Turkey bids Israel lift Gaza blockade
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Fulya Özerkan
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 24, 2008 00:00
ANKARA - Turkey urges its regional ally to stop the siege in Gaza where tensions have mounted since the expiry of a truce. Israel's outgoing prime minister says his country has no choice but to react amidst continuing rocket fire by Hamas
Turkish leaders have called on Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza, where violence has escalated since last Friday when a six-month truce with Hamas expired.
The message was conveyed by President Abdullah Gül during a meeting Monday with Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Turkish capital, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned from diplomatic sources.
In response, Olmert told both the president and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that Israel had no other choice but to react to protect its citizens amidst the continuing rocket fires by Hamas from the impoverished Palestinian territory, said the unnamed sources.
On a brief farewell visit, Olmert, who is caretaker prime minister until the legislative elections set for February, met with Gül before holding talks with Erdoğan over dinner. Erdoğan's severe criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza sparks a chill in bilateral ties between Ankara and Tel-Aviv from time to time.
Earlier, Ismail Haniya, the prime minister in the Hamas government of Gaza, called the Turkish president and asked him to press Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza, press reports revealed. The Turkish government drew fire from Israel when it met with the Islamist group's exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal, in 2006, after Hamas won the parliamentary elections the same year. Israel refuses to deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian administration unless the group gives up its armed struggle and recognizes the state of Israel.
Mounting tension
Tensions have mounted since the expiration of the truce between Israel and Hamas in and around Gaza. Israel has begun a campaign to muster international support for any major offensive in an attempt to halt rocket fire. "We must respond to rocket fire," Olmert was quoted as saying after wrapping up talks in Turkey. Hamas, on the other side, warns suicide attacks will resume if Israel makes good on its threats on a major assault in Gaza.
"The truce was ended by Hamas not by us, so there is no truce now," the Israeli Embassy spokesman in Ankara, Amit Zarouk, told the Daily News.
"We are very much in favor of restoring the truce. The burden is on Hamas. If Hamas chooses to shoot, we'll have no other choice but to respond," he stressed.
Turkey, Israel's closest regional ally, has repeatedly asked the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders to focus on the peace process launched in the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis Conference last year, with the aim of two independent states.
At Olmert's talks with Turkish leaders, indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria, mediated by Turkey, were also discussed, sources said. But another round of negotiations appears unlikely before the Israeli polls and before the new administration led by Barack Obama takes office in the United States.
Israel and Syria have held four rounds of indirect talks in Turkey since May but negotiations were suspended when Olmert announced he would step down amid corruption allegations.
The message was conveyed by President Abdullah Gül during a meeting Monday with Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Turkish capital, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned from diplomatic sources.
In response, Olmert told both the president and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that Israel had no other choice but to react to protect its citizens amidst the continuing rocket fires by Hamas from the impoverished Palestinian territory, said the unnamed sources.
On a brief farewell visit, Olmert, who is caretaker prime minister until the legislative elections set for February, met with Gül before holding talks with Erdoğan over dinner. Erdoğan's severe criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza sparks a chill in bilateral ties between Ankara and Tel-Aviv from time to time.
Earlier, Ismail Haniya, the prime minister in the Hamas government of Gaza, called the Turkish president and asked him to press Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza, press reports revealed. The Turkish government drew fire from Israel when it met with the Islamist group's exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal, in 2006, after Hamas won the parliamentary elections the same year. Israel refuses to deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian administration unless the group gives up its armed struggle and recognizes the state of Israel.
Mounting tension
Tensions have mounted since the expiration of the truce between Israel and Hamas in and around Gaza. Israel has begun a campaign to muster international support for any major offensive in an attempt to halt rocket fire. "We must respond to rocket fire," Olmert was quoted as saying after wrapping up talks in Turkey. Hamas, on the other side, warns suicide attacks will resume if Israel makes good on its threats on a major assault in Gaza.
"The truce was ended by Hamas not by us, so there is no truce now," the Israeli Embassy spokesman in Ankara, Amit Zarouk, told the Daily News.
"We are very much in favor of restoring the truce. The burden is on Hamas. If Hamas chooses to shoot, we'll have no other choice but to respond," he stressed.
Turkey, Israel's closest regional ally, has repeatedly asked the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders to focus on the peace process launched in the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis Conference last year, with the aim of two independent states.
At Olmert's talks with Turkish leaders, indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria, mediated by Turkey, were also discussed, sources said. But another round of negotiations appears unlikely before the Israeli polls and before the new administration led by Barack Obama takes office in the United States.
Israel and Syria have held four rounds of indirect talks in Turkey since May but negotiations were suspended when Olmert announced he would step down amid corruption allegations.