Erdogan calls for normal Israel ties
SAYS ‘ENTIRE REGION’ WOULD BENEFIT FROM IMPROVED TIES WITH THE REGIME
Palestinian politicians reacted with astonishment to a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling for warmer relations with Israel. “This is a surprising statement,” said Mustafa Barghouti Secretary General of the Palestine National Initiative, known as Al Mubadara.
“[Turkey should] boycott Israel because of its attitude towards Palestinians and Al Aqsa Mosque, and not establish relations with it,” he told Gulf News. “Israel should realise that no relations will be established before it completely ends its occupation and meets the Palestinian people rights.”
Erdogan signalled a possible warming of relations with Israel, saying in comments published yesterday that the entire region would benefit from the normalisation of ties.
Relations between former allies Turkey and Israel broke down in 2010 after an Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turks.
Israel apologised to Turkey for the deaths and agreed to compensate the victims’ families under a US-brokered arrangement in 2013. But efforts to restore ties faltered amid new Israeli action in Gaza.
Former Palestinian minister for planning and information Ghassan Al Khatib, added it “does not make any sense for Arab countries to have relations with Israel, as long as it occupies Palestinian land.”
“As Palestinians, it is our interest to relate establishing relations with Israel with Israel’s
There is so much that we, Israel, Palestine and the region can gain from such a normalisation process. The region is in need of this.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
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Turkish President
readiness to end its occupation to the Palestinian land,” Khatib, a political science professor at Beir Zeit University, said.
Erdogan told a group of journalists that “normalisation with Israel” was possible if the sides can finalise a compensation deal for the raid’s victims and if Israel lifts a blockade against Palestinians. His words were reported by Yeni Safak newspaper and other media yesterday.
“We had three [conditions]” an apology, which happened” compensation, which did not happen, and the lifting of the embargo on Palestine,” Yeni Safak quoted Erdogan as saying. “If the compensation issue and the lifting of the embargo are achieved then we can enter a process of normalisation.”