September 27, 2011 - 18:39 AMT
Is Shimon Peres ready to apologize to Turkey?

Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot reports that Turkey has rejected a proposal, first floated by the US, for Israeli President Shimon Peres to personally apologize to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who would do the same. The rejection is apparently not absolute, and an apology by Peres, who has international prestige, could solve the crisis between the two countries.

Senior Israeli sources say that the Turks have left an opening for further contacts. "The key phrase is creative solutions," a senior Turkish official told a local website. "That's what we're looking for now."

In his first response to Erdogan's UN speech yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the remarks were "mendacious scandalous incitement with no regard to the truth", according to Globes.