Netanyahu: "Israel wants to put ties with Turkey back on track"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed a willingness to normalize relations with Turkey, yet said that Israel has no intention of offering the apology demanded by Turkey. Netanyahu, speaking at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, said Israel will not apologize for a commando raid in late May that resulted in the deaths of nine Turks, but is willing to express regret for the loss of lives during the raid. Netanyahu emphasized that he "saw an opportunity with Turkey " during the recent Carmel forest fire, which Turkey sent aid to combat, and that contact with Ankara is continuing, The Jerusalem Post reported. Officials from the two countries held talks in Geneva last month to discuss a plan for compromise, but as yet without any result. "We are not interested in a continuation of the deterioration of the relationship," Netanyahu was quoted as saying, underlining that Israel would not accept a formula implying that Israeli Defense Forces soldiers were guilty of wrongdoing.