In favor of pragmatism

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By: David (Dudi) Yaron

The announcement by government spokesmen in Israel and Turkey on restoring of normalization in the relations between the two countries is a great achievement of the main facilitator – President Barak Obama. However, there was another facilitator of the agreement, even though not willingly. This was Syrian president Bashar el Assad, who is counting back the last days of his rule. There is no doubt that Israel and Turkey will gain considerably from their renewed relations, mainly in the area of both nations’ defense in the near circle of Syria and the wider regional one including Iran.

In an interview with General Tal Russo at the end of his role as Chief of Southern Command, he described the situation in a picturesque way: “All the ‘bad guys’ of the area gathered and came to Syria”. The fall of even a little portion of the enormous arsenals of nonconventional weapons to “irresponsible” hands is a clear and substantial threat also for Turkey and not just for Israel and Jordan. Since this can happen at any given moment, the U.S. urged both Ankara and Jerusalem to restore as fast as possible the normal relations between the two states, in order to enable common command and coordination in case of an external military intervention in Syria, and to prepare generally for the post-Assad era. Also, regarding Iran, there is much more in common than dividing between Israel and Turkey. United States needs cooperation between the two leading powers in the Middle East, Israel and Turkey, in order to block the expansion plans and hegemony of Iran. Turkey, with its army and air bases, is an important component of any western program of attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities. Also in the defense area, and particularly coping with Iranian surface-surface missiles, the American defense system includes both Israeli and Turkish elements.

According to foreign reports, it was the new American Secretary of State John Kerry who was acting on Israeli-Turkish reconciliation, in order to incorporate both countries, as fast as possible, in a common American headquarter that is expected to manage in a coordinated manner the “handling” of the Syrian and Iranian subjects.

By normalizing its relations with Israel, the Turks gain some very important benefits. First and foremost, there will be an improvement of the atmosphere and relations with the White House and Congress, where Israel enjoys a traditional “wall-to-wall” support.  Locally, much of the advanced systems of the Turkish army are based on Israeli knowhow and technology. The deep crisis in the last three/four years disrupted some of the capabilities of the Turkish army.

Also in the political area, Turkey is expected to reap numerous fruits due to normalization of its relations with Israel. Its close relations with Palestinians, and in particular Hammas, and the internal troubles of Egyptian president Morsi, pave the way before Turkish president Taip Arduan  to take the hegemony from Egypt and finally lead the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. It is certainly possible that it will be the Turkish president to influence the Palestinians to adopt a more moderate approach and maybe even bring about, together with the Palestinians, a more flexible and conciliatory approach also from the Netanyahu government.

In Israel like in Israel, a debate opened up immediately regarding the correctness of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to give in to the Turkish requirement sand apologize before them on part of the “Marmara” incident. I, personally, have no misgivings regarding Prime Minister’s decision, and it was right to give up some of the “national honor”, in return for heavy pragmatic advantages for Israel and its security.

In every complex situation, as serious as it may be, there is also an amusing aspect. It was hard these days not to smile seeing the twisting of some of the journalists, who tried, contrary to their built-in instinct, to praise PM Netanyahu on his role during the Obama visit and the apology before the Turks.

For breaking up relations between two countries it is enough to scribble a few words or make a short speech. Restoring of normalization between two countries is a process that may take not a few months and be full of obstacles. Therefore we should all be patient and judge the results of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s move from a perspective of at least several months.