Israel says fence-mending with Turks does not end Gaza blockade
Last edited Sun Mar 24, 2013, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Israel did not commit to ending its Gaza blockade as part of reconciliation with Turkey and could clamp down even harder on the Palestinian enclave if security is threatened, Israeli officials said on Sunday.
After a U.S.-brokered fence-mending announcement on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Israel had met his demands to apologise for killing nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound activist ship in 2010, pay compensation to those bereaved or hurt and lift the blockade by allowing in more consumer goods.
"We do not intend to give up on our right to respond to what happens in Gaza because of the agreement with the Turks."
That fell well short, however, of an end to the blockade - which Erdogan had routinely insisted on during the almost three-year-old rift as a condition for rapprochement.
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/24/uk-israel-turkey-idUKBRE92N03W20130324
edited to reflect headline change by Reuters using original link.
