With passions winding down three weeks after Israel’s bloody interception of the Mavi Marmara, officials and analysts are taking stock of the implications of Turkey’s regional resurgence.

Rising middle-level powers such as Turkey and Iran in the Middle East and Brazil in South America now are challenging the diplomatic supremacy of Washington. Earlier this month, the new contours of diplomatic power were on display in Istanbul.

Turkey has long been seen as a land bridge between East and West. For decades it has tried to impress Europe and to persuade Europe to let it join the European Union. In recent times, Turkey has been refurbishing its ties with countries that border it like Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

As the administration did with its recent National Security Strategy—in which the enemy was identified only as Al Qaeda and any reference to Islamism was left out—the Obama team seems eager to paint the Muslim world as largely blameless for the actions of a few deranged individuals. It is part of Obama’s broader strategy of winning back the affections of the Islamic world.

A “flotilla” including 72 ships from Turkey and 16 other countries converged on Israel on Tuesday, but this time the country is welcoming them with open arms for a yacht rally instead of a challenge to break the sea embargo on Hamas-controlled Gaza.

America’s relationship with the Middle East and with the Muslim world is about more than confronting al-Qaeda, however. And it is in the realm of diplomacy that more substantial changes have occurred. Obama reached out to American enemies such as Syria and Iran, and has pressured and publicly criticized Israel...

The “Barcelona Process” promoted by Nicolas Sarkozy to restart regional cooperation was bold. But the project is now reduced to a long series of hollow, self-referential conferences. Europe’s policy regarding the southern rim of the Mediterranean is again in stalemate.

Israel is easing its Gaza embargo to allow snack food and drinks into the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian officials said Wednesday, following an international outcry over Israel's raid on an aid flotilla.