BICOM

Israel and Turkey are set to finalise an agreement to restore full diplomatic relations, following a meeting yesterday in Rome. The full details of the deal are set to be announced simultaneously today by Israel and Turkey. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

An unnamed senior diplomatic source told reporters that an announcement will take place today and that Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Dore Gold and his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, will sign the agreement tomorrow. Israel’s security cabinet will then be asked to approve the deal later this week, with the reappointment of ambassadors expected next month.

The reconciliation agreement has created mixed reactions from Israeli political figures.  Senior Zionist Union MK Erel Margalit said that the deal “strengthens the radicals and weakens Israel,” while colleague Itzik Shmuli MK said it goes “too far”. However, Housing Minister Gallant told Israel Radio that the agreement isolated Iran, which is a hub for terrorism, and made it possible to forge regional alliances.

YNet says that Turkey has agreed to drop its demand that all Gaza restrictions are lifted. However, Turkish aid will reach Gaza via Israel’s Ashdod port and Turkey will also help build a hospital, power plant and desalination plant in Gaza. Meanwhile, Turkey has apparently agreed that Hamas will not be able to use the country as a base, but will not expel a senior Hamas leader. The same report says that military and intelligence cooperation will be resumed and the two countries will also work together on laying a gas pipeline. Israel apparently updated Egypt, Russia, Greece and Cyprus on the agreement.

In 2010, the previously warm relationship between Israel and Turkey deteriorated and diplomatic relations were ceded after the deaths of ten Turkish citizens who were killed whilst trying to prevent Israeli commandos taking over a Gaza-bound protest ship, the Mavi Marmara. It is thought that arrangements were made in 2014 over a compensation deal for the families of those killed aboard the Mavi Marmara. Subsequent talks resumed last year and have been ongoing, including a meeting in London in April.