Herzog: Israel-Turkey deal ‘must not give Erdogan a foothold in Gaza’

Israel and Turkey have reached an agreement that could end a diplomatic freeze between the two countries five years after the Mavi Marmara incident, local media report, citing an official Israeli source.

According to the Israeli official, whose name was not mentioned in the reports, the two sides reached “understandings” over the issue and drafted a deal during a secret meeting in Switzerland.

A US official familiar with the agreement confirmed the details.

In a rapidly-changing regional context, mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey’s relations with mainly Shiite Iran – Israel’s arch foe – are deteriorating as Tehran assists Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Ankara wants ousted.

In addition, talks will begin next week on the laying of a pipeline to transfer natural gas to Turkey and the possible purchase by Ankara of Israeli gas.

“We hope it will not last long” before there is an agreement, said the official.

As part of the agreement Israel will establish a compensation fund for the nine Turkish civilians killed when the Israeli navy boarded the Marmara, which was trying to run the Gaza blockade.

Relations between the two countries broke down in 2010 after an Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American. According to the source, Premier Benyamin Netanyahu’s envoy for contacts with Turkey, Joseph Ciechanover, and national security advisor – a next Mossad chief – Yossi Cohen met Wednesday in Zurich with the foreign undersecretary and reached a deal.

The about-turn has come amid a drastic worsening of ties between Turkey and Russia following Ankara’s downing of a Russian warplane over Syria on November 24, which has wrecked several joint cooperation projects including on energy.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said normalising ties with Turkey had huge importance both to develop the Leviathan stake and to bring global energy firms back to Israel to look for new gas fields.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, known for his angry outbursts at Israel, spoke in favor of normalizing ties with Israel, which could benefit the Palestinians as well.

But they said the talks offered the most promising sign that Turkey and Israel were ready to put the politically charged incident behind them.

Michael Herzog, a retired lieutenant general of the Israeli army and a former military advisor to the defence ministry, says Mr Erdogan’s statements were duly noted by the Israeli government circles.