Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to accept Israel’sapology and to normalize relations between the two nations, tiesthat abruptly broke down following the UN report in 2011 madepublic the storming of the Gaza bound aid flotilla. Turkey has alsoagreed to drop its criminal charges against Israeli military brass,including those against former chief of staff Lt.-General GabiAshkenazi.
A normalisation of relations between Israel and Turkey?
Nearly three years and a scathing UN report later, with nineTurkish dead and bereaving families - many would ask, what tookIsrael so long to respond, and why now?
In some ways this is unchartered territory, because seldom hasIsrael ever reached out and offered a retraction for its sins ofthe past. It’s certainly a positive move from a Turkish diplomaticperspective.
The extremely rare apology by PM Benjamin Netanyahu has left somesurprised and many skeptics wondering what Israel might beexpecting in return for such a conciliatory announcement.
Israel’s international image has long been tarnished by its refusalto engage in diplomatic talks, or observe dozens of UN resolutionsthat have been passed in an attempt to bring it in line withinternational norms.
Netanyahu described the Gaza Flotilla incident in 2010 as“unintentional”, but some passengers aboard the ill-fatedMavi Marmara are not convinced.
Former US Marine and humanitarian aid worker Ken O’Keefe was asurvivor of the Flotilla, and isn’t convinced of the IsraeliPM’s sincerity, saying “Insincere apologies offered andaccepted by corrupt governments is nothing more than theatre, it isan insult to the memory of those martyred on the Mavi Marmara andto the people of Gaza themselves.”
“I would certainly ask any sane people to consider if it weretheir brother, their father, their husband who was murdered, wouldan apology and money be sufficient for you?”
Quoting Israel’s own “eye for an eye” foreign policydoctrine of retaliation, and judging by Israel’s own past recordfollowing comparable incidents, if the shoe were on the other foot- with nine dead Israeli passengers, arguably this would haveprompted a stern reaction in the form of either targetedassassinations, or a surgical airstrikes by Israel against Turkishassets, as a result of such a high-profile internationalincident.
If readers are in any doubt as to the plausibility of thisscenario, consider the quid pro quo which followed Hezzbolah’s 2006capture of only two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and UdiGoldwasser. The result was a 33 day bombardment and military siegeof Lebanon which left an estimated 1,191 Lebanese civilians dead,4,409 injured and hundreds of thousands more internally andexternally displaced – a huge black mark on Israel’s own record ofwanton aggression against its neighbors.
This latest apparent olive branch by Tel Aviv to Ankara shouldalso be underscored by Israel’s own much-maligned history, lackingany apologies or statements relating to the Palestiniansthemselves, perpetual victims of violence and oppression sinceIsrael forcibly etched itself onto the region in 1948. O’Keefe seesthis political reality reflected in the flotilla incident.
He explains, “They (flotilla victims) died because theyrefused to accept the unacceptable and what is unacceptable is thecollective punishment of 1.6 million people in Gaza, over half ofwhich are children. There is only one thing that will even comeclose to justice and that is a 100% end of the blockade and massivecompensation to the traumatised, injured, grieving people of Gaza,as well as the complete rebuilding of Gaza.”
More than likely, this latest announcement was a result of USPresident Barrack Obama’s need for a win, albeit even a small one.It’s clear that this time, Obama had to return to Washington DCwith something other than AIPAC photo-ops, and the normalobligatory public relations visit to Israel required by successiveUS Presidents.
More to the point however, is Israel’s cooperation with the USand British-led plans for the region.
Turkish and Israeli motives in Syria
Helping to patch-up relations with Turkey is one thing, butObama’s political appearance in Israel and the recent patch upbetween Turkey and Israel cannot be looked at without taking intoaccount the wider geopolitical chessboard.
Both countries have a stake in whatever comes from the presentupheaval in Syria. From a US and NATO standpoint, it is highlyunfavorable – and unlikely, that a NATO country like Turkey and USpartner state Israel are not on the same page regarding the NATOAllies’ plans for regime change in Syria.
Prior to the Gaza Flotilla raid by Israel, IDF fighter jets wereallowed to train in Turkish airspace for long-range missions, andwould likely require the cooperation of Turkey for any futurepre-emptive strike against Iran.
Although at odds over their security interests and Syria’sgeopolitical alignment with Iran, both Israel and Syria haveexperienced relative détente since a UN brokered armistice wassigned between the two countries in 1974. But recent Syrian rebelexploits in the Golan Height have jarred the balance of thatsituation, and Israel would likely make the first move should theUN’s UNIFIL peacekeeping force, or Damascus ever appear too weak tomaintain their hold over the Golan security buffer zone. If theBashar al Assad regime does fall in Syria, most analysts andpundits are in agreement that the country will descend into asectarian and paramilitary chaos not unlike that witnessedfollowing NATO last regime change operation in Libya – an outcomewhich would all but guarantee instability and more violence in theregion for many years to come.
Although Netanyahu and Erdogan are said to have agreed onworking together to improve the humanitarian situation in thePalestinian territories, they also mentioned they would cooperateto do the same in Syria.
In addition to absorbing thousands of Syria refugees from theconflict, Israel’s neighbor Jordan has already taken on the role offacilitator for the US, Britain and France’s proxy war in Syria, byallowing itself to be the main conduit for the transfer of weaponsand training for the confab of Syrian Rebel militants and some alQaeda-affiliated fighting groups – all backed by the NATO alliesunder the table, as it were. From a NATO standpoint, Israel willalso need to be on the same page as Jordan.
In addition to all this, Israel has long coveted both land andnatural resource interests in Syria’s Golan Heights region, whichis water for Israel’s agricultural industry and also the recentannouncement and pending license application for plans for Israeldevelop newly discovered oil in that area.
This latest maneuvering may appear like a bizarre U-turn byIsrael, and not without some similarly bizarre comments from theTurkish side too. In an oddly worded communiqué, the Turkish PMErdogan’s office also released a statement on Friday saying,"Erdogan told Binyamin Netanyahu that he valued thecenturies-long strong friendship and cooperation between theTurkish and Jewish nations". Some might ask here- whichcenturies-old Jewish nations was he referring to? It’s probablyjust a political gaffe.
The statements, views andopinions expressed in this column are solely those of the authorand do not necessarily represent those of RT.
