Another Mideast Casualty - Turkey/Israel Joint Gas Exploration

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong, uncompromising pro-Hamas stance in the latter's military conflict with Israel last week. In so doing, he torpedoed any potential in the near future for possible joint Israeli/Turkish exploration of the Eastern Mediterranean regarding natural gas exploration and pipeline construction. ( Source).

Although targeted against Israel, the suspension is likely to hit Turkey far worse than it hits the Jewish state. Israel already has reached deals with the European Union and individual countries in the region, as well as Lebanon (surprisingly), to develop natural gas resources and to construct pipelines to Europe, partly to offset Russian production limited by Ukraine-related sanctions. Turkey has been less successful, entering into a bizarre agreement with one of the parties claiming governance of Libya, ( Source) to share rights to develop the entire Eastern Mediterranean, which has been roundly dismissed.