Saturday, December 02, 2023

Turkey's Erdogan rejects US pressure to cut Hamas ties

Erdogan now refers to Netanyahu as "the butcher of Gaza"


Istanbul (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday pushed back against mounting US pressure to cut Ankara's historic ties with Hamas in the wake of the militants' unprecedented attacks on Israel.

Issued on: 02/12/2023 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views Hamas as the legitimately elected leaders of Gaza 

The US Treasury's top terrorism financing official conveyed Washington's "profound" alarm about Ankara's past relations with Hamas during a visit to Turkey this week.

Under Secretary Brian Nelson said Washington has not detected any money passing through Turkey to Hamas since the Gaza war broke out eight weeks ago.

But he argued that Ankara had helped Hamas access funding in the past and should now use local laws to clamp down on potential future transfers.

Erdogan said Saturday that Washington was well aware that Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

"First of all, Hamas is a reality of Palestine, it is a political party there and it entered the elections as a political party and won," he said in remarks released by his office.

"We form our foreign policy in Ankara and design it only according to Turkey's interests and the expectations of our people," Erdogan said.

"I am sure that our interlocutors appreciate Turkey's consistent and balanced foreign policy steps in such humanitarian crises and conflicts."

Israel on Friday resumed punishing air strikes after the sides failed to extend a seven-day truce that had seen 80 Israeli hostages released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people -- mostly civilians -- and took around 240 Israelis and foreigners hostage, Israeli officials say, after breaking through the militarised border into southern Israel on October 7.

The Hamas authorities who run Gaza say Israel's retaliatory air and ground campaign has killed more than 15,000 people -- also mostly civilians.

'Butcher of Gaza'

Erdogan has been one of the Muslim world's most vocal critics of Israel's military tactics in Gaza.

He recalled Ankara's envoy to Tel Aviv and demanded that Israel's commanders and political leaders be put on trial for "war crimes" at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Hamas political leaders have used Istanbul as one of their foreign bases during Erdogan's two-decade rule.

Turkish media have reported that they relocated to Qatar after Ankara voiced displeasure with social media images purporting to show Hamas officials celebrating the October 7 attacks.

But they have since visited Istanbul on at least one reported occasion for undisclosed talks.

Erdogan last officially met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul in July.

He followed that up with talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September on the sidelines of a United Nations gathering in New York.

The meeting was aimed at paving the way for what would have been a highly significant visit to Turkey by the Israeli premier.

The Gaza war has torn those budding ties to shreds.

Erdogan now refers to Netanyahu as "the butcher of Gaza" and talks up the prospects of the Israeli leader being tried in The Hague.

"Our expectation is that these perpetrators of genocide, these butchers of Gaza who were caught red-handed -- especially Netanyahu -- will receive the just punishment," Erdogan said on Saturday.

© 2023 AFP



IMF to revise regional outlook over Israel-Hamas conflict

Washington (AFP) – The IMF announced Friday that it will revise its economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa region due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.


Issued on: 01/12/2023 - 
The IMF said it is revising the economic outlook for MENA countries due to the Israel-Hamas conflict 
© MAHMUD HAMS / AFP


The conflict will have wide-ranging consequences for "both people and economies" in the region, although the extent of the impact remains "highly uncertain," the International Monetary Fund staff wrote in a blog post.

It did not say if the revisions would be released ahead of its next outlook publication, which is due in January.

"A large-scale conflict would constitute a major economic challenge for the region," they said, calling on the international community to act to prevent further escalation.

In the event of a large-scale conflict, "what is certain is that forecasts for the most directly exposed economies will be downgraded and that policies to buffer economies against shocks and preserve stability will be critical," the post added.
Tourism hard hit

Israel resumed its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday after a fragile truce broke down, saying it had struck more than 200 targets in the densely inhabited Palestinian territory despite international calls for a renewed pause.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, when gunmen from the militant group stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking around 240 people hostage, according to the Israeli authorities.

In response, Israel announced it would destroy Hamas and began a relentless bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

More than 15,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed across the Gaza Strip since then, according to the Hamas government's Ministry of Health, including at least 178 people on Friday alone.

Among the hardest-hit sectors in the region outside of Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tourism, which the IMF said accounted for between 35 percent and almost 50 percent of goods and services exports in MENA economies in 2019.

"Tourism-dependent economies like Lebanon, where hotel occupancy rates fell by 45 percentage points in October compared to a year ago, will see knock-on effects for growth," the IMF officials said.

Elevated risk due to the conflict could push up borrowing costs, with knock-on effects for highly indebted economies, they warned.

In the event the conflict continues, "fragile and conflict-affected states in the region, such as Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, could experience a decline in critical aid flows, if the focus of donors shifts away," the IMF officials said.

They added that refugee flows could also increase "significantly," which would add to "social and fiscal pressures in the countries that receive them."

© 2023 AFP

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