ANKARA: NATO leaders forced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into a humiliating climbdown on Wednesday over his demand that the alliance designate Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria terrorists.
Erdogan had earlier been accused of political blackmail after he threatened to veto NATO’s defense plan for the Baltics and Poland unless he got his way on the YPG.
But at the conclusion of the alliance’s 70th anniversary summit in London on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey had agreed to approve the plan.
Whether to designate the YPG “a threat” or “a terror group” had not even been discussed at the leaders’ meeting, and disagreements over the issue should not undermine the gains made in the global fight against terrorism, Stoltenberg said. “Despite differences, the allies keep uniting around their core mission, which is protecting each other.”
Many in Turkey wondered what Erdogan had obtained in return for withdrawing his veto, but Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda denied any quid pro quo, and welcomed the plan as “a huge achievement for the whole region.”
Burak Bilgehan Ozpek, a political scientist from TOBB University in Ankara, told Arab News: “Removing the blockage is a good decision, but just before the summit Erdogan seemed to be trying to use the NATO forum to solve Turkey’s own foreign policy challenges, which was totally wrong.”
If such tactics ever influenced NATO’s decision-making processes, the alliance could no longer be considered purely a military defense project, instead becoming a mechanism for political wrangling between member countries, Ozpek said.
In the summit’s final declaration, NATO said: “Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations remains a persistent threat to us all. State and non-state actors challenge the rules-based international order.”
That will interest Turkish decision-makers, said Karol Wasilewski, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw. The aim of Erdogan’s veto gambit was “probably to break Turkey’s isolation over the Syrian issue,” he told Arab News.
“If Turkey … gets at least an assurance that the allies will tone down their criticism of the Syrian operation, or maybe even consider minor financial support for the safe zone, Turkey could argue that the bargain paid off,” he said.
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Erdogan in NATO climbdown over Kurds
Erdogan in NATO climbdown over Kurds
- Erdogan withdrew his demand that the alliance designate Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria terrorists
- Turkish president had threatened to veto NATO’s defense plan for the Baltics and Poland unless
Clashes in the West Bank kill a 19-year-old Palestinian-American, Palestinian officials say
TEL AVIV: Clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man late Wednesday night, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by settlers in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.
Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The US Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday,
Violence in the West Bank from extremist settlers has soared in the past few years.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5 percent of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.
The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by settlers in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.
Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The US Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday,
Violence in the West Bank from extremist settlers has soared in the past few years.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5 percent of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.
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