Israel, Turkey reach draft agreement to end rift

Israeli and Turkish officials have reached a draft agreement to mend the three-year diplomatic crisis between the two countries, after a productive day-long meeting at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on Monday night. “The two sides expect to come to an agreement in the near future,” said a statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. “The meeting was conducted in a good and positive manner. The delegations reached an agreed draft, but further clarifications are required on certain subjects,” the statement said, according to The Jerusalem Post. Israeli National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror along with Joseph Ciechanover from the Prime Minister’s Office led the Israeli delegation. The Foreign Ministry staff was not present, even though the meeting was held in their building, according to a diplomatic source. Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, a former Turkish ambassador to Israel, led his country’s delegation. It was the highest-level Turkish delegation to visit Israel in the last three years. The meeting lasted more than eight hours. An initial day-long meeting between the two delegations was held in Ankara in April. That Turkish delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. Ankara broke off relations with Jerusalem in May 2010, after the IDF raided the ship Mavi Marmara as it attempted to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists on board.