However, Shaul said that, during the phone conversation, the prime minister had promised to bring his son’s body home as part of the deal with Turkey, whereas Goldin maintained that Netanyahu had updated him that his son’s remains would not be included in the detente agreement.
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The normalization agreement comes after Turkey has become increasingly isolated in the region in recent months.
Relations soured after a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on an aid flotilla seeking to run the blockade on Gaza.
Turkey will be allowed to transfer materials to build housing, a hospital, a power station and a desalination facility in Gaza, the official said.
Though, normalizing political and diplomatic relations between the two countries will be the priority in implementing a deal, according to the PM.
Hamas would continue to be able to operate from Turkey for diplomatic purposes, the paper said.
“This is a step we wanted to see happen”, Secretary of State John KerryJohn KerryKerry: NATO work won’t change “one iota” after Brexit Israel, Turkey, fix ties, to cheers from US Dozens of Clinton meetings left off State schedule: report MORE told reporters from Rome on Sunday, as news of the deal began to leak out.
The breach in relations came after the Israeli military killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists attempting to reach the coastal enclave in worldwide waters in May 2010.
The agreement would further isolate Israel’s archrival, Iran, which also shares a border with Turkey, said Israel’s minister of construction and housing, Yoav Galant, a former army commander, in an interview with Israel’s army radio.
Responding to criticism of the agreement heard in Israel, from both the left and the right, including that paying $20 million to a funds for the families of the victims was a “humiliation”, Netanyahu said that this accord promotes Israel’s “vital interests”, and that he would not be deterred by the criticism.
“Saying that Turkey has given up one of its two remaining conditions, which is lifting the embargo and blockade on Gaza, would mean humiliating the people’s intelligence”.
Relations took a sharp turn downward during Israel’s three-week war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, when Erdogan criticized Israel over the high Palestinian death toll.
“However, contrary to claims, the deal has no provision regarding Hamas”, the official added. “Turkey is the protector of the justified aspirations of the Palestinians”, he said, including their right to declare a state.
The two sides have blamed each other for the violence.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope it would help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. A formal document to that effect is expected to be signed shortly, with an exchange of ambassadors to follow.
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“With this deal, the process of returning ties to normal has begun”, Yildirim said.
