Turkey and Israel want to improve ties after presidents' call - Turkish ruling party
Reuters
A Turkish flag flutters atop the Turkish embassy as an Israeli flag is seen nearby, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 26, 2016. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
ANKARA, July 14 (Reuters) - Turkey and Israel have agreed to work towards improving their strained relations after a rare phone call between their presidents, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party said on Wednesday.
The two countries expelled ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out. Ankara has condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the militant Palestinian group Hamas which rules Gaza.
Both sides say the other must move first for any rapprochement.
President Tayyip Erdogan called Israel's new president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday to congratulate him on taking office. Israel's presidency is a largely ceremonial office. read more
"A framework emerged after this call under which advances should be made on several issues where improvements can be made, and where steps towards solving problematic areas should be taken," spokesman Omer Celik said after an AK Party meeting.
Celik singled out the Palestinians as one of many issues Turkey wants to discuss with Israel, adding that areas such as tourism and trade should be a "win-win" for both nations. Bilateral trade has remained strong amid the political disputes.
During the call, which came a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Ankara, Erdogan told Herzog he valued maintaining dialogue and said Turkish-Israeli relations were key for regional stability.
Erdogan also reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding "positive steps" would also help Turkey's ties with Israel, his office said.
In May, Erdogan called Israel a "terror state" after Israeli police shot rubber bullets and stun grenades towards Palestinian youths at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque.
Israel accuses Turkey of aiding members of Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and its Western allies.
Turkey has also recently been trying to repair its frayed ties with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Monday's call came a month after Naftali Bennett became Israeli prime minister, replacing Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Erdogan had frequently traded barbs. read more
Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler Editing by Gareth Jones
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- Summary
- Bennett replaces Netanyahu, who served as PM since 2009
- Far-right march poses immediate challenge for Bennett
In the flag-waving procession, planned for Tuesday, far-right groups will march in and around East Jerusalem's walled Old City, where tensions have remained high since 11 days of fighting between Israel and Gaza militants in May.
Palestinian factions have called for a "day of rage" against the Jerusalem march, with memories of clashes with Israeli police still fresh from last month in the contested city's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and in a neighbourhood where Palestinians face eviction in a court dispute with Jewish settlers.
"This is a provocation of our people and an aggression against our Jerusalem and our holy sites," Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said of the march.
After meeting with Israel's police chief and other security officials, newly sworn-in Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev approved the march and said police were well-prepared, according to a statement carried by Israeli media.
"(Great) efforts are being undertaken to preserve the delicate fabric of life and public security," Barlev was quoted as saying.
It was not clear whether participants would be allowed to enter the Old City's Muslim quarter, on a route that Israeli police had previously barred. A police spokesman did not immediately provide comment.
An original march on May 10 was re-routed at the last minute as tensions in Jerusalem led Hamas to fire rockets towards the holy city and Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza. Right-wing Israeli groups accused their government of caving into Hamas and rescheduled the march after a truce took hold.
Hamas has warned of renewed hostilities if it goes ahead, and Israeli media reported the military had made preparations for a possible escalation.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem prohibited its personnel and their families from entering the Old City on Tuesday "due to calls for a Jerusalem Flag March and possible counter-demonstrations".
The march poses an immediate challenge for Bennett's government, which was approved on Sunday by a 60-59 vote in parliament.
A route change or cancellation of the procession could expose the Israeli government to accusations from Netanyahu, now in the opposition, and his right-wing allies of giving Hamas veto power over events in Jerusalem.
Suggesting that a route adjustment could be in store, Yoav Segalovitz, a deputy internal security minister, said past governments had stopped nationalists visiting Muslim sites in times of tension.
"The main thing is to consider what's the right thing to do at this time," he told Israel's Kan radio.
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People celebrate after Israel's parliament voted in a new coalition government, ending Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year hold on power, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel June 13, 2021. REUTERS/Corinna Kern
Read More
'DAY OF RAGE'
Formation of Bennett's alliance of right-wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties, with little in common other than a desire to unseat Netanyahu, capped coalition-building efforts after a March 23 election, Israel's fourth poll in two years.
Minutes after meeting Bennett, 49, on his first full day in office, Netanyahu repeated a pledge to topple his government.
"It will happen sooner than you think," Netanyahu, 71, who spent a record 12 straight years in office, said in public remarks to legislators of his right-wing Likud party.
With any discord among its members a potential threat to its stability, Israel's new government hopes to focus on domestic reforms and the economy and avoid hot-button issues such as policy towards the Palestinians.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, to be the capital of a state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in a move that has not won international recognition after capturing the area in a 1967 war, regards the entire city as its capital.
BUDGET IN FOCUS
A key test for the new government and its stability will be how quickly it moves to pass a budget, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute.
"If within 3-4 months this government will pass the 2021-22 budget then we can expect this government to serve for at least two or three years. Otherwise, the instability will continue," he said.
Palestinians held out scant hope of a breakthrough in a peace process leading to a state of their own. Talks with Israel collapsed in 2014.
"We don't see the new government as less bad than the previous ones," Shtayyeh told the Palestinian cabinet.
Under the coalition deal, Bennett, an Orthodox Jew and tech multi-millionaire who advocates annexing parts of the West Bank, will be replaced as prime minister in 2023 by centrist Yair Lapid, 57, a former television host.
Lapid, widely regarded as the architect of the coalition that brought down Netanyahu, is now foreign minister.
Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Timothy Heritage
Turkey and Israel want to improve ties after presidents' call - Turkish ruling party
Turkey and Israel have agreed to work towards improving their strained relations after a rare phone call between their presidents, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party said on Wednesday.
