The United Nations accepted an Israeli request to delay the publication of its report on the Israeli attack on the MV Marmara Turkish ship last year, leading to the death of 9 Turkish peace activists. Israel claims that the request came to allow further Israeli-Turkish talks.The report was set to be published by the UN this coming Wednesday, but was delayed, for the third time, to August 20th.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, quoted a senior Israeli official stating Sunday that the delay came to allow Israel and Turkey “to continue their negotiations that aim at ending the crisis”.
On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, hinted that the report would be delayed “to allow Israel to examine the issue in depth”, Haaretz added.
Haaretz further stated that eight of Israel’s senior ministers were set to meet in Jerusalem on Sunday in order to decided whether Israel should accept or reject a draft agreement that is said to end the crisis between Ankara and Tel Aviv, but the discussion was canceled due to the latest developments.
Also, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is calling for temporarily delaying the discussion “to prevent any media leaks that would potentially disrupt the Israeli-Turkish talks”.
