(Prime Minister's Office) In announcing the agreement with Turkey on Monday in Rome, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel has reached an agreement of strategic importance for the State of Israel, for security, for regional stability and for the Israeli economy....The world and the Middle East are in turmoil and my policy is to create centers of stability in this unstable and stormy region....Israel and Turkey are two major powers in the region and the break between us is not good for our vital interests." "The first thing in this agreement is protection for IDF commanders and soldiers from criminal and civil claims, both those being prosecuted now and those that might be prosecuted in the future....The agreement...stipulates that the Turkish parliament will pass a law cancelling all of these processes in Turkey." "The second thing that this agreement gives is maintaining the maritime security blockade of the Gaza Strip....This interest is vital to prevent the strengthening of Hamas....Of course, we are allowing ships to dock at Ashdod port and unload civilian and humanitarian cargoes there for the Gaza Strip." "The third thing that this agreement does, along with maintaining the security arrangement, is to allow for dealing with humanitarian issues in the Gaza Strip, subject to Israel's security procedures and considerations....Beyond the humanitarian consideration, this is also an outstanding interest of Israel's, especially in two areas - water and electricity." "An additional thing that the agreement gives is a commitment to prevent all terrorist or military activity against Israel from Turkish soil, including collecting funds for these purposes." "This agreement opens the way to cooperation on economic and energy matters, including the gas issue...creating markets for the gas that we are extracting from the sea....[Israel's] Leviathan [gas field] could supply both the Egyptian market that we intend to work with and also the Turkish market, as well as the supply of gas through Turkey to Europe."
2016-06-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive