Turkey restores diplomatic relations with Israel after President Obama secures surprise apology for 2010 commando raid to enforce Gaza blockade
Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu personally apologized for the raid to enforce a naval blockade of Gaza that resulted in nine deaths on a Turkish ship. In Israel, Obama also laid wreaths at the graves of Zionism founder Theodor Herzl and assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Jordan is the final stop on his four-day trip to the Middle East.
BY MATTHEW KALMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013, 8:00 AM
UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013, 5:47 PM
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP
President Obama listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their visit to the Children’s Memorial at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
JERUSALEM — President Obama brokered a surprise peace deal here Friday but it was between Israel and Turkey, not the Palestinians.
Obama helped secure an Israeli apology for a 2010 commando raid on a Turkish ship that resulted in nine deaths while Israel was enforcing a naval embargo on Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally extended Israel’s regrets and offered compensation in a phone call to his long-furious Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At one point, Obama even got on the line.
URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES
President Obama pays his respects in the Hall of Remembrance after a wreath was placed on his behalf.
In return, Turkey restored full diplomatic relations between the two nations — once close allies in the fractious Middle East.
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