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Erdoğan calls Israel stance on united Jerusalem ‘madness’
“This is madness,” Erdoğan said of Israel’s Jerusalem policy in a speech delivered on Saturday, the first day of an annual summit of the Arab League. The summit hosted by Libya in the Mediterranean city of Sirte was aimed at discussing a common strategy toward Israel over its plans to build new Jewish homes in annexed East Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem is the apple of the eye of each and every Muslim ... and we cannot at all accept any Israeli violation in Jerusalem or in Muslim sites,” Erdoğan said.
The prime minister also said Israel’s decision to build more than 1,600 houses for Jews in parts of Jerusalem that Israel captured in 1967 “is something unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
“Israel with these positions is not just violating international law, but is also violating human feelings and history,” Erdoğan said.
The United States, Israel’s strongest ally, the European Union, Arab states and the Palestinians have condemned the construction program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration said no other government in the past 40 years has stopped building in Jerusalem, a city that Muslims and Jews consider holy.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, meanwhile, urged the 22-nation bloc to engage directly with Iran over concerns about its growing influence and its nuclear activities.
Moussa presented his engagement plan at the summit, a plan which would involve a forum for regional cooperation and conflict resolution that would include non-Arab nations, Iran and Turkey. His plan comes as the US and other Western powers push for a fresh round of sanctions over Iran’s nuclear defiance.
“I realize that some are worried about Iran but that is precisely why we need the dialogue,” Moussa said.
Erdoğan, whose government is extremely reluctant to join the US-led push to further punish Iran for its controversial nuclear ambitions, saying diplomatic means should be pursued instead of imposing new sanctions, immediately endorsed the proposal at the summit.
Nonetheless, Moussa’s proposal was met with resistance on the part of a “number of prominent Arab states” including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported on Sunday. Naharnet, a Beirut-based online news site, also reported on Sunday that Arabs turned down Moussa’s proposal.
“Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters that the [Saturday] afternoon session discussed Moussa’s proposal on Iran ‘but most of the Arab countries don’t welcome this for now’,” Naharnet reported, noting that he did not elaborate.
As of Sunday, Erdoğan and Gaddafi held a bilateral meeting which was closed to press. The Anatolia news agency, citing anonymous sources, reported that the meeting was very productive, warm and frank. The two leaders agreed to pursue intense bilateral cooperation between their countries, Anatolia also said.
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