Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — The United States has agreed to allow Turkey’s
participation in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, including developing the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

U.S. and Turkish officials said Washington would enable Ankara to
support and intervene in Israeli talks with the Palestinian Authority. They
said the effort would include Turkish efforts to woo the Hamas regime in the
Gaza Strip.

We have been in close contact,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “And from this moment on, whether it be the direct negotiations underway, whether it be the initiation of another peace process, we will always cater to the needs and the expectations of the international community to make sure peace will prevail.”

At a joint news conference on April 7, Davutoglu and visiting U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke of a Turkish role in any
Israeli-Palestinian peace process. They said Turkey could help in improving the economy of the PA-led West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

“Now, obviously, it’s more complicated to deal with Gaza than the West
Bank for all the obvious reasons,” Kerry said in the news conference in
Istanbul, “but Turkey can be very helpful, perhaps, in transitioning that
component of the process, as well as in helping to build on our efforts to
transform the economics of the West Bank itself. But Turkey can be very,
very central not only to the on-the-ground transformation, but also to
helping to create the climate.”

Both Davutoglu and Kerry spoke of close cooperation between Ankara and
Washington throughout the region, including ending the civil war in Syria.
They said Israel’s apology to Ankara and its pledge to compensate the
families of those killed in the Israel Navy interception of a Turkish
flotilla in 2010 opened the way to a greater role, particularly by Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, who has called Zionism a crime against
humanity.

On March 22, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to
Turkey and said he would welcome its participation in Israeli-PA peace
efforts. Later, Erdogan said that Turkey would not take steps to normalize
relations with Israel until the latter fulfills its pledges.

Davutoglu said Turkey envisioned an Israeli withdrawal from the entire
West Bank and most of Jerusalem as part of any settlement with the
Palestinians. The foreign minister said Ankara wanted a Palestinian state in
the West Bank while Ankara supported the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

“The visit to Gaza by the prime minister of Turkey, plus the new
momentum in the region and the processes that will be initiated in the
future, are not destructive to one another,” Davutoglu said. “They are
complementary. They are not the alternatives to one another. They are
complementary, in the end of which make sure that Palestine will become a
livable state.”

  Ahmet Davutoglu, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Kerry, Recep Erdogan, U.S. approves Turkish role in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks