Turkey 'shut door on patch-up'

Turkey's leader has "shut the door" on reconciliation with Israel by insisting it end the Gaza blockade and apologise for storming a Turkish ship sailing towards the Palestinian enclave, Israel's top diplomat said yesterday. But in a possible reflection of disagreement within Israel's coalition government, another official said rapprochement talks continued with Turkey ahead of the publication of a UN report which Israel has predicted will largely vindicate its actions. In a speech to parliament on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his demands for Israeli amends over last year's high seas seizure of the Mavi Marmara activist ship. Israel, whose marine commandos killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American in fierce brawls aboard the vessel, has broached paying compensation but refused to apologise, saying its personnel acted in self-defence. "It is clear that this person is looking not for accommodation, nor peace, nor normalisation, but wants to humiliate the State of Israel, sap its international standing, and harm our status in the region," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "I'm surprised he didn't also demand that we set the retirement age for women," he told Israel Radio, referring to a recent domestic political dispute. "He has no intention of arriving at normalisation with us. He has shut the door." Citing an additional concern that the marines could be exposed to prosecution abroad, Israeli officials say they will go no further than "expressing regret" over the incident. The overtures were made in several rounds of low-key talks between Israeli and Turkish delegates in Geneva and New York. From gulfnews .