Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 16
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
While Turkey has offered Israel to normalize the bilateral relations, which worsened following the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, the conditions proposed by Turkey may not be all that acceptable for Israel.
Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University told Trend that Israel, apologizing for the loss of Turkish lives in the incident and negotiating compensation, at the same time will unlikely to stop the Gaza blockade - one of Turkey's conditions.
"Removal of the Gaza blockade is an Israeli security interest in dealing with Hamas terrorism and not an issue of bilateral matter," Inbar told Trend.
Inbar previously spoke on the issue, saying that Israel has many things to offer Turkey, including its gas as a new source for Turkey. He also said that Israel could become a powerful regional balance against a rising Iran.
Earlier Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there are possibilities for export and transit deliveries of Israeli gas to Turkey, and said this is a factor that can "change relations between the two countries."
Prior to that, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan named the conditions for normalizing the relations with Israel. He said Israel should apologize for the Freedom Flotilla incident, pay compensation to the families of those killed and end the blockade of the Gaza Strip.