Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
21-04-2022
ISTANBUL/ JERUSALEM GAZA/: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will hold a call with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday, after Israeli interventions on Palestinian worshippers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque last week, Turkey’s foreign minister said.
On Friday, at least 152 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli riot police inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
“We have already made our statements and we are continuing our contacts in response to the unacceptable attacks by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Al-Aqsa,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara.
“Our President will have a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as well,” he added.
The call comes after Erdogan on Sunday told his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, that he condemned Israeli “intervention on worshippers” at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque and threats to its “status or spirit”. It also comes amid recent efforts by Turkey and Israel to repair their long-strained ties.
Regional rivals Turkey and Israel expelled ambassadors in 2018 and have often traded barbs over the Palestinian conflict, Turkish support of the Hamas, which runs Gaza, and other issues.
Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has said it believes a rapprochement with Israel will also help find a solution to the issue, but that it would not abandon commitments to Palestinians for better ties with Israel.
Earlier this month, Erdogan had told his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, whom he also met in Ankara last month, that Ankara expected Israeli authorities to be sensitive over Al-Aqsa during Ramadan and stressed the importance of allowing Palestinians to enter the mosque.
While it has criticized the clashes in Jerusalem, Turkey’s reaction to the violence has been much calmer than in the past, when it had launched various initiatives at the UN and other platforms to condemn Israel and support Palestinians.
Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he would visit Israel and Palestine with Energy Minister Fatih Donmez in May and discuss the re-appointment of ambassadors with his Israeli counterpart during the visit. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
Earlier, a “smart” prosthetic hand that mimics human anatomy and motion has allowed Ahmed Abu Hamda to play with his children and regain self-esteem, part of a new project in Gaza Strip, where conflict with Israel has left hundreds of Palestinians without limbs.
Since March, a Qatari-funded hospital in Gaza has been providing myoelectric prostheses, motorized devices powered by batteries and controlled by electrical signals generated by muscles.
Hamda, 36, lost his right hand in 2007 when unexploded ordnance detonated. He is now able to play with his two children, eat, drink and do home repairs with his newly-installed myoelectric limb, he said.
“Since I got the limb my outer appearance improved, people don’t recognise I have an amputated hand,” he told Reuters at Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics.
“At home, I can drink water, and if I go to the market I can hold sacks and the mobile phone,” the satellite dish installer said.
The project is the first of its kind in Palestine. So far, 21 amputees in Gaza have received “smart” limbs, with another 40 on the waiting list, hospital officials said. (Int’l News Desk)
