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Davutoğlu insists on apology, Israel's Lieberman says he won't
"There are some things I'm willing to discuss and some things I'm not willing to discuss. I will not have an apology harm Israel's national dignity and I will not see Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers humiliated," Lieberman said before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ynetnews.com reported on Wednesday.
The United Nations established an inquiry panel months after the incident at the beginning of August 2010. The panel consists of Palmer as the chairman, the former New Zealand prime minister and Vice Chairman Alvaro Uribe, the former Colombian president, Israel's Joseph Ciechanover and Turkey's Özdem Sanberk.
In New York, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general said on Tuesday that more time was needed with regards to a report of the UN panel investigating the attack on the Mavi Marmara incident.
"We are all for ending the friction with Turkey… We have no territorial dispute with Turkey and we are willing to reach a compromise on the matter today, but an apology is not a compromise. It's humiliating and it will abandon IDF soldiers," Lieberman said.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, however, reiterated Turkey's position that apology is a must to reestablish relations with Israel. “Israel slaughtered nine Turks, one of whom was a US citizen, in international waters,” Davutoğlu said, while speaking at a joint press conference following talks with Mahmoud Jebril, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), the Anatolia news agency reported.
“We said the same thing since last year. Israel must apologize and pay compensation for this issue,” he added.
According to the report, Lieberman said that Israel regrets the death of activists from any country or organization. “We know how far we are willing to go and we expect to see some willingness and flexibility on this compromise," he said.
Lieberman was also reportedly the one who was trying to block the sale of Israeli-made defense products to Turkey despite recently intensified efforts to get the two countries to reconcile.
The Israeli Defense Ministry is trying to re-launch the export of defense products to Turkey as part of an attempt to rescue once good ties the two countries enjoyed in the region for decades, but Lieberman, one of the most adamant opponents to Turkish-Israeli rapprochement, is said to be blocking the sale, The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this week.
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