The current woeful state of the once mutually beneficial Turkish-Israel ties resembles Humpty Dumpty after his proverbial fall. None of the king’s horses or of the king’s men have been successful so far in putting these ties back together again. This has not, however, stopped Israel from trying to come up with formulas aimed at appeasing Turkey. Ankara’s position nevertheless remains firm, with its preconditions for normalized ties almost writ in stone.

Relations between the two countries, already strained over Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” against Gaza in December 2008, plummeted after Israeli forces killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists in May 2010.  The Turks — one of them a US citizen also — were shot in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean by Israeli soldiers raiding the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship that was part of an international flotilla trying to force the Israel blockade of Gaza.

Turkey continues to wait for Israel to formally and unequivocally apologize over the incident, and is also demanding compensation for the killed Turks, as well as the raising of the siege of Gaza, before it considers improving ties with the Jewish state.

Israel, for its part, argues that the Turks on the Mavi Marmara were armed and hostile; a charge vehemently denied by the organizers of the international flotilla and Turkey. Not surprisingly, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to meet Turkish demands.