Rome: The rapprochement between Jerusalem and Ankara will strengthen Israel’s position in the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Rome on Monday announcing the reaching of a deal to end a six-year diplomatic standoff that started when Israeli naval commandos shot dead nine Turkish activists travelling on an aid flotilla making for the Gaza coast.
Netanyahu said that with both the world and the region going through enormous changes, it is important to create islands of stability, and this accord does that with Turkey.
He said his strategy is to create these points of stability in ties with some Arab states in the region, with Greece and Cyprus, and with Russia.
Netanyahu said he kept Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Russia — all countries who have a fraught relationship with Turkey — in the loop regarding the negotiations leading up to the accord. Every move was also coordinated with the US, he said.
