AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Turkish-Israeli relations underwent challenges since 2008, when Tel Aviv waged another criminal war against Gaza Strip. The storming of Turkey's Gaza-bound aid ship Marmara in 2010 took their confrontation to next bevel. Their ties even went worse when in 2018 Trump recognized Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the Israeli capital and Turkey recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv. However, things changed when in September 2020 some Arab states initiated normalization process with the Israeli regime. Tempted by the thaw, Ankara in recent months said it plans to restore ties with the Tel Aviv. Some suggest that the foreign policy shift is driven by the unstable economic conditions in Turkey.
Foreign policy shift
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic policy of cutting interest rates shocked the economy, and the lira price plunged as the dollar rose. In recent days, Erdogan, in addition to presenting a roadmap to improve the economic situation, called for changes in the foreign policy of the country in relations with other countries, especially the Israeli regime, and at his meeting with Turkish Jews and members of Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States said: "Despite the differences between Tel Aviv and Ankara over Palestine, bilateral relations in the fields of economy, trade, and tourism have been developing. These relations are vital to regional security and stability. This relationship will soon return to normal." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, in his press conference at the end of 2021 highlighted these relations.
"Diplomatic relations with Israel have already begun, while Turkey maintains its Palestine principles. The negotiations with the new Israeli government have started and we advance it with a pragmatic approach," he was quoted as saying.
Israeli preconditions for détente with Turkey
The Ankara normalization with Tel Aviv has always been affected by the Palestinian cause and the Turkish support to Hamas, a Gaza-based resistant group. In recent years, Hamas office's activity in Turkey and Israeli settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian territories have been posing challenges to Israeli-Turkish relations. Erdogan more than once said that improving ties with the Israeli regime is possible if the latter takes measures towards de-escalation with the Palestinians. In recent days, Erdogan said he would talk to the Israeli President Issac Herzog. He also said Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennet sends updates at various levels, adding that policy cannot go ahead with rift and argument.
"We need to take politics on the peace track. Israeli friendly and constructive approach within the pro-peace efforts undoubtedly contribute to normalization of our relationship," he was quoted as saying.
Reacting to these comments, former Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu, who defected from Erdogan orbit in 2016, recently said that Tel Aviv is unaware of this Erdogan plan and the Israeli officials in largely humiliating stances suggest that a final decision about normalization with Ankara has not been made yet.
Actually, following Turkey's show of desire to normalize relations with Israeli government, the Tel Aviv media and analysts stressed that the latter is insisting on halting Hamas activities on Turkish soil as a precondition.
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is very pleased with the return of the Israeli ambassador to Ankara, but the important thing for Israel is to stop Hamas activities in Turkey," the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted an anonymous Israeli diplomatic source as saying.
The Haaretz, another Israeli newspaper, reported that the Turkish president said in a speech that Turkey is ready to improve relations with Tel Aviv, but that the Israeli government must first show "more sensitive policies" towards the Palestinians.
"Tel Aviv has made many conditions for the return of relations with Turkey, the most obvious of which is Ankara's commitment to close the Hamas office in Istanbul and to stop the activities of the released prisoners associated with the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas," the Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Israeli goals behind playing Turkey
Turkey is one of the countries that wants to normalize relations with the Israeli regime while at the same time has close ties with Hamas, has supported it and has also tried to establish its position in the region as a country supporting the Palestinian cause. These, especially the last ambition, is contradictory to Ankara's new foreign policy approach for reestablishing diplomatic ties with the Israelis.
Under such circumstances, the Israeli government, realizing Turkey's sensitive conditions especially economically, has made any return of diplomatic relations between the two sides, as well as the return of the Israeli ambassador to Ankara, conditional on the cessation of Hamas activities in Istanbul. Tel Aviv’s goals are to limit Turkish support for Hamas, to see Ankara relinquishing its position as a supporter of the Palestinian cause in the region, and to close any Hamas office in the country, eliminating any possibility of helping the group. This could gradually weaken the interests of Hamas and the Palestinian resistance.
By pursuing the normalization, the Israelis and Americans try to reduce the Palestinian cause to a purely Palestinian, rather than a Muslim and Arab, case. By creating dependence especially in economic terms through normalization, Tel Aviv and Washington intend to take from the Arab and Muslim states the power to make any moves risky to Israeli interests. The conditions for restrictions on supports to Hamas and its activities in Turkey are a continuation to the Israeli policies to decentralize and isolate the Palestinian cause as a top Muslim and Arab world agenda case.
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