By Tutku Senen
ANKARA
Israel’s occupation of Palestine is clearly violating international law, Palestinian ambassador in Ankara said Thursday.
"The situation is tense in Palestine and the reason is Israel," Nabil Maarouf told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview. "Israel has been punishing Palestinian people en masse both in West Bank and in Gaza for 20 days."
Tension has been running high in the Palestinian territories since three Jewish settlers – Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16 – who went missing in mid-June and were found dead near the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday. Then, a 16 year-old Palestinian teen, Mohamed Hussien Abu Khdeer, was abducted and murdered in East Jerusalem on Wednesday in a suspected "revenge" attack by Jewish settlers.
At least ten Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip and over 500 arrested during a wide-scale Israeli search operation in the West Bank over the settlers' alleged abduction.
He stated that Israel has been carrying out air strikes on Gaza where it also conducts illegal searches of homes.
"Israel can not endure the reconciliation between Palestinians and wants it to fail in any way whatsoever," Maarouf said. "It also can not endure a united Palestine and it targets Palestine's national identity."
Underlining that international community condemns Israel's action, the ambassador said, "Especially European Union made important statements about it. Also, all Arabian people stand by Palestine and object Israel's human rights violations."
Expressing his appreciation for Turkey's support for Palestinian people's ideal, Maarouf concluded: "Turkey never accepts what happens in Palestine and always condemns Israel's actions. We are always in contact with Turkish government officials and we expect a high-level visit from Palestine to Turkey soon."
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