Knesset

Turkey and Israel should begin focusing on practical issues as they repair their relationship following a six-year hiatus due to the Mavi Marmara massacre, Israel's parliamentary speaker has said, adding that focusing on issues that divide the two nations at the outset would lead nowhere.

The extension of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory and air strikes on Gaza have overshadowed the first ever ministerial-level visit from Turkey to Israel since relations deteriorated in 2010. 

The Turkish government has expressed concern over Israel's plans to establish a new settlement project on occupied Palestinian territories, in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry late on Dec. 8. 

The statement recalled a bill currently being discussed in the Knesset that will permit the creation of new settlements of 4,000 homes to be built on Palestinian territories. 

A controversial bill that would compel NGOs receiving most of their funding from foreign governments to declare it in official reports passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament early on Feb. 9.

Turkey has listed its conditions for a gas trade deal with Israel, said a high-level official, while commenting on fresh remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has been presented with a Special Award of Simon Wiesenthal Center, the international Jewish human rights organization, in recognition of her leadership and longstanding commitment to promoting peace and dialogue.

The sixth annual conference for diplomatic dialogue between Israel and Turkey, held by the Global Political Trends Center (GPoT Center) and the Israeli Institute for Regional Policies (MITVIM), took place last week in Israel.

Israeli Deputy Parliament Speaker Oren Hazan has organized crime links in Bulgaria, a story published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reads.

OCCRP cites on its website an investigation by its partner Bivol (run by Atanas Chobanov, who is Bulgarian).

Turkey and Israel currently share a common fate. General elections were held in Israel three months ago and a new coalition in the Knesset was only last month formed - and is still ?in flux.?

Turkey, on the other hand, held its own elections on June 7 and is currently in the phase of forming a coalition government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held on to his job May 6, announcing that he had hammered together a new coalition government just ahead of a midnight legal deadline.