DAVUTOGLU DISALLOWED TO VISIT GAZA STRIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.09.2009 13:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish foreign minister has cancelled a visit
to Israel, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Wednesday, over a
refusal to let him visit the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem.Post reported.

Ahmet Davutoglu "has let us know that he will not come in October
to participate in an annual conference organized by President Shimon
Peres," an Israeli ministry official said.

The Israeli media said the visit was cancelled because Israel had
refused to allow Davutoglu to enter the Gaza Strip from its territory
unless he promised not to meet the democratically elected Hamas.

Gaza emergency medical services say 1,382 mainly-civilian Palestinians
were killed in the offensive, 447 of them under the age of 18.

Israel, which wants to crush any Palestinian liberation movement,
responded to Hamas’s win in the elections with sanctions, and almost
completely blockaded the impoverished coastal strip after Hamas seized
power in 2007, although a ‘lighter’ siege had already existed before.

Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls
air, sea and land access to the Strip.