Real agreement on normalizing relations between Turkey, Israel still far from view

Israeli Yediot Aharonot said Saturday a real agreement on the subject of normalizing relations between Israel and Turkey and exporting gas to Turkey is still far from view.

An agreement between Israel and Turkey has yet to come, but there is a declarative cooperation: The Turkish President needs it as a card he can play in front of the Russians, while Netanyahu can use it to defend the government's natural gas plan in Israel's high court, the papers added.

"The normalization of relations between Israel and Turkey is a welcome occurrence in nearly everyone's minds. The Turkish willingness to import gas from Israel is also a positive development. That's why the breakthrough in the negotiations which have been going on for five years now, which was announced by an "Israeli source" and confirmed later by Turkish sources, is good news. But it seems celebrations are premature, and definitely exaggerated – and that the announcement of this progress was publicized mainly because of the interests shared by Netanyahu and Erdogan," the paper said.

"There is yet no agreement between Turkey and Israel regarding the normalization of relations. Turkey is still demanding that Israel remove its naval blockade of Gaza, a blockade which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls a "siege". Israel is claiming that there is no siege of Gaza, and for the time being it doesn't seem like the PM or Defense Minister are even considering removing the naval blockade. Such a move would allow Hamas' military wing to import weapons not only from Iran, but from Libya and other places as well," it added.

"God and the devil are in the details," says the old phrase, and when you look at what was discussed regarding the future gas imports from Israel to Turkey you can see at least two major landmines in the proverbial ground. One is the Turkish demand that all of Israel's gas exports to Europe, or at least a large portion of them, go through Turkey. This means a pipeline going from the Israeli gas fields to Turkey, and from there on to the Balkan states," the paper said.

"Such an arrangement, if put into practice, would be highly dangerous to Israel and its gas exports, since it allows the Turks to keep their hands on the faucet and determine if Israel can export gas to Europe, and in what amounts," it added.

The paper assumed that Israel has no intention of exporting its gas to Europe through Turkey. "So it seems that for now, the agreement normalizing international relations between the two countries is still up in the air, and the gas business is also a yet-unformed issue."

The paper concluded: "And so the question arises: Why was the PM's Office so quick to leak the news about a nearing agreement on normalizing relations and gas exports to Turkey on Thursday?"

Source: MENA