Secretary of State John Kerry is traveling to Turkey and Israel this weekend to build on the two nations’ efforts to repair ties, U.S. and Turkish officials said Wednesday.
Kerry had planned to depart next week for meetings in London and then South Korea, China and Japan. But he moved up his departure to Saturday to build on the rapprochement that President Barack Obama brokered between Turkey and Israel during his visit to the region two weeks ago, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the trip had not been announced.
Kerry will also discuss regional concerns, including Syria and the Mideast peace process.
Turkey and Israel were once strong allies, but relations have been badly strained since Israel’s 2010 raid on a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza that left eight Turks and one Turkish-American dead.
Last month, Obama helped broker a call from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which Netanyahu apologized for the botched raid.
Turkey had demanded an apology as a condition for restoring ties. Netanyahu had until then refused to apologize, saying Israeli soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked by activists.
Israeli media reports suggested that Kerry would be pressing Israel to make a goodwill gesture, perhaps the release of a small number of Palestinian prisoners, that could lead to a restart of peace talks with the Palestinians. They quoted an anonymous Israeli official, who declined to say whether Israel is planning a firm offer. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the U.S. had not announced Kerry’s trip, said Israel remains ready for “reciprocal and mutual confidence-building measures that can bolster the process.”
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
Mr. Kerry:
Don’t you dare asking Israel for any “goodwill gestures”. That chutzpah will legitimately trigger utter hatred for you, and will probably doom any opportunity to be worth having in the Middle East. History is loaded with all these goodwill gestures just triggering more “badwill” on the part of the Arab countries. Yes, there is a 100% correlation between a concessions by Israel and a spike in terror. Don’t be so stupid. Perhaps this “sounds nice” to your liberal mind, but it is deadly for Israel and its people.
What you need to say is that any effort to breach the blockade will be met with mighty military force. All boats, regardless of who the passengers are, will be torpedoed and sunk with full support of United States. There are mechanisms in place that are quite generous to insure flow of humanitarian aid (much of which is diverted by the savages of Hamas into their terror structures), and nothing by way of sea is needed or allowed. Furthermore, there is zero trust that such flotillas are humanitarian altogether, and the world knows that (but afraid to admit it).
Mr. Kerry:
Your predecessors all tried this liberal garbage, demanding Israelis give up what is theirs. It NEVER worked. If you take a powerful stand that terror will never be rewarded, and that entities of terror are undeserving of any form of aid, you will actually see something work. Take the test.