President Barack Obama’s constant prodding that Israel should apologize to Turkey for the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 paid off during his most recent visit to the region. After some hesitation Netanyahu picked up the phone and talked to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan offering the long awaited apology.
Key to understanding Netanyahu’s move is the involvement of President Obama and the need to face upcoming scenarios should Assad’s regime fall in Syria. American allies (Israel, Turkey, and Jordan) are expected to play a role in the struggle for Syria. From an American perspective, the three countries are pillar of stability in a volatile region.
Certainly, Netanyahu understands this rationale.
“It is important that Turkey and Israel could communicate with each other...the constantly changing reality around us forces us to reexamine our relations with countries in the region all the time...Syria is crumbling, and its massive and advanced weapons arsenal is starting to fall into the hands of different factions. The biggest risk is chemical weapons falling into the hands of terror organizations,” Netanyahu said.
Not surprisingly, Israel’s consideration of the evolving security problems in the region has highly weighed in Netanyahu’s decision to take the initiative and apologize to his Turkish counterpart. On his Facebook page, Netanyahu justified his phone call with Erdogan saying that the presence of radicals on the Syrian-Israeli border poses “serious challenges for our defense establishment.”
Both Turkey and Israel value and place the link with the United States at the heart of their foreign policy. Therefore, the American involvement in the reconciliation between Turkey and Israel was vital. And yet, despite the serious differences between Israel and Turkey, both feel that the unraveling situation in Syria entails coordination and cooperation.
For Israel, the benefits of mending fences with Turkey are immense. First, Israel has suffered from an international isolation in the last two years. The Palestinian victory at the United Nations indicated the troubled international status of Israel. Hence, restoring warm relations with Ankara is seen as a positive development in Israel’s regional environment. Moreover, many Western and Israeli pundits make the case that Ankara can play a role in preventing Iran from going nuclear, a very important goal for Israelis across the political spectrum. Americans believe that good relations between Turkey and Israel can put more pressure on Iran. For this reason, bowing to a long-standing Turkey condition for ending the crisis is a minor concession compared with the benefits.
And yet, it was not as if the apology was made easily. Prior to that, Netanyahu strongly refused to apologize to Turkey for almost three years. Adding salt to wound, Erdogan infuriated Israelis in his most recent comment comparing Zionism to fascism. The Israeli press covered this comment accusing Erdogan of being anti-Semite. But stepping back from this comment under the American prodding paved the way for Netanyahu’s apology.
It remains to be seen how this reconciliation is going to play out in the months to come. The pace of reconciliation may be determined by the perception of the two sides of the development of the situation on the ground in Syria. Far from being instant, the reconciliation may take some time.
Jordan should not be taken out of the calculations because any future change in Syria will entail cooperation from Amman. Many observers linked this fact to the need to have a common understanding between Israel, Turkey and Jordan. Just a few days ago, King Abdullah of Jordan was quoted in The Atlantic as saying that relations with Netanyahu were good. While Jordanian people were shocked by the king’s statement to the American magazine, reality on the ground has pushed the king to coordinate with Israel with regard to Syria.
After the sea change that has hit the region in which the United States has lost its key ally, Mubarak, it seems that Washington cannot afford losing other allies. The Obama’s visit in the region was meant to cement this alliance and pave the way for a dramatic event that may take place soon in Syria.
It is true that there is no love lost between Netanyahu and Erdogan, and yet, the pragmatic nature of both of them in addition to the American persistence to end the crisis made the apology possible.
