Israeli and Turkish diplomats appear to be picking up the pace of behind the scenes talks aimed at renormalizing relations after the May 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli commandoes killed nine Turkish citizens while boarding a Turkish ship, which was attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Although both sides have been pressured by the US to reach some sort of accommodation since the autumn of 2011, the campaign has been stymied by the political agendas of the prime ministers of both countries.
Despite Turkey’s opposition to the recent Israeli assault on Hamas in Gaza, there are signs that relations may be slowly warming, a development which may be partly due to Israeli dissatisfaction with the decision by Greece and Cyprus, to vote last month in favor of the Palestinian Authority’s request to upgrade Palestine’s status in the UN to that of an observer non-member state. (CONTINUED - 737 WORDS)
