Quick takes // By Ben FrankelIsrael and Turkey end acrimony, normalize relations

In a major coup for the Obama administration’s Middle East policy, Turkey and Israel have today (Friday) announced that they were putting an end to the increasing acrimony which has characterized their relationship since 2006, acrimony which has intensified even further in May 2010, when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish citizens who were on a flotilla which tried to break the Israeli maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The importance to the United States of the renewed normalization of the relationship between Israel and Turkey cannot be overstated. This normalization will:

• Put an end to the awkwardness of having the two staunchest regional allies of the United States at loggerheads with each other
• Make easier the establishment of a U.S.-Israel-Sunni Arab coalition to contain Iran and thwart its hegemonic designs in the region
• Make easier a military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, if such attack is ordered
• Tighten the coordination among Syria’s neighbors as the civil war in Syria enters its final phase, and as preparations for post-Assad Syria are undertaken in earnest
• It may even help move the Israel-Palestinian relationship in the right direction: Turkey has emerged as a strong supporter of Hamas, and may be more willing now to exert a moderating influence on the militant organization

A more flexible and conciliatory Israeli approach to the Palestinian issue would be a perfect complement to the Israel-Turkey rapprochement, but such flexibility is not likely any time soon: the new Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu but dominated by the two big winners of the 22 February elections, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, will concentrate on domestic reforms.

If anything, when it comes to the issue of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the current Israeli government is not only more hawkish than its predecessors — but in Israel the government is already called the “Settlers government” because of the sheer number of cabinet ministers and high officials who come from the settlers movement.

Benjamin Netanyahu called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, early Friday to offer Israel’s apologies for the events which led to the killing of nine Turkish citizens in May 2010.

The office of the Turkish prime minister announced that Turkey has accepted the Israeli apology in the name of the Turkish people.

Netanyahu told Erdogan that an Israeli investigation into the events of May 2010, in which Israeli commandos landed on and took control over a Turkish ship, found that there were several operational mistakes made by the Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu’s office said that the Israeli prime minister “expressed an apology to the Turkish people for any mistake which could have led to the loss of life, and agreed to finalize the agreement for paying compensation to the families of the victims.”

Netanyahu also informed Erdogzn that Israel was removing some of the restrictions on the movement of civilians and commerce in the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, and that Israeli will continue this relaxation as long as there are no outbreaks of violence.

The two leaders agreed to continue to work to improve the conditions in the Palestinian territories.

Netanyahu told Erdogan that he – Netanyahu – appreciated what Erdogan said Wednesday in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken, in which Erdogan retreated from his earlier negative comments on the Zionist movement. Erdogan told the Danish newspaper that he only intended to criticize some of the policies of the Israeli government in Gaza, and that his words were misinterpreted.

Erdogan told Netanyahu that he appreciates the long relationship between Israel and Turkey, and between the Turkish people and the Jewish people, and emphasized that he was interested in improving the relationship between the two countries.

Sources in the Israeli prime minister’s office said that the two leaders agreed on normalizing the relationship between the two countries. The Turkish ambassador will return to Tel Aviv, and the Israeli ambassador will return to Ankara.

During the 30-minute conversation between the two leaders, the first such conversation since 2009, Erdogan informed Netanyahu that Turkey was cancelling all the legal moves it has initiated against IDF soliders and officers as a result of the May 2010 flotilla affair.

President Obama, before he left Israel, joined the conversation toward the end.

Immediately before his visit to Israel, and during the three-day visit, Obama has let Israel and Turkey know that the United States was eager to see the conflict between the two allies come to an end. Obama emphasized that as he begins his second term, a term during which issues related to Iran, the Arab Spring, Syria, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict would dominate the regional agenda, the last thing he needed was a spat between two U.S. allies.

Ben Frankel is the editor of the Homeland Security News Wire