Nov 26 2019 12:36 Gmt+3
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made a statement at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting encouraging the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and Jerusalem, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.
A fresh blow was dealt to Palestinians’ dreams of self-rule this month, when the United States announced its support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian political leaders called for a “day of rage” on Tuesday to protest the U.S. policy.
“I hail all; from little children who march on the streets of Gaza for freedom and honour, to men and women who resist the occupation of Jerusalem, and to brave men and women who are against the racist and inhumane isolation of Palestinians,” Anadolu quoted Çavuşoğlu as saying at a ceremony marking the OIC’s 50th anniversary in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli military has bolstered its forces in the West Bank and around the Gaza Strip in anticipation of large-scale protests, the Times of Israel reported, adding that troops have been issued strict rules of engagement to avoid conflict.
Some 190 protesters were killed and nearly 29,000 were injured in a year of protest marches by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip between March 2018 and March 2019, the Guardian reported.
This month, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have been firing rockets at Israeli territory as Israel’s air force intensified its air strikes in the area.
Palestinians and most of the international community view the Israeli settlements as a breach of international law against transferring population to occupied territory. Israel says the West Bank is disputed land that was occupied during a defensive war against Jordan in 1967.