‘Turkey set to freeze ties with Israel’

^ Report says Ankara won’t send envoy back to Tel Aviv
* UN sees uneven lifting of Israeli roadblocks in West Bank

ISTANBUL: A Turkish newspaper reported on Wednesday that Turkey would halt military cooperation with Israel and would not send back an envoy, withdrawn after an Israeli commando operation to stop an aid convoy reaching Gaza.

The Turkish government has said it is working on a road map for future ties with once close ally Israel, following the May 31 operation in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed. The Star newspaper’s report of decisions taken at a cabinet meeting this week was based on unnamed sources. An aide to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declined to comment on the report.

Envoy: The newspaper said the Turkish government had decided against sending back its ambassador to Tel Aviv unless Israel provides a member for a UN investigation into the incident. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a full international inquiry. Israel says it is conducting its own investigation, whose panel will include two foreign observers.

“We took a series of decisions covering military, diplomatic and political pressure and measures,” The Star quoted the sources as saying.

It also reported that military deals, including plane and tank modernisation and missile projects and which the paper said were worth $7.5 billion, were to be frozen.

Military cooperation, including joint exercises and pilot training, would also be halted, as would intelligence sharing, the Star said. It said the sanctions against Israel would be introduced gradually.

Israel’s security cabinet, meanwhile, met on Wednesday to consider easing a Gaza blockade following an international outcry over the deadly raid on the aid flotilla, but adjourned without taking any decisions.

The cabinet will reconvene on Thursday to continue discussions on expanding a list of about 100 goods Israel permits through overland crossings into the Gaza Strip, a senior government official said.

Israeli closures: Also on Wednesday, the United Nations said Israel has reduced the number of West Bank roadblocks by 20 percent in the last year but the improved access is mostly concentrated in a central corridor.

“Movement has improved in some parts of the West Bank. It’s easier to go from a northern urban city to a southern urban city,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“However, it hasn’t improved when it comes to moving towards the west, towards east Jerusalem or Israel, and it hasn’t improved at all when it comes to moving towards the east” and the Jordan Valley, he told reporters.

“It’s really a long, vertical corridor.” agencies

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