Meidan. 'It ain't over yet' [Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO]
Posted on 11/13/2011 6:42:59 PM PST by SunkenCiv
President says 'pleasantly surprised' by Turkey's help in securing kidnapped soldier's release. 'They favored the humanitarian side over politics,' he says. PM's negotiator: Mission yet to be accomplished.
Will the Shalit deal help improve the Israel -Turkey relations? President Shimon Peres used his public meeting with Israeli negotiator David Meidan on Wednesday to laud Ankara for its contribution to the deal securing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release.
Without elaborating, Peres said, "I was pleasantly surprised by the Turkish government's stand.
"They put everything aside and favored the humanitarian side over politics," said Peres, addressing the Turkish stand on the captive soldiers, regardless of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
"I was told that it was done by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Peres said of the man who has been constantly attacking Israel since the flotilla raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound ship...
Turkey welcomed the prisoner exchange deal on Wednesday, saying that it was ready to contribute to the process.
"Turkey sees uniting people with their families as a positive development in easing tensions in the region," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Today's Zaman newspaper. He noted that Hamas had notified Ankara about the agreement before signing it...
Izat Rishak, a member of Hamas political bureau in Damascus, admitted that the prisoner exchange deal would not include Palestinian prisoners considered political and military leaders, like Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat, and the leaders of Hamas' military wing -- Ibrahim Khamed, Abdullah Barghouti and Abbas Sayad.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
Meidan. 'It ain't over yet' [Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO]
From October, never posted.
And then again, maybe Erdogan was only too happy to help Israel do something really stupid and self-destructive which also made them look like poofters.
Did that occur to Peres?
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