© AP Photo/ Adel Hana
A deal on the normalization of relations between Israel and Turkey will have a hugely positive impact on Israel's economy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
The agreement was announced by Israeli and Turkish officials
on Sunday, after six years of mutual estrangement.
"[The deal with Turkey] has also immense implications for the Israeli economy, and I use that word advisedly ... and I mean positive immense implications," Netanyahu said after meeting US State Secretary John Kerry in Rome, adding that the deal was "an important step."
The footage of the two politicians meeting was made available on the Israeli leader's Twitter page.
Kerry, in his turn, welcomed the deal, saying that it is a "step we [the United States] wanted to see happen."Relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated after the
Freedom Flotilla incident in 2010, when a convoy of six ships, including one sailing under a Turkish flag, tried to approach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid and activists on board. The flotilla was blocked and stormed by Israeli forces, resulting in eight Turkish citizens being killed.
Turkey responded by expelling the Israeli ambassador from the country, recalling its ambassador from Israel and demanding a formal apology from Israel, as well as compensation for the victims' families.
Comment: Turkish PM Benali Yildirim added some
detail to the agreement:
"This text of consensus tomorrow will be signed with the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his correspondent in Israel. After this there is the approval process. In Israel the approval is issued by the cabinet and on our side it will be completed at the parliament," Yildirim said in a televised address. Yildirim said the mutual embassies would subsequently reopen and Tel Aviv would pay $20 million to victims of the deadly 2010 Freedom Flotilla incident.
One of the projects in the works: Turkey will
allow Israel to sell natural gas to Europe:
Both countries have been looking for reconciliation in recent months as Tel Aviv searches for a potential buyer for its offshore gas. Israel owns huge untapped gas fields which need to be developed. Turkey is looking for a natural gas supplier, as relations with Russia, its main provider, significantly declined after the downing of a Russian jet near the Turkish-Syrian border last year.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said it was too early to talk about gas deals with Israel. Though, normalizing political and diplomatic relations between the two countries will be the priority in implementing a deal, according to the PM.
This comes as Turkey has offered an olive branch to Russia, expressing a desire to make up and be
friends again.
Comment: Turkish PM Benali Yildirim added some detail to the agreement: One of the projects in the works: Turkey will allow Israel to sell natural gas to Europe: This comes as Turkey has offered an olive branch to Russia, expressing a desire to make up and be friends again.