The Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal scheduled to be formally announced on Monday was carved out by former Foreign Ministry Director General Joseph Ciechanover as if it was an archaeological dig. Every inch of progress was followed by an exasperating mudslide and setbacks. But now, six years after the fateful flotilla that attempted to breach the "siege" on the Gaza Strip, a deal has been formulated to meet two core demands presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. First, Israel will not lift the blockade placed on Gaza, which aims to prevent weapons from arriving there. Instead, Turkish goods will be delivered into Gaza via the Ashdod Port. That is not ideal, and there is potential for disagreements, but the blockade will remain in place. Second, while Israel was unable to get Turkey to bar Hamas from its soil, it has been able to reach a basic, albeit loose, understanding under which, as long as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan respects the terms of the deal, Turkey will not allow anti-Israeli terrorist activity. Of course, if Erdogan backtracks on the deal, this commitment will be worthless. Erdogan also got what he wanted, extorting $21 million from Israel in restitution for the terror operatives who were on the Mavi Marmara. He also intends to weaken the close ties between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus, of which he does not approve; to place obstacles in the way of Israel's friendship with Egypt, given his animosity toward Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi; and he is not above trying to come between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who despises the Turkish president. The Turkish president most likely assumes that reconciling with Israel will bolster his position in the U.S. and may even promote his dream of seeing Turkey accepted into the European Union. The deal with Turkey, however, is clouded by the objections of the Goldin and Shaul families, whose sons were killed during 2014's Operation Protective Edge, and whose remains are believed to be held by Hamas. Lt. Hadar Goldin's father, Simcha, said Netanyahu had promised him that the return of his son's remains would be part of any deal with Turkey. While the prime minister did not deny this, his inability to guarantee this made him focus on Erdogan's non-binding word that Turkey would work to sort out this humanitarian issue. The families do not believe Erdogan, and neither do many in the Israeli public. Everyone would welcome moves to return Goldin's and Shaul's remains as soon as possible. But if that does not happen, the prime minister's career will be marred by the words "remember Gilad Schalit." Still, at the end of the day, the best deals are those that are mutually beneficial, even if neither party got exactly what it wanted.
