Gaza

Large numbers of Israeli tourists who had made holiday plans in Turkey for this summer have canceled their reservations, as experts expect a drop to the levels that followed the raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010.

The Alevi Bektaşi Federation, a leading umbrella organization of the Alevi community, has declared that it will not attend a fast-breaking iftar meal hosted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Alevi organizations and opinion leaders.

The Turkish stocks have started off the week strongly at a 14-month-high despite rising geopolitical tension from Israel’s blistering assault on Gaza, as well as a plane crash rift in Ukraine and ongoing turmoil in Iraq.

The Borsa Istanbul (BIST) 100 index has opened the day at 82,992 points with a 378-point rise, touching the highest point it has seen since May 31, 2013.

The Kürecik radar base in the eastern province of Malatya is absolutely not providing data to Israel as the latter wages its deadliest assault on Gaza for five years, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said in an effort to deflect insistent claims to the contrary by the main opposition.

US Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Cairo early Monday for crisis talks on Gaza, following President Barack Obama's call for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israelis and Palestinians.
      

World efforts to broker a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza
gathered pace July 21 as Israel pressed a blistering 14-day assault on
the enclave, pushing the Palestinian death toll to 548.

The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate ceasefire" as Israel pressed on with a blistering assault on Gaza on July 21 taking the Palestinian death toll above 500.

U.S. President Barack Obama echoed the call in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early July 21, as Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the region to join true efforts.

As no soldiers or uniformed police officers are seen in the streets of Gaza city, the Palestinians are waging their main fights against Israel through underground tunnels.

No army can defeat “resistance movements” without transforming itself into a killing machine. That is why Israel cannot avoid committing war crimes by killing civilians and even children whenever it attacks the Palestinians, as in the case of its latest ground operation in Gaza.

Are you fed up with the whole “Israel has the right to self-defense” cliché or its excuse to refuse condemnation of the mass murder of Palestinians by the official Israeli killer machine? Small kids writing messages on bombs to be dropped on Palestinian homes or crowds sheering as bombs fall on Gaza cannot reflect a psychologically healthy society.