How both Israel and Turkey exploit Gaza's suffering
With the reconciliation agreement now signed between Israel and Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has practically forgotten his demands to lift the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.
For the first time since the signing of the reconciliation agreement between Israel and Turkey June 27, and a day after its ratification by the parliament in Ankara Aug. 20, Israel once again struck in the Gaza Strip. In response to a rocket fired Aug. 21 from Gaza into the Israeli southern town of Sderot, the Israeli air force hit some 50 targets in the Palestinian territory over a two-hour period. Ankara announced that the Israeli attack was “not acceptable,” constitutes a breach of international law, disrupts the peace process with the Palestinians (it’s not clear to what process it was referring) and violates the relative calm in the region.
In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that Ankara “think twice before it criticizes the military actions of others,'' promising that ''Israel will continue to defend its innocent civilians from all rocket fire on our territory.”
