Israel gets partial go-ahead for NATO activities

PanARMENIAN.Net - According to an agreement brokered by the office of NATO Secretary General, Israel will be excluded from NATO's major military activities, including joint exercises, for the year 2013.

The agreement, led by the initiative of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has pleased Turkey, who has sought to prevent Israel's involvement in NATO exercises under the Mediterranean Dialogue platform for 2013, Today's Zaman reported citing diplomatic sources.

Relations soured between Turkey and Israel after eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish American were killed when the Israeli navy attacked an international humanitarian aid flotilla, of which the Turkish Mavi Marmara was a part, attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza in May 2010. Following the attack, Turkey vowed to pursue every kind of opportunity from within international platforms to squeeze Israel diplomatically.

To solve the emerging rift between NATO allies, Rasmussen introduced a new formula within the organization. Israel joined the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative in 1995 with Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Egypt. Later on, Jordan and Algeria were also accepted.

Tit-for-tat vetoes between NATO allies over the agreements for the future exercises have prevented any cooperation that may assist in the integration of NATO partner states, some of whom have experienced dramatic shifts in the Arab Spring, further into the international community. Deciding that such a deadlock would harm NATO's reliability in the eyes of its partners in the Mediterranean Dialogue group, Rasmussen has begun a new initiative to limit Israeli participation in NATO exercises to only dialogue programs such as seminars and workshops held by the alliance, isolating it from military operations, Today’s Zaman reports.

Sources also said that Israel would be barred from participating in workshops or seminars that are to take place inside Turkey.