Turkish media are reporting that there was a meeting last night in Geneva between Turkish and Israeli diplomats where a resolution to the Turkish-Israeli diplomatic crisis was discussed.
According to the reports the talks were held at the request of Israeli PM Netanyahu after Turkish PM Erdogan sent two fire fighting planes to Israel to aid in the effort to put out the major forest fires in Israel.
PM Erdogan sent Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Sinirlioglu and PM Netanyahu sent Yosef Ciechanover who is Israel’s representative on the U.N. Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May.
According to the reports it was supposed to be a secret meeting but news of it was leaked yesterday and there is speculation that the leak was made by Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman.
According to Israeli media these talks are being handled in Israel by National Security Adviser Uzi Arad and FM Lieberman was briefed on the talks.
Turkish media report that Turkey’s conditions are:
An official apology: There are reports that the U.S. has proposed a formula where the Israeli government would apologize not to the Turkish government but to the families of those killed by IDF commandos during the attack and seizure.
Compensation: There are reports that there are discussions about who would be compensated - everyone who participated in the flotilla, only those who were wounded and the families of those who were killed, or only the families of those who were killed. Israel is reported to have proposed ‘giving humanitarian aid’ only to the families of those who were killed.
Israel’s Report to the U.N. Panel: The immediate submission of Israel’s report to the U.N. Panel of Inquiry (Israel hasn’t submitted anything to the panel.) and following that the prompt completion and submission of the panel’s report.
Ambassador Sinirlioglu is a highly respected Turkish career diplomat and is reported to have a close relationship with Richard Holbrooke. He is an expert on Middle-East relations and played a key role in the efforts to establish talks between Syria and Israel, improving Turkish-Greek relations, and improving relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia. He is also the architect of the improving Turkish-Iraqi relations and the improving relations between Turkey and Kurdish groups in Iraq.
---
On a completely different subject -
I read this Haaretz article yesterday and I can’t work out whether it is serious or snark.
WikiLeaks exposed the true Mideast conflict