Netanyahu: Deal with Turkey promotes ‘stability’ in Mideast

In 2013, Prime Minister Netanyahu officially apologised to the then-Turkish prime minister, and now president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the attack; in recent months, both sides have been engaged in talks aiming at reconciliation.

Turkey said the first ship, carrying more than 10,000 tons of aid – including food and clothing – will depart for Israel on Friday. The payment is external to the agreement, an act of good will, and doesn’t imply that Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the incident, the official stressed, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“It has also vast implications for the Israeli economy, and I use that word advisedly”, he told reporters together with Kerry.

According to the Turkish daily Hurriyet, the two sides have reached a compromise on the issue, according to which Turkey will be allowed to send aid for Palestinians via Ashdod in the occupied territories rather than directly to Gaza. It calls for increased Turkish investment and aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, where access is tightly controlled by Israel.

Netanyahu said Turkey would also now not act to prevent Israeli participation in global forums of which it is a member, notably including North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

The deal will see the two countries exchange ambassadors “as soon as possible”, Yıldırım said.

Under the reported terms of the deal, Israel will allow the completion of a much-needed hospital in Gaza, as well as the construction of a new power station and a desalination plant for drinking water by Turkey. “My police is to create islands of stability with our close neighbors”, Netanyahu said, presenting the deal and its clauses as an Israeli interest.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Ankara, said that this means the siege is still in place as “anything that is reaching Gaza still requires Israel’s approval”.

Israel has also agreed to pay some $20 million into a fund for compensation for the Turkish victims’ families, and in return all claims against Israeli soldiers will be dropped.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (R) meets with Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 25, 2016. Ambassadors will be returned to the two countries, mutual visits, commitments by both countries not to work against each other in worldwide organizations and the end of opposition to cooperation in global agreements. They include the remains of two soldiers presumed dead and two civilians believed held alive by Hamas in Gaza.

The deal also came under criticism in Israel from the families of servicemen killed fighting Hamas in a 2014 Gaza war.