How close are Turkey and Israel to a deal?

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, who went to Washington last week to attend a nuclear summit, received perhaps his warmest welcome from pro-Israel lobby groups as he enjoyed the benefits of the recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel.

During a closed meeting with Jewish representatives, including Robert Singer, vice president of the World Jewish Congress and the head of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, and Malcom Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Erdo?an reportedly called on Jewish leaders in the U.S. to cooperate against Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

Indeed, the groundwork of these friendly discussions were laid last month as senior representatives of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the AmericanIsrael Public Affairs Committee, were hosted at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, where they met Erdo?an, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu and other senior officials. The meeting marked the first time in seven years since the infamous "one minute" episode at Davos caused a rift between the leaders of the two countries.

Erdo?an delivered warm messages to Israel during his speech at the Brookings Institute, expressing hope that the tragic suicide bomb attack that took place on March 19 in Istanbul, killing three Israelis and an Iranian, would bring the two once-close allies together again.

In the aftermath of the bomb attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his expectations that a third round of reconciliation talks with Turkey in the upcoming weeks would eventually yield a positive outcome.

The relationship between the two countries...