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Lieberman condemned at home for Turkey remarks
Coalition partner Labor Party lawmakers launched a full-scale offensive against Lieberman at a faction meeting in the Israeli parliament on Monday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. “This man does only harm, [and] his faction is busy all day with bills that damage Israel. The Yisrael Beiteinu faction is reminiscent of other regimes in the world,” lawmaker Daniel Ben-Simon was quoted as saying.
Lieberman said on Sunday that there will be no Turkish mediation as long as he and his Yisrael Beiteinu party are in the government because of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s harsh criticism of Israel following a deadly offensive in Gaza last December. He accused Labor Chairman Ehud Barak, the defense minister, and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of “creating illusions” over remarks they made welcoming Turkey’s possible return to its role as mediator.
Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog urged Barak to confront Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on whether Lieberman expresses the stance of the government on Turkey. “It can’t be that they’ll continue to spit on us and we will continue to say that it’s rain,” said Herzog. “After the work that Minister Ben-Eliezer did in Turkey [during a visit to Ankara in November], and before Barak’s visit to Ankara [in January], Lieberman’s statements are simply out of order.”
Turkey mediated indirect talks between Syria and Israel before negotiations collapsed following Israel’s December-January operation in Gaza, which left 1,400 Palestinians dead.
In the Central Anatolian province of Konya, US Ambassador James Jeffrey said yesterday that Washington backed Turkey mediating the Israel-Syria talks provided that Israel and Syria agree on Turkey playing that role. “We support Turkey as a mediator because Turkey played a successful and important role” in mediating Israeli-Syrian talks, Jeffrey told reporters when asked to comment on Lieberman’s Sunday remarks.
Turkey-Israel flights to resume
Meanwhile, Israel’s national carrier, El Al, has signed a deal with a private Turkish airline to restart flights between İstanbul and Tel Aviv, three years after they were stopped three years ago due to high security costs.
The flights will resume in March 2010 under a deal signed by El Al and Atlasjet, according to a statement from Atlasjet.
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