Netanyahu, Erdogan court one other to form “unholy alliance” as they plot Assad’s demise

Netanyahu turns to Turkey amid regional turmoil
25 July, 2012 – AL Akhbar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Jewish state and its former ally Turkey must repair their relationship because of the instability in their region.

Turkey cut its once extensive ties with Israel after Israeli marines killed nine Turkish activists in May 2010 on a humanitarian vessel trying to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, considered a violation of international law by rights groups.

“Turkey and Israel are two important, strong and stable states in this region…We must find ways to restore the relations we once had…it is important, particularly now, for stability in the region in these times,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said he gave the message to Turkish journalists in a meeting late on Monday.

While the statement gave no reason for the timing of his comments, both Israel and Turkey border Syria.

Turkey has called for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, to quit after he failed to heed calls for reform and the country has harbored Syrian rebels and tens of thousands of refugees along its border with Syria.

Israel has upped its rhetoric of possibly intervening militarily in the Syrian crisis, raising concern over Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.

Israeli officials said on Tuesday that Assad’s forces retained full control of such weapons, but far-right foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman again warned on Wednesday that any transfer of chemical weapons to Hezbollah would be a “casus belli”.

“For us, that’s a casus belli, a red line,” Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Numerous attempts by Israel and Turkey to rekindle their once-close strategic relationship have failed. Israel has rejected Ankara’s demands for a formal apology, compensation for the families of those killed in the raid and end to the Gaza blockade.

There was no indication in Netanyahu’s statement that Israel would change its stance and meet any of Turkey’s demands.

Netanyahu’s move comes a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Israel, and reportedly urged Israeli leaders to amend relations with Turkey as the region descends further into turmoil.

Hamas leader in Turkey

One major obstacle to Israeli-Turkish ties is Ankara’s warm relations with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal is in Turkey for talks with Turkish leaders on developments.

State-run television said Turkey’s prime minister met exiled Hamas leader Meshal to break the daily fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

TRT television said Wednesday that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Meshal at his residence in Ankara on Tuesday evening.

Ties between Turkey, NATO’s biggest Muslim member, and Hamas, which rules Gaza, have been developing since Turkey’s alliance with Israel collapsed.

In January, Hamas premier of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, visited Erdogan at his Istanbul home. …more