POLITICS >'Enough is enough,' Turkey's Davutoğlu tells Israel

WASHINGTON - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey's Foreign Minister lashed out at Israel yesterday over its uncompromising stance on core issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Enough is enough. The longer the Palestinian-Israeli issue remained unresolved, the greater the price peoples of the region, including Turkey, pay. Israelis should decide on what they want," Ahmet Davutoğlu told a meeting of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.

Davutoğlu said Israel had failed to convey any positive messages either to the United States or to the region, but continued to build new settlements and make provocative statements.

"The existing status quo cannot exist anymore. Palestinians deserve their own state. Let me say put it frankly: The U.S. veto on the recognition of Palestine was wrong as was the Russian veto on Syria," he said, adding that Turkey would continue to support efforts for Palestine's recognition.

"Israel has to come to the table without putting forward any preconditions, like building new settlements. They have to decide whether they want a solution based on one state or two states. So we can learn who wants peace and who doesn't," Davutoglu said.

Popular uprisings in Arab countries had created "a new Middle East," he said, adding that Palestine was the core issue underlying all the problems in the region.

"There has to be a new approach, a fresh initiative to resolve this problem in this new era," Davutoğlu said. "I hope everyone will understand the new logic of the new era and act properly, in line with a solution based on two states."

Turkey had made sincere efforts together with Egypt to facilitate a national reconciliation in Palestine between Hamas and Al Fatah, Davutoğlu said, adding that the agreement between the two Palestinian groups needed to be supported.

February/11/2012

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