Turkey transfers to Palestinians historic land documents
By Arnon Regular ([email protected]) and Aluf Benn ([email protected])
Haaretz
03/05/2005
Turkey transferred to the Palestinian Authority Ottoman archives
documenting land ownership in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza
Strip, ahead of this week’s visit to Israel and the PA by Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Palestinian sources.
The archives, which include about 140,000 pages of documentation
from the period between 1500 and 1914, contain significant data about
ownership relevant to the present.
The sources say the most important information involves the holy places
in East Jerusalem, and will be useful to the PA in future negotiations.
Erdogan made an uneventful visit yesterday to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where he prayed. Waqf (Muslim Religious
Trust) and PA security forces deployed on the Mount, preventing access
to activists of Hizb al-Tahrir, an organization whose members attacked
the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Majer there last year.
Erdogan ended his visit yesterday with a meeting with Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom, who before leaving yesterday for Mauritania, asked
Turkey’s help in advancing relations between Israel and other Arab
and Muslim countries.
Erdogan was received in an official ceremony yesterday afternoon at
the Muqata in Ramallah, and later visited the grave of Yasser Arafat.
After Erdogan’s meeting with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime
Minister Ahmed Qureia, Abbas thanked Erdogan for Turkey’s economic
and security assistance, and called for Turkey’s increased involvement
in negotiations with Israel.
“There is agreement between us and Israel on the importance of Turkey’s
role in the peace process,” Abbas said. “Turkey has access to both
sides and good intentions, and this role should be expanded.”
Erdogan said that following the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, a new
opportunity had been created in the Middle East peace process. He
said he has urged Israel to support the PA, and “to give a chance
to Abu Mazen so he can take control of the situation and prevent the
attacks that Israel is complaining about.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress