Israeli PM Netanyahu stalls on reconciliation with Turkey

Israeli PM Netanyahu stalls on reconciliation with Turkey. (AlMonitor).

For several long weeks, the draft of a reconciliation agreement with Turkey has been sitting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desk, waiting for his signature. 

The draft was agreed on by the Israeli and Turkish negotiating teams in the last round of talks that took place in Jerusalem in February 2014. Netanyahu had defined the rehabilitation of relations with Ankara as a top Israeli interest, and has instructed his team accordingly. The team had reached an agreement with the Turks after four years of negotiations. However, Netanyahu still has not signed it, finding it hard to overcome his distrust of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Before the local Turkish elections on March 30, Netanyahu clung to the appraisal by his Foreign Ministry that Erdogan would lose much of his popular support. It turned out that these assessments were only wishful thinking. Israel failed to correctly estimate Erdogan’s political clout when the prime minister was advised not to sign the agreement before the elections, so as not to be viewed as helping Erdogan flaunt the reconciliation as a personal victory in his campaign.

A diplomatic source in Jerusalem commented, “True, last time we were sure that we had a done deal and only a few days later, Erdogan announced in an election assembly that he would not reconcile with Israel until we commit in writing to removing the blockade and revoking our closure policy on Gaza. Not only is this condition not right, it is patently impossible.” He added, “This statement caused the prime minister to take a few steps backward, to re-examine the details of the agreement and reconsider his options.”

After becoming embittered by blatant verbal attacks, Netanyahu wants guarantees that the Turkish prime minister will not resume his tongue-lashing against him or against the State of Israel.

The diplomatic sources in Jerusalem recognize that this is a complex and problematic request, and emphasize, “There is no intention to offending Erdogan, but to ensure that he does not attempt to dishonor the State of Israel again.” The discussion of Netanyahu’s request is not being conducted by the negotiating teams but by other channels, apparently with US mediation.

At this point, a mechanism must be found to quickly calm Netanyahu’s worries, create trust between him and Erdogan and allow him to approve the agreement that will finally put a political end to the Marmara tragedy. On Aug. 10, Erdogan will run again in the elections. This time, he will ask the Turks to elect him president. Turkey is already preoccupied by this campaign and its broad implications, and it seems that Erdogan will get his way.

As stated, since Netanyahu has defined reconciliation with Turkey as a supreme national interest, it behooves him to hurry to complete the process so Israel will pay the agreed compensation, Turkey will void all legal processes against Israel and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, ambassadors will be exchanged and relations between the states will finally normalize.   Hmmmm....He probably finally understood that he should NEVER have apologized to this Islamist future dictator. Someone has to stand up to this potential threat...let it be Israel.