The Palestine-Israel conflict dominated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's keynote speech at a summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. The president denounced Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories while urging the international community to support a relief agency for Palestinians that has been under fire by Israel recently.
Addressing the World Governments Summit, Erdoğan reiterated his criticism of Israel, "which views itself above the law and did not give up its decadeslong policy of occupation, theft, destruction and massacre" toward the Palestinians.
"Today's crisis stems from the increasing occupation of Israel, of Palestinian territories. We cannot find a solution to the issue without finding the source of the problem. If Israel wants a lasting peace in the region, it should give up its expansionist dreams and accept an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders," he said, referring to the ongoing occupation of lands originally belonging to Palestinians.
"The path to peace, calm and economic development in our region goes through the establishment of a Palestinian state. We are ready to assume responsibility to that extent for the solution, including guarantorship," he said.
After the new round of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians broke out last October, Türkiye stepped up efforts to stop the Israeli aggression and expressed readiness to act as a guarantor state between the sides to ensure permanent peace. "We have to end the massacre in Gaza as soon as possible, prevent further bloodshed and tears and a greater threat for our region," he told the summit.
Erdoğan also urged all countries “with a conscience” to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) amid Israel’s allegations against the agency. “I’m inviting all nations with a conscience to protect UNRWA, which provides a lifeline for 6 million refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine,” Erdoğan said. He condemned “a regretful assassination of reputation” toward the agency.
The main U.N. agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza is facing growing administrative hurdles from Israel, with a shipment amounting to a month's supply of food blocked at a port, the agency's chief said. Israel has alleged that 12 staff members with UNRWA were involved in the Hamas-led offensive on Israel on Oct. 7, with a number of donor countries suspending funding. UNRWA has dismissed staff accused of involvement in the attack and launched an investigation.
"We have an environment here that is for the time being quite hostile to the agency but there have been some decisions now that are starting to impact the ability of the agency to properly operate," UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday.
He said UNRWA had been informed by a contractor that provided handling services in the Port of Ashdod that it could no longer continue working with UNRWA, following instructions from the Israeli authorities.
As a result, a shipment from Türkiye was blocked in the port, Lazzarini said. He said UNRWA had informed Türkiye of the stoppage. A spokesperson for the Finance Ministry said the matter was in the hands of the government's legal adviser but offered no further comment.
The incident came as Gaza faces a growing humanitarian emergency, with hundreds of thousands facing acute deprivation and hunger, some four months after Israel launched its invasion of the blockaded coastal enclave.
Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on social media platform X that Israel was canceling tax breaks previously offered to UNRWA. The decision was not formally communicated to the agency, which only learned about it when the statement appeared on the platform, Lazzarini said.
UNRWA was set up to help Palestinian refugees who were forced from their homes or fled during the 1948 war that accompanied the foundation of the State of Israel. It still distributes aid and provides education to their descendants in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Last month, Türkiye said it was concerned by the decision of some countries to suspend funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinians and urged them to reconsider their move. In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the suspension of funding primarily harmed Palestinian civilians.
"Working under very difficult conditions, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency meets the vital needs of millions of Palestine refugees. Since Oct. 7, more than 150 UNRWA personnel have been killed by Israel in Gaza," it added.
Several key donor countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Australia and Canada, have said they will halt funding to the U.N. agency following Israel's allegations that staff members took part in the Oct. 7 attack. Other nations, such as Ireland and Norway, have welcomed an investigation into the allegations but said they would not cut off aid.
Erdoğan said in Dubai that Türkiye did all it could in the face of tragedy where Gaza was reduced to debris and more than 1.5 million people were forced to leave.
"We will continue doing so," Erdoğan said, adding that they sent some 34,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the region for delivery to Gaza so far and hosted 380 patients from Palestine for treatment.
The president also highlighted Türkiye's support for the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity Israel committed "toward our Gazan brothers and sisters" and thanked South Africa and other countries for leading the efforts in this field.
South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in late December and asked it to grant emergency measures to end the bloodshed in Gaza. The court recently ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective" measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip but fell short of ordering a cease-fire.
The president also expressed discontent in the face of rising anti-Semitism amid the Palestine-Israel conflict and reiterated Türkiye's support for Palestine.
"The irresponsible, ruthless policies of the current Israeli administration stoke anti-Semitism in the world. We are disturbed by this rise and are concerned about this situation in the name of humanity," he said.
Israel's attacks concentrated this week on Rafah. More than 100 people were killed and hundreds injured in attacks by the Israeli army in Rafah, where a planned ground offensive has triggered concerns of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Palestinians have sought refuge in the city as Israel pounded the rest of the enclave since Oct. 7. The Israeli bombardment has killed more than 28,000 people, mostly women and children, and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities. The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Before his speech at the summit, Erdoğan on Tuesday met his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The two leaders held a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the summit. Türkiye, along with India and Qatar, are guests of honor of the summit between Feb. 12 and Feb. 14.
After Dubai, the Turkish president is scheduled to visit Egypt, in his first visit in more than a decade and at a time of normalization of ties between Ankara and Cairo.
Türkiye and the UAE intensified diplomatic efforts to rebuild links and trade, and sought to ramp up cooperation in various industries, particularly in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. The rapprochement was marked by intensified bilateral visits, crowned with Erdoğan's trip to Abu Dhabi last July as part of his Gulf tour, including stops in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The president also came together with international investors and representatives of the UAE business world following his speech. Later on Tuesday, he was scheduled to meet other participants of the summit, including the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
