Netanyahu: no apology for Gaza flotilla

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan said Turkish-Israeli relations can’t return to normal unless Israel apologizes to Turkey for the killing of nine Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara, a Gaza-bound aid ship, and lifts the embargo on Gaza.

“Turkey will not take a step back. From now on we will act with the families who lost their relatives in the flotilla attack,” Erdoğan said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

An Israeli official said on Wednesday, August 17 that Israel would stick to its refusal to apologize to Turkey, dampening any prospects for reconciliation between the former allies. The decision, which the official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a telephone call, was made days before the publication of the findings of a UN inquiry into the seizure of the Mavi Marmara last year.

The so-called Palmer Report was repeatedly delayed to allow for Israeli-Turkish rapprochement talks amid concern in Washington over the rift between two countries that had been strategic partners in an increasingly stormy Middle East. Israeli officials, citing advance copies of the report, have said it would vindicate Israel’s blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Turkey, which like Israel had a delegate on the UN panel headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, has said it would not accept such a finding.

Netanyahu voiced regret over the killings. But Turkey insisted on a formal apology and compensation for those bereaved and injured. Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot said Wednesday Israeli diplomats in Washington handed the government a message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the Israel-Turkey crisis was interfering with U.S. attempts to deal with the bloodshed in Syria. A similar message was given to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak when he visited Washington in late July, when Clinton asked him to do everything in his power to resolve the crisis - “including apologize,” the paper said. “We’re firm on not apologizing,” the Israeli official said. Asked if Israel might change tack after the Palmer Report’s publication, the official said: “Why would we do that? We know the report supports our position.”