Türkİye, World, Middle East

Turkey says Israel hurting hopes for Middle East peace

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu calls Israeli actions in Palestine ‘unacceptable, inhumane, illegitimate’

05.04.2018 - Update : 05.04.2018
Turkey says Israel hurting hopes for Middle East peace

Ankara

By Kubra Chohan

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday called Israel’s actions in Palestine “unacceptable, inhumane, and illegitimate”.

Speaking at the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Azerbaijani capital Baku, Cavusoglu said: “Israel is hurting the hopes for the peace and the entire Middle East. It is our duty now to remind Israel that what they do is unacceptable. What they do is inhumane and illegitimate.

“It takes courage to stand up against these injustices and we were able to do it recently, and the U.S. took a provocative decision on Al-Quds, Jerusalem last year.

“The UN General Assembly said no. We sent a clear message: Being strong doesn’t make you right. However, the U.S. still insists on damaging the grounds for peace. The decision to open the embassy in Al-Quds, Jerusalem is another big mistake.”

Cavusoglu added: “The U.S. has already lost its credibility as a dishonest broker. Opening the embassy will only reinforce this situation.”

The Palestinian territories have remained tense since last December, when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, drawing widespread condemnation from across the Arab and Muslim world.

In the almost three months since, Palestinians in the West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip have held rallies each Friday -- often leading to clashes with Israeli forces -- to protest the controversial U.S. decision.

Twenty Palestinians were martyred and at least 1,500 others were wounded during the March 30 demonstrations marking Land Day, when tens of thousands of Gazans converged on the Gaza Strip’s roughly 45-kilometer-long eastern border with Israel to reaffirm their right to return to their ancestral homes in historical Palestine.

According to recent reports, the U.S. administration plans to officially move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in mid-May.

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