Obama did well to get 'friends' back together

The recent apology from Israel to Turkey for the killing of eight Turkish activists by Israeli security forces on a ship carrying aid to Gaza was overdue but worthy nevertheless.
Needless to say the incident brought the two countries diplomatic and bilateral ties to one of its lowest points in modern history.
Turkey had been one of Israel’s most important friends in the Muslim world with regular joint military exercises until the May 2010 attack that brought another round of condemnation from around the world.
The cargo ships and passenger boats was carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid for Gaza, an occupied territory that is under the control of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that refused to recognise the state of Israel and continues an armed struggle against the Jewish state.
The move by the humanitarian vessel was largely seen as an attempt to challenge Israel’s military blockade of Gaza.
Initially, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the action, saying its security officials fired in self-defence. Video footage of an early part of the raid was released to support their claims.
But humanitarian activists on the ship, who the Israeli accused of instigating the violence, released their own video to support their claim that Israeli soldiers opened fire as soon as they landed on the vessel.
The incident put the spotlight on Israel’s preparation for the military operation, as well as intelligence gathering, and the question over whether attacking and killing the pro-Palestinian activists was a wise thing to do.
Nearly three years later, just as US President Barack Obama concluded a visit to Israel to help broker an end to this diplomatic stand-off between the two countries, both of them good friends of America, Israel and Turkey agreed to end their stand-off.
With Obama standing next to him, Netanyahu called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologise for the incident.
In response, Turkey agreed to resume diplomatic relations and put an end to the three-year diplomatic freeze that saw ambassadors of the two countries called back to their respective capitals.
For some time now, Obama has been criticised as not being aggressive enough on foreign affairs. This recent breakthrough could very well be a sign that the American president is prepared to take a more direct and active role internationally.
Nevertheless, credit should be given to both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. It is in the interest of the international community that the two countries patch up their differences. Both are democracies and both share the same strategic and diplomatic interest in a peaceful solution to the civil war in Syria, a country that Turkey and Israel share a border with.
Moreover, neither country wants Iran to have nuclear weapons. So this is common ground for the two sides to come together. We may not be able to deny the strategic interest behind the decisions of these two countries but an opportunity is nonetheless here. Let’s hope the two countries can build on that and that this relationship leads to bigger and better things – like a peaceful solution for Palestine. After all, the plight of the Palestinians was the reason behind the activists going there in the first place.
It’s natural that the two countries will have differences but it is critical that these two influential nations cooperate to help stabilise the region. Working against one another doesn’t help.