Abdullah, Erdogan to discuss Gaza situation

RIYADH. January 2. KAZINFORM Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will hold talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the continuing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip here tomorrow as part of a wider process of consultation being pushed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Also tomorrow, an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of the 57-member OIC will be held in Jeddah to coordinate positions on the latest Israeli attacks against the Palestinians. ?Prime Minister Erdogan has embarked on a regional tour in a bid to ease tensions after Israel?s offensive in Gaza,? Turkish Ambassador Naci Koru said. Erdogan has already held talks with Syrian and Jordanian leaders. Koru said Erdogan?s talks with the king and top Saudi officials, including Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal, would focus mainly on the escalating situation in Gaza. The Turkish premier, he said, is flying with a number of senior officials, including many parliamentarians. Koru said there had been huge demonstrations in Turkey protesting the massacre of innocent Palestinians by the Israelis. He said a large number of Turkish lawmakers have resigned from the Turkey-Israel Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group after the latest Israeli offensive. He pointed out that Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan would attend the OIC ministerial conference in Jeddah. ?The meeting will discuss the grave situation in Gaza due to the Israeli aggression and the atrocities committed by Jewish forces against the Palestinian people, and to secure a complete and permanent lifting of the embargo imposed on Gaza,? said a press statement released by the OIC yesterday. Asked whether Ankara?s relations with Israel will be affected because of the Israeli attacks, Koru said, ?It is too early to say anything at this stage ... we are, in fact, trying to find a peaceful solution to the present situation.? OFID assistance The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), an organization of oil producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, has donated $1 million for the people of Palestine to help emergency relief efforts. In a statement to Arab News, Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish, OFID director-general, expressed deep sympathy with the people of the affected Gaza Strip, saying he hoped hostilities will cease immediately. The donation will be channeled through the Birmingham-based Islamic Relief, an aid agency founded in 1984 as a non-political, non-profit and non-governmental organization run within the regulatory provisions of the United Kingdom, Kazinform refers to the Arab News.