Turkey and Israel should have fruitful dialogue: Israeli PM

ISTANBUL

REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool

Turkey and Israel share common interests and would benefit from resuming “a fruitful dialogue,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently during an interview with Jerusalem Post.
 
“We both have a border with Syria, and I am sure we both want to see a stable and peaceful Syria,” Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post.
 
“That is a common interest. There are other common interests that come to mind. I think it is in our common interest to find a way to be able to stop – to arrest – the slide in our relationship and resume a fruitful dialogue,” he said.
 
The prime minister also said Israel was considering a form of apology for the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid as a possible move to restore bilateral relations between the countries.
 
Turkey has said it will not accept anything less than an official apology before it mends ties with Israel, dismissing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s earlier suggestion of issuing a text similar to Washington’s message containing works of regret and sorrow that was released to Islamabad in the wake of a U.S. air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year.
 
Ties between Turkey and Israel have been tense since May 31, 2010, when Israeli commandos attacked a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, killing eight Turkish citizens and one American of Turkish descent.