Turkey: The Turkish presidency has announced that Palestinian President Mr. Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to the country later this month to hold talks with President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to reports, Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive on July 28, a few days after Mr. Abbas, who is expected to visit on July 25.
“President Mr. Erdogan will welcome the Palestinian president and the Israeli Prime Minister in Turkey in the course of the same week,” the presidency noted in a statement.
The statement added that the leaders will discuss “Turkey-Palestine relations and the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as other topical international issues.” Mr. Netanyahu’s visit will be the first by an Israeli Prime Minister since Mr. Ehud Olmert in 2008.
In 2010, relations were disturbed after the storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel in May 2018 and expelled Israel’s ambassador to Turkey after about 60 Palestinians were killed by Israel in Gaza during a rally against Israel’s illegal blockade of the coastal enclave.
The Turkish President blamed Israel for “state terror” and “genocide” over the killings, calling it an apartheid state. Israel retaliated by dismissing the Turkish consul general in Jerusalem.
Turkey and Israel relations have significantly improved over the past year, with several high-level visits, including that of Israeli President Mr. Isaac Herzog, after more than a decade of tensions.
The upcoming visits, organised by Turkey, come amidst severe tensions and some of the worst violence, including the first Israeli drone assault in the area since 2006, military raids on Jenin and the northern occupied Palestinian territories, as well as settler attacks in Palestinian villages.
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