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UN statehood recognition sole choice, says Abbas
Abbas’ remarks came on Saturday in İstanbul as he was addressing a gathering of Palestinian envoys from all over the world for another round of annual conferences aimed at uniting the political voice in Palestine and assessing the country’s foreign policy.
Abbas underlined that seeking statehood recognition did not have to prevent a resumption in talks, which stalled last year after an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction expired. There are some issues that could only be resolved through negotiations, he said atthe meeting.
Delivering a speech at the same meeting, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his country’s support for the Palestinian cause.
“We must find a solution to the Israel-Palestinian issue on the basis of a two-state model. East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state is what we desire,” Erdoğan said, while repeating his intention to visit to Gaza, a trip he said would be unrelated to Turkey’s demand from Israel of an apology for the nine Turks killed when Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Israel sees Jerusalem as its undivided capital and annexed the eastern part of the city after a 1967 war, a move that has not gained international recognition.
Turkey’s ties with Israel hit a nadir over the Mavi Marmara incident, but they first soured after Erdoğan’s criticism of the Israeli offensive in Gaza in 2009.
Erdoğan opened his speech by naming each of the men killed in the raid on the Mavi Marmara ferry.
“We have not forgotten, nor will we forget, the self-sacrifice of our brothers, their memories and the massacre they were subjected to,” he said.
Speaking just days before the submission of a UN report on the raid in May last year, Erdoğan said Turkey would never forget the nine men and condemned the continuing blockade of Gaza as “illegal and inhuman.”
“Unless Israel officially apologizes for its unlawful action which is against international laws and humanitarian values, pays compensation for the families of those who lost their lives and lifts its embargo on Gaza, normalization of relations between the two countries is unthinkable,” he said.
Israel says its blockade is justified to prevent arms smugglers ferrying weapons to Hamas, the Islamist group which runs Gaza.
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