Israel Matzav

Israel to apologize and compensate for Mavi Marmara?

If this actually happens, I'd like to propose that we Israelis take to the streets, burn Turkish flags outside the Prime Minister's office, and make it clear to everyone that the people doing this do not speak in our names.

The Turkish English-language daily Hurriyet is reporting that Binyamin Ben Eliezer told Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday that Israel would apologize for stopping Turkish terrorists from running Israel's legal blockade of Gaza and would compensate at least some of the 'victims.' If the government does that, they're not speaking in my name.

Israel has signaled it may compensate and apologize to families of some of the victims of its aid-flotilla raid in comments during a covert meeting between Turkish and Israeli officials, the first high-level contact since the deadly attack.

“There will be a second meeting if the Israeli side takes a step toward [meeting] our demands,” a Turkish diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. “We do not categorically dismiss meeting with Israeli officials at this level.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is known to have good relations with Turkey, met secretly in Brussels on Wednesday. The meeting was later disclosed by the Israeli media and the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement criticizing Ben-Eliezer’s move.

Diplomatic sources said the meeting could provide a way out of the current situation, as ties between the two countries have been badly damaged by the May 31 raid, in which Israeli commandos killed eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent in a deadly attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

“Davutoğlu reminded Ben-Eliezer of Turkey’s demands from Israel, including an apology, payment of compensation to families of those killed and wounded, an international inquiry and an end to the blockade of Gaza,” Burak Özügergin, a spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters Thursday.

Diplomatic sources said no move to meet these demands would be made until after the Israeli commission tasked with investigating the incident issues its report to the Israeli government.

According to Özügergin, the two ministers discussed the current state of Turkish-Israeli relations and the future of the relationship, adding that Ben-Eliezer assured Davutoğlu that Turkey’s demands would be conveyed to the Israeli government.

“The point our ties have reached is not one we are happy with. The meeting provided an opportunity to convey in person the steps we expect [to see taken] so that relations can be repaired. The reason why they requested this meeting might be to determine our expectations,” the spokesman said.

Turkish officials have said Israel initiated the talks, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Turkey had requested the meeting.

The Israeli newspaper daily Haaretz reported that the White House prompted and coordinated the Brussels talks after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and urged him to repair relations with Israel.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon had earlier said Washington was working to heal the Turkish-Israeli rift amid fears that Turkey, the sole primarily Muslim member of NATO, was moving away from the West.

I don't see how Ben Eliezer has the authority to make an agreement like that - unless Netanyahu is lying. The Foreign Ministry has objected strenuously to the meeting, while Netanyahu
views the meeting as 'unofficial' and therefore by implication not binding on him or his government.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement confirming the meeting but explaining it was initiated by the Turks and was “unofficial.” According to the statement, Ben-Eliezer had told Netanyahu that a senior Turkish official had asked him for an unofficial meeting.

“The prime minister saw no reason not to have the meeting,” the statement said. “In recent weeks there have been various initiatives for contacts with Turkey, which the foreign ministry knew about. The failure to update the ministry was due merely to a technical reason. The prime minister is fully cooperating with the foreign minister.”

If you really want to be sick, read the comments on the Hurriyet site.

JPost reports that Ben Eliezer's office denied the Hurriyet report, although it's not clear whether they denied only the compensation part of the story or also the apology part.

Israel is prepared to apologize to Turkey for the flotilla incident and to compensate the families of the injured parties, Turkish newspaper Huriyyet reported on Friday. Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's office has denied the reports.

...

Ben-Eliezer has denied that Israel will compensate those injured on the flotilla.

"No one intends to do that, and the minister did not promise anything," Ben-Eliezer's spokesman said.

JPost also notes a new threat from Turkey.

According to a different Turkish paper, Zaman, during the secret meeting between Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels, Davutoglu threatened that Israel-Turkey relations may worsen, with Turkey closing its airspace to commerical flights, as well as military ones, should Israel fail to apologize.

Turkey has already closed its airspace to Israeli military flights.

They would not be the first country that El Al has to circumvent. When I travel abroad, I use a web site that calculates when I have to say my prayers during flights. The website comes with a warning that you cannot use it on El Al flights to the Far East, because those flights do not take the most direct route. We may have to start doing it the old fashioned way for Europe and North America too. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:06 PM