Both Israel and Turkey are eager to put the last two and a half years behind them. All that is needed now, according to Turkish daily Hurriet, is "to find a word that sounds in Turkish like an apology but not in Hebrew".
This weekend could prove critical. The Palmer Commission, appointed by the United Nations Secretary General to investigate last year's Gaza Flotilla incident, and which has an Israeli and a Turkish representative, is to deliver its report. The report in its current form is expected to rule that Israel acted lawfully in its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip but that it acted with disproportionate force against the flotilla's activists, nine of whom, all Turkish citizens, were killed by Israeli naval commandos when they tried to violently resist the commandeering of the Mavi Marmara.
If the report is published in its current form, it will be much harder for either side to come to an agreement, but if American efforts are successful, an accord will be reached this week in New York between an Israeli team headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon and a senior Turkish diplomatic delegation.
A creative form of apology and perhaps damages paid to the families of those killed could pave the road between Jerusalem and Ankara, although on Wednesday the talks were already foundering.
