Palestinians in Gaza pray on Friday on rubble of mosque destroyed by Israel [ARCHIVE MATERIAL 20090123 ]
(ANSAmed) – ANKARA – Turkey will help the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip repair the mosques that were damaged in the Israeli attacks and rebuild those that have been destroyed. The announcement was made by the head of the Turkish directorate for religious affairs, Mehmet Gomez, after a meeting with his counterpart from Gaza, Salil Alreqed. The newspaper Hurriyet reports that Alreqed has thanked Turkey for his support against the blockade imposed by Israel. Turkey, a Muslim country, is in a diplomatic crisis with Israel. One of the reasons is Israel’s blockade on Gaza, meant to keep out weapons from Hamas. Turkey sees Hamas as a legitimate organisation, not a terrorist organisation as the U.S. and EU say.
Early last month a request for assistance was issued from Gaza, to restore the damaged (161) and destroyed (34) mosques. The buildings were hit in Israeli air raids in the 2008-2009 period.
The operation, the Turkish agency Anadolu specifies, will cost 15 million USD, more than the Gaza administration can afford.
Turkey has also announced to help with the construction of the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and a children’s home in Jabalia, which contributes to the already high popularity of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Gaza. Erdogan has often said that the inhabitants of Gaza are ”desperate” people, who conduct a ”resistance” against the Israeli ”occupier,” part of Turkey’s strategy aimed at making it a leading country in the area based on historic-cultural and humanitarian relations.
Turkey has played a role in the release of an Israeli hostage by Hamas and in October the country welcomed eleven Palestinian prisoners who had been released in exchange for Israeli soldier Ghilad Shalit.
(ANSAmed).
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