Minister Stienitz: Turkey reconciliation deal is 90% done

T. Belman. Now let me see. The Mavi Marmara left from Turkey with its support intending to breach Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza. When IDF soldiers boarded the ship, they were brutally attacked and Israel shot back in self defense. 9 Turks were killed.  It seems to me that it is Turkey who should be apologizing, not Israel. Not only did Israel offer a half-assed apology but has agreed to pay millions in so-called damages.  In addition Israel is agreeing to allow Turkey to develop a sea port (the location is not yet disclosed. It could be in Israel or Cypress or Gaza) but to also lift the blockade. This is exactly what Obama and Erdogan wanted in the first place. They have won what they are not entitled to.  So why is Israel accepting this humiliating defeat? Turkey is vindicated and Israel is shown to be in the wrong.

Though not mentioned here, according to previous reports, the goods entering the sea port will still be inspected for military goods including cement.

Yuval Steinitz says agreements reached include the issue of a seaport for the Gaza Strip

TOI

The majority of the issues in a reconciliation agreement between Israel and Turkey have been agreed upon, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Saturday.

Speaking at a cultural event in Holon, Steinitz, who is seen as close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the agreements were 90 percent completed. The issues agreed upon include the question of a seaport for the Gaza Strip, Channel 10 reported.

The claim comes two days after a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel has agreed to the opening of a naval route between Turkish Cyprus and Gaza.

The adviser, Arshad Hormuz, also told a Hamas-run media outlet in Gaza that Israel has agreed to fully lift the blockade on Gaza as part of the agreement between Jerusalem and Ankara, which is reportedly set to be finalized in the coming weeks. Hamas, which is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, has had control of Gaza since a bloody 2007 coup.

Hormuz added that only “technical details” remained to be settled as part of the upcoming agreement, according to Israel’s Ynet news website.

There was no confirmation of the report from Israel. Israel maintains a security blockade of Gaza to prevent Hamas, which avowedly seeks to destroy the Jewish state, from importing weaponry for use against Israel.

Earlier this week, Erdogan’s spokesman said the normalization of ties between Israel and Turkey hinges on reaching an agreement over humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey insists on the “re-establishment of conditions for humanitarian aid to Gaza” and supports an independent state of Palestine “whose capital is East Jerusalem.”

The accord would come almost six years after a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish ship attempting to breach the blockade, in which 10 Turkish citizens were killed during a melee aboard the vessel. The incident led to a nosedive in bilateral relations that were already tense over Israel’s military policy in Gaza. Turkey demanded an immediate apology for the 2010 raid, compensation for the victims’ families and the lifting of the blockade on Gaza before normal relations could resume.

Israel refused and only issued an official apology some three years later. Talks on compensation have reached advanced stages, according to reports, but one of the main hurdles has been the lifting of the Israeli blockade.

Talks have also reportedly gotten hung up over Israeli demands for a commitment from Turkey to end tacit support for Hamas.

After several years of chilly ties and acrimonious accusations from both sides, officials met in December in secret talks to seek a rapprochement, with another round of high-level talks taking place in February in Geneva.

A bombing last month in Istanbul that killed three Israelis also led to cooperation between the countries and high-level contacts between leaders in Ankara and Jerusalem for the first time in years.