Rapprochement with Israel not imminent, it seems

We keep hearing that a Turkish-Israeli rapprochement is just around the corner, and will happen as soon as diplomats work out the final details. Yet nothing seems to happen. Reports on the topic indicate that Israel is the reluctant party now, seeing no urgency in making up with Turkey, especially if it appears that it is giving in to Ankara's demands. 

It will be recalled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, who was prime minster at the time, in March 2013 and apologized for the raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship by Israeli commandoes who killed 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists and agreed to pay compensation to the aggrieved families.

Netanyahu acted under pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama when he issued his apology. The expectation was that Turkey would respond by acting to normalize diplomatic ties, which were brought down to their lowest level after the Mavi Marmara incident.

This did not happen because Ankara still insisted that Israel end its siege of Gaza. We heard through the grapevine recently that Turkey had lowered its demand and would accept access by Turkish aid groups to the Palestinian enclave.

We learn now, from President Spokesman ?brahim Kalin, that Turkey's initial demand stands, so we seem to be back to square one. According to reports in the international press, Israel is also in no hurry at this stage to go back to the "status quo ante" with Turkey. 

It has seen that it can get along well enough without normalized ties with Ankara. Besides, as far as economic ties are concerned, these do not appear to have taken a blow, since bilateral trade is doing just fine.  As recent events show, Israeli tourists had also started returning to Turkey, and if they...