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Ben-Eliezer: Turkey regaining its status as mediator between Israel and Syria
By Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service, 5/12/2009 |
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Trade, Industry and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer remarked Saturday about his recent trip to Turkey, saying that the country, whose ties with Israel have cooled recently, was regaining its status as a mediator in indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria.
"I hope that the next step will be a meeting between [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in the near future. I will view [such a meeting] as a great success," he said.
Turkey, a secular country ruled by an Islamic-oriented party, had long been Israel's best friend in the Muslim world. But ties have cooled sharply over Erdogan's sharp criticism of Israel's winter war in the Gaza Strip, especially in light of a televised fracas between President Shimon Peres and Erdogan at the Davos Conference last January.
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Relations between the allies further deteriorated after Turkey banned Israel from participating in a joint NATO air force drill in October.
Syria formally suspended the Turkish-mediated indirect talks last year during Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza.
However, late last month, Ben-Eliezer visited Turkey in efforts to ease tensions between the two countries. During his visit, Ben-Eliezer urged Turkey to resume its role as mediator in negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Meanwhile Saturday, Israel Radio quoted the Egyptian Al Ahram newspaper as reporting that Turkish-mediated peace talks between Israel and Syria were likely to resume in the first half of 2010.
According to the report, Israel has relayed messages indicating willingness to resume negotiations with Turkish mediation, despite recent friction between the two countries.
Erdogan is set to travel to Damascus in the coming weeks and, according to the Al-Ahram report, he will mention Israel's interest in renewing negotiations to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israeli leaders including Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have since said that Turkey can no longer serve as an honest mediator between Israel and Syria.
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