Israel has been wary of upsetting regional allies over its decision to strengthen ties with Turkey.
Jerusalem:
After years of strained relations between the Mediterranean countries, Israel and Turkey on Wednesday announced the resumption of full diplomatic ties.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid saw the diplomatic success as “an important asset to regional stability and very important economic news for Israeli citizens”.
Lapid’s office said diplomatic development would once again deploy ambassadors and consuls general to the two countries.
The announcement comes after months of bilateral efforts to improve ties, along with reciprocal visits by top officials.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the ambassadors’ return was “important to improve bilateral relations”.
But he cautioned that close ties with Israel should not be interpreted as “abandoning the Palestinian cause”.
In May Cavusoglu became the first Turkish foreign minister to visit Israel in 15 years, during a visit that saw him meet with the Palestinian leadership in the occupied West Bank.
During a historic visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Ankara two months ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan marked their meeting as “a turning point in our relationship”.
Bilateral relations began to deteriorate after an Israeli military operation in Gaza in 2008.
Relations deteriorated in 2010 after an Israeli raid on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla trying to break a blockade with aid in Gaza, killed 10 civilians.
A brief reconciliation lasted from 2016 to 2018, when ambassadors were once again withdrawn over the killing of Palestinians. More than 200 Gazans were shot by Israeli forces during protests along the border from 2018 to 2019.
‘Defending’ Palestinian rights
Public reconciliation began after Herzog took office in July 2021.
Israel’s president said on Wednesday that a full renewal of ties would “stimulate greater economic ties, reciprocal tourism and friendship between the Israeli and Turkish peoples”.
Despite diplomatic differences in recent years, trade continued and Turkey remains a popular destination for Israeli tourists.
Although citing an Iranian assassination plot against its citizens in Istanbul, Israel in June warned its citizens to return home.
Lapid then thanked Ankara for its cooperation on the issue, and Israel swiftly resumed its Turkish holidays.
Israel has been wary of upsetting regional allies over its decision to strengthen ties with Turkey, with Herzog deported to Cyprus and Greece ahead of his visit to Ankara.
Turkey, meanwhile, has been keen to emphasize that its normalization with Israel could benefit the Palestinians.
“As we have always said, we will continue to defend the rights of Palestinians,” Kavusoglu said on Wednesday.
As well as its ties with the Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank, Turkey also maintains ties with the Islamic group Hamas that rules Gaza.
Ephraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said observers should be “without any illusions” that bilateral relations will be as good as they were during the 1990s.
“As long as Erdogan is in power, there will be a certain amount of hostility from Turkey to Israel because of his Islamic ties. He will continue to support Hamas, for example,” he told AFP.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza’s 2.3 million residents since 2007 and has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, along with several Western countries.
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