Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
The Guardian, Friday 22 March 2013 15.43 GMT
Obama brokers call between Netanyahu and Erdogan as Israel says sorry for role in 2010 naval raid that left nine Turks dead
Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara in 2010 to stop a it reaching Gaza. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Barack Obama has persuaded Israel to apologise to Turkey for the loss of nine lives on board the Mavi Marmara – the lead ship in an aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade of Gaza – in a deal that paves the way for diplomatic relations to be restored between the two countries.
News of the US-brokered deal came on Friday as Obama was leaving Israel at the end of his first official visit during which he was praised for an emotional speech tailored to mainstream Jewish opinion but criticised for doing nothing practical to advance stalled peace negotiations and downplaying Palestinian suffering.
The apology to Turkey for the May 2010 incident had been resisted by Israel until now, despite pressure from the international community. Both are close US allies – Turkey is a member of Nato – so the president was well placed to broker the deal.
According to White House officials aboard Air Force One, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu placed a call to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan while closeted with Obama in a trailer on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport in the last minutes before the president's departure for Jordan. Obama joined the call at one point.
The Israeli prime minister's office said Netanyahu "apologised to the Turkish people for any errors that could have led to the loss of life". Erdogan accepted the apology, White House officials said.
This was the "first step" towards normalisation of relations between the two countries, US officials said, and had been the subject of talks between Obama and Netanyahu in Jerusalem this week.
Arriving in the Jordanian capital Amman Obama went into talks with King Abdullah II on the escalating crisis in neighbouring Syria as well as the prospects for reviving Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
On the Israeli-Turkish deal the president said the "the timing was good" to restore the ruptured relationship, though it was "a work in progress".
A statement from Netanyahu's office said: "The two men agreed to restore normalisation between Israel and Turkey, including the dispatch of ambassadors and the cancellation of legal steps against IDF soldiers.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu … expressed regret over the deterioration in bilateral relations and noted his commitment to working out the disagreements in order to advance peace and regional stability."
It added: "The prime minister made it clear that the tragic results regarding the Mavi Marmara were unintentional, and that Israel expresses regret over injuries and loss of life. In light of the Israeli investigation into the incident, which pointed out several operational errors, Netanyahu apologised to the Turkish people for any errors that could have led to loss of life and agreed to complete the agreement on compensation."
A statement released in Obama's name on Friday afternoon said: "The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security.
"I am hopeful that today's exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper co-operation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities."
The US has been deeply concerned about the deterioration in relations between its two key allies in the region since the flotilla debacle. Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara in an operation to prevent it and other ships in the flotilla from reaching Gaza. The bloody confrontation was met with a wave of international condemnation, and Israel was forced to ease its stringent blockade of the tiny Palestinian enclave.
Turkey cut all diplomatic ties with Israel following the incident, and demanded that the Gaza blockade be lifted before normal relations would be restored. In Gaza, which has been ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas for almost six years, Turkey was hailed as a champion of Palestinian rights.
Reconciliation talks ran into trouble recently when Erdogan called Zionism a "crime against humanity" and compared it to fascism. But on Friday, a senior US official, briefing journalists on the flight from Tel Aviv to Amman, said brokering the deal become possible after Erdogan backtracked on those comments.
In an interview with a Danish paper this week, Erdogan did not retract his words but said they had been misinterpreted.
Netanyahu told Erdogan "he had seen his interview in a Danish newspaper and that he, Netanyahu, appreciated those comments", the US official said.
Asked if Obama had brokered the deal, the official said: "I think it would be accurate to say the president has been making this point to both leaders for going on a couple years now. So I think it's well known by both Turkey and Israel the importance we place on seeing these two close friends of ours have normalised relations."
He added: "No one is claiming that this resolves every potential difference between Israel and Turkey. I think we said, and I think they would tell you, this was an important step because one of the key things that had been dividing them was their strong differences over the Mavi Mara incident and Turkey's desire for an apology and compensation."
Israel will now move ahead on existing plans to pay up to £4m ($6.1m) in compensation to the dead activists' families.
The deal to end the rift allows Obama to claim a significant diplomatic victory from his first trip as president to Israel. While his speech to Israeli students on Thursday was widely praised, he risked accusations that he had achieved nothing of substance. There was no new plan to kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, little movement on how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme and nothing concrete on Syria.
But the end of the Israeli-Turkish standoff is progress. With so much turmoil and uncertainty in the region, the US wants to be able to count on Turkey and Israel working in tandem.
The rift created problems beyond just the symbolism. Turkey, as a member of Nato, was able to block Israeli participation in proposed multilateral exercises. The US, which backs Turkey's bid for membership of the European Union, sees it as an important player in Syria. Nato helped beef up military defences along the border last year.
Before flying to Jordan, Obama visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. In the afternoon he crossed the pre-1967 "green line" to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A desert storm forced him to abandon the presidential helicopter and instead travel by road, passing through the eight-metre-high concrete wall that cuts off the West Bank city from Jerusalem.
Obama's first visit to the Holy Land since becoming president appeared to have succeeded in its main aim of reassuring Israel of the "unbreakable alliance" with the US and recalibrating the hitherto frosty relationship between its leaders. Palestinians remained deeply sceptical about his ability to force real change.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, is to explore renewing the talks. "We'll keep plugging away," Obama said in Amman. "We'll see if we can make it happen."
