Monday, May 27, 2013
Israel-Turkey Talks Break Down Over Amount of Mavi Mamara 'Compensation'
Surprise, surprise.
The talks President Obama muscled Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu into with Obama's BFF, Turkey's Islamist leader Tayyip Erdogan have broken down over the amount of jizya Israel was going to pay to the families of the IHH terrorists who were killed after they ambushed and attacked Israeli sailors on board the Turkish ship Mavi Mamara when it tried to illegally break through Israel's blockade of Gaza:
Reconciliation talks between Israel and Turkey have reached an impasse over the sum Israel is to pay in compensation to the families of the Turkish nationals killed and wounded in the May 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, a senior official in Jerusalem said Monday.
Despite three rounds of talks, the gaps remain very wide, he said.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 22 for the killing of nine Turkish nationals by Israel Defense Forces soldiers during the raid on the Mavi Marmara, the two countries began talks to come to a compensation arrangement and to normalize ties. The first round of talks took place in Ankara on April 22, while the second took place in Jerusalem on May 6.
At the end of the Jerusalem meeting, the parties issued a communiqué, saying that there was a draft agreement but that “several clarifications regarding a few issues,” were still needed. The clarifications, it emerged, related to the central issue of how much compensation Israel would pay.
...
The official refused to cite specific sums each party had discussed during the talks. Haaretz, however, has learned that while Israel is prepared to pay $100,000 to each family, the Turks are demanding $1,000,000 per family.
If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else. Tayyip Erdogan is a hardline Islamist and anti-semite, and he never had any intention of restoring relations with Israel, especially when you consider that it was Erdogan who broke them in the first place.
As I said at the time, Netanyahu was wrong to let himself get maneuvered into an apology by Obama, and even more naive if he thought anything was going ever to come of it.
Needless to say, this excerpt comes from the far Left Ha'aretz, the only English article in the Israeli press I could find.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
These talks were destined to fail from the beginning. There was no point in having them.
First of all Israel did nothing wrong. If America were being invaded in the way Israel is, I'd expect America's governemnt to do exactly what Israel's did in trying to stop any shipments to the enemy.
When Mr. Netanyahu apologizes for this, it can't be helpful for the morale of Israeli troops, the morale of the Israeli people, and it does nothign to advance the cause of peace.
Futhermore it cuts the legs out from under Israeli supporters in America. After all who are we to oppose the government of an allied nation who has done nothing to harm us.
In my view, the only apology Turkey should have gotten for the Mavi Marmara terrorists was a mocking "I'm sorry, did we kill some of your terrorists who were violating international law and trying to murder our men?"
Post a Comment