Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome on Sunday, will try to nudge Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the direction of regional negotiations, a senior Israeli official said.
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The nations of Israel and Turkey have reached a long-awaited restoration of diplomatic relations, following a six-year period of extreme animosity after 10 Turkish nationals lost their lives back in 2010, while on a humanitarian aid mission for Gaza.
The Turkish premier also said Turkey and Israel will re-appoint ambassadors within weeks.
The full details – to be announced Monday morning, according to Israeli officials – will include a $20 million compensation fund for Turkish families and a plan for the return of ambassadors to Ankara and Tel Aviv.
Relations between the two countries soured in May 2010 when Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, a ship bound for Gaza.
Turkey did however capitulate on one major issue, its demand that Israel end the marine blockade on Gaza.
Yildirim said the deal, which will allow Turkey to deliver aid to Gaza and engage in infrastructure investments to construct residential buildings and a hospital and to address energy and water shortages in Gaza amounted to a partial lifting of the Gaza blockade.
Turkey has also committed to keeping Islamist movement Hamas from carrying out activities against Israel from its country, Haaretz reported Sunday.
In addition, the two countries will rebuild military and intelligence ties, which grew close in the 1990s and early 2000s, an Israeli official said.
Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after a 2011 United Nations report into the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara largely exonerated the Jewish state. She added that “the blockade on Gaza must end”.
He has more recently said that “we, Israel and the Palestinians and the region have a lot to win from a normalisation process”.
Israel was also motivated to find new allies in the region, in part due to a need for export partners for its natural gas.
The Turkey-Israel talks accelerated after the falling out with Russian Federation, one of Turkey’s biggest trading partners.
There have been three wars between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008, including a devastating 50-day conflict in the summer of 2014.
The compensation will end all claims against Israel and Israeli military personnel, who will not be sued at the worldwide court.
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Netanyahu, meanwhile, said the blockade remains in place.
