Given these conditions, Cyprus is the most suitable location for Jewish settlement. While the island isn’t a magnet for European settlers, its climate is suitable for Europeans, and notably, it is in close proximity to Israel, serving as a gateway to it.

In 1893, Trietsch expressed an earlier interest in what should be done with Cyprus:

Here was a land with which the English did not know what to do, while, on the other hand, Jews everywhere were searching for a place of settlement for their brethren … Cyprus was in the immediate vicinity of Palestine. I knew that among Jews there existed the desire to colonise Palestine but this … could not be realised owing to the position of the Turkish government. It appeared to me then that the natural and beautiful idea of a return to the Old Land could very well be combined with a colonisation in Cyprus — whether or not England would remain there.

From 1902, Zionist plans for land appropriation and settlement began to revolve around territories close to Palestine, which included Cyprus. Herzl had several discussions with Lord Rothschild concerning the early Greater Israel blueprint: the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian Palestine (El Arish), and Cyprus.

Cyprus was annexed by the British after the Ottoman Empire entered WW1 on the side of the Germans. On 16 October 1915, the British regime offered Cyprus to Greece if she would enter the war on the side of the British. In July 1919, a British Diplomat, Cecil Gosling, sent a new Zionist settlement plan for Cyprus to Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon. He attached a paper submitted by David Treitsch that argued for the Zionist colonisation of Cyprus. Treitsch maintained that Palestine was too small for the ‘Jewish race’ necessitating the provision of an area close to Palestine for the spillover of Jewish settlers. This would comprise Cyprus, Rhodes, and El Arish. Similar arguments to those used with regards to the invasion of Palestine were presented. Cyprus would ‘flourish’ under Zionist occupation; a land with virtually no people would be populated by wealthy industrialists and agriculturalists who would outnumber the Greeks portrayed as the ‘problem’.

The efforts made by the Zionist movement to secure Cyprus as an extension of the occupation of Palestine continued until 1947 just prior to the creation of an Israel ‘state’ construct in Palestine that required the ethnic cleansing of close to one million Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba.

However, after WW2, the Zionists did succeed in converting Cyprus into a ‘refugee camp’ springboard for Jews to settle in Palestine at the expense of the indigenous people. This process persisted even after the British regime’s strategy under Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, to give ‘independence to Palestine’ (February 1947). My father and Arabist Harold Beeley was Middle East Advisor to Bevin at the time, and both were vehemently anti-Zionist and opposed to the Zionist-orchestrated Jewish-settlement plan for Palestine. From the paper:

Governor’s Reports for the year 1947 clearly show that Cyprus was systematically used as a Jewish ‘spring board’ to colonise Palestine. Governor’s Reports for March to September 1947 indicate that, during that period constant number of Jews present in camps of Cyprus were 15 to 16 thousand, and thousands were sent to Palestine continuously. An October Report stated that, the number of Jewish people in the said camps on October 30 was 17,540; ‘4,000 new arrivals came in during the month and 1,200 were transhipped as legal immigrants’. Governor’s Report for December indicated that with 16,755 new arrivals during the month, the number of refugees in the camps rose to 31,081, and that the ‘trans-shipment’ to Palestine was accelerated.

However, even though the Zionist movement appeared to abandon their initial vision for Cyprus, it should be remembered that their long-term plans are not shelved; they are redefined over time, and re-emerge when the opportunity arises. The fall of Syria in 10 days after a 14-year regime change war, during which Syrians resisted the Zionist bloc agenda with huge sacrifice, should tell us that the Zionist movement is not one to be easily deflected from the ultimate goal of a Greater Israel.

Israel Is Reviving Its Colonialist Policy in Cyprus

A surge in Zionist real estate acquisitions has led to public anger and political outcry in Cyprus since 7 October 2023, and the Palestinian Resistance Operation Al Aqsa Flood — that has led to the massacre of a (realistically) estimated half a million Palestinians with the huge majority under the age of 18.

From a recent Al Mayadeen article:

At a recent conference of Cyprus’ leftist Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), its Secretary-General, Stefanos Stefanou, issued a stark warning, likening the pattern of Israeli real estate acquisitions in Cyprus to the early stages of settler expansion in historic Palestine. He alleged that the purchases were part of a broader plan involving closed residential zones, religious institutions, and expanding economic influence.

Official records show about 2,500 Israeli citizens permanently residing in Cyprus. However, unofficial estimates suggest the number may range between 12,000 and 15,000, owing to the widespread use of European passports by Israelis seeking residency. This while Palestinians are unable to leave Gaza as it is obliterated by Zionist-US bombs. ‘Israelis are buying everything’ is a much used phrase by Cypriots struggling with a severe housing crisis.

Historian and expert on the Zionist movement Dr. David Miller posted on X on 6 July 2025 about the €50 million Jewish (read: Zionist) education hub, The Yael Foundation, “breaking ground in Limassol”.

Cyprus appears to be a site of intensified interest for Zionist colonists and the regime itself. Here is a report on the ‘educational’ conference held in Cyprus in February this year. Attended by those in charge of the global Hasbara campaign to promote Zionist genocide the Minister for Diaspora Affairs and an official from the Jewish Agency (responsible for settlements and recruiting settlers). Note also the presence of Ukrainian Zionists from Odessa.

What’s going on here is an attempt to spread Zionist radicalisation centres in places where they don’t exist or where there is a perceived need to reinforce existing structures. Make no mistake, these ‘schools’ will act as nodes in a network to defend the ongoing expansionist and genocidal settlement which the Zionists are clearly planning to continue in areas in addition to Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.

A quote from the report itself:

The foundation’s expanded budget was unveiled by its founder Uri Poliavich at a major educational conference in Limassol, Cyprus. The three-day event has brought together Israeli officials and approximately 200 educators and thought leaders to address current challenges facing Jewish communities worldwide …

The conference features contributions from key figures including Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Amichai Chikli, IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog of the Jewish Agency, and Special Envoy Michal Cotler-Wunsh. Among the speakers is Iris Chaim, who transformed her personal tragedy — the loss of her son in a mistaken IDF shooting during his escape from captivity — into an inspirational message.

Miller also adds detail on the Yael Foundation co-founder:

And here is more on Uri Poliavich, the co-founder of the Yael Foundation. From March this year. This report notes that ‘The Yael Foundation is now involved in building a school in Limassol, Cyprus, that will accommodate 1,500 children’. This will clearly be a radicalisation hub [emphasis added].

Uri Poliavich “aims to remodel Jewish education across Europe”: “We want them to know they are Jews and know what Judaism and Israel really are”. The foundation, whose motto is ‘No Jewish Child Left Behind’, is currently working in 35 countries and having an impact on 13,000 Jewish students. This is a recruitment drive for the dwindling Zionist military apparatus and to support the Greater Israel regional expansion. Just as with the British project to implant the Zionist state in Palestine and the region which was dependent on Jewish settlement to succeed, we are seeing similar tactics now employed to ensure the success of an expanded regional land-grab and a permanent Zionist occupation.

A 2024 article claims the Zionist grip on Cyprus was growing stronger every day:

Israeli individuals and corporations have been increasingly investing in the real estate market of northern Cyprus or the TRNC, with a particular focus on the Iskele region, which is in close proximity to Israel. There has been a noticeable increase in the purchase of land and properties by Jewish investors, with some even establishing their own housing projects and neighborhoods. This trend has raised concerns in the TRNC, as it mirrors the historical methods of land acquisition and settlement that played a crucial role in the establishment of Israel.

Before the Kissinger-orchestrated Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Iskele, or Greek Trikomo, was predominantly inhabited by Greek Cypriots. Post the conflict, Turkish Cypriots from the Skala neighborhood of Larnaca settled in the village, renaming it ‘Yeni İskele’ (meaning ‘New İskele’), which was later shortened to İskele (in the far northeast of the island in the map below of the TRNC).

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Vanessa Beeley is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. “The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.”

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