Report: Israel Increasingly Skeptical of Reconciliation with Turkey

April 10, 2013  -- The Algemeiner

Author:

Zach Pontz

Tags:

Israel Maariv Israel Mediterranean Dialogue Conference Israel Nato Israel Turkey Israel Turkey Maariv Israel Turkish compensation National Post Israel Netanyahu Erdogan Turkey Maariv

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: wiki commons.

Among officials in Israel a possible reconciliation with Turkey has begun to seem increasingly unlikely as the latter country continues to take unilateral measures to isolate the Jewish state.

According to Israel’s Maariv daily, Two weeks after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu made efforts to normalize relations with Turkey, that country nonetheless vetoed the participation of Israel in the NATO ‘Mediterranean Dialogue’ Conference.

The veto and additional Turkish hostility towards Israel preventing implementation of the reconciliation is a source of great pessimism for Israel, according to Maariv.

An Israeli delegation was supposed to visit Ankara this week to discuss the issue of compensation, an issue Turkey has drawn as a deal-breaker for rapprochement.

“The Israeli delegation was due to leave on Thursday for talks but we received a message from the Turks they want to delay that to the 22nd and of course we complied,” a senior Israeli official involved in the issue told Canada’s the National Post. “We will be discussing all the issues raised in the phone conversation (between Prime Ministers Erdogan and Netanyahu), normalization of relations, and the exchange of ambassadors. We are talking about a process of improving relations with Turkey.”