Venezuela expels three US consular officials

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the expulsion of three US consular officials accusing the United States of supporting Venezuelan opposition to destabilize the country.

Maduro ordered the expulsions on Sunday, as tensions rise over the anti-government demonstrations being held across the country.

The American consular officials were not identified; however, Maduro said they had met with university students involved in the protests.

“It’s a group of US functionaries who are in the universities. We’ve been watching them having meetings in the private universities for two months. They work in visas,” said the Venezuelan president.

Maduro said he would not tolerate threats to Venezuela’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Leopoldo Lopez, a leader of the opposition, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued, called on anti-government protesters to continue staging demonstrations in order to increase pressure on Maduro.

Lopez made the appeal in a video recording posted on his Twitter account on Sunday, in which he also said he would march together with the demonstrators on Tuesday in the capital, Caracas, and then hand himself in at the state prosecutor’s office.

Lopez, on the run over the past few days, harshly criticized the decision to issue a warrant for his arrest, saying the move is illegal.

Venezuelan authorities accuse the opposition leader of murder and terrorism in connection with last week’s anti-government protests, which left three people dead and dozens of others injured.

The deadly clashes between government opponents and security forces took place on February 12 during a protest in downtown Caracas to denounce Maduro’s handling of Venezuela’s ailing economy.

A day earlier, five anti-government protesters were shot in the western city of Merida, where students have clashed with police in recent days.

CAH/HJL/HRB

Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside

The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Monday 17 February, 2014.

You can contribute to the live blog by posting your comment below, and you can also tweet us @EveningGazette to share breaking news stories, pictures and opinions.

Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.

Match report: Round Four - Middlesbrough 0 Everton 0 (Boro win 5-4 on penalties)

Middlesbrough almost faltered on their road to cup glory against Everton.

But, in front of more than 18,500 fans at The Riverside on Wednesday, December 3, 2003, Boro held their nerve as Gaizka Mendieta struck the winning penalty following Mark Schwazer's goalkeeping heroics.

Here's how the Gazette reported on the narrowest of wins - and here's what some of those who were there said after the match.

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Carling Cup win 2004: Fourth round: Boro 0 Everton 0 (Boro win on penalties)

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Penalty kings Boro were spot on as the golden gateway to Cardiff opened wide last night.

Gaizka Mendieta’s clinical fifth penalty ensured that bubbling Boro reached the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup at the end of another memorable and heart-stopping night at the Riverside Stadium.

Hard work on the training ground paid dividends and ensured that Boro put away all five kicks to edge out a battling Everton side which pushed them all the way and kept the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout.

While Mendieta finished off the Toffees, it was Mark Schwarzer who ensured that victory was possible when blocking Everton’s third kick from Leon Osman with his legs.

It was Schwarzer’s brilliance which had made the penalty shoot-out possible, the Aussie making his best save of the season - again from Osman - just five minutes from the end of extra-time.

Schwarzer’s amazing reflex save ensured that the 120 minutes remained goalless and that was the only disappointment from a wonderful night’s entertainment.

This pulsating cup-tie deserved goals, and 3-3 would have been perfectly reasonable.

Both sides set their stalls out to play football and, in a fluctuating game which see-sawed from start to finish, there were lots of chances.

Boro might have had the lead after only six minutes, but a powerful header from Mendieta, clearly Boro’s man of the match in a great team display, was magnificently pushed on to a post by Everton keeper Nigel Martyn.

Francis Jeffers missed two good opportunities for the visitors, but Boro replied when Massimo Maccarone, who struggled at times on his return to the action, sent a flashing header just off target.

Schwarzer made a superb save from Jeffers shortly before the interval, and then Danny Mills made a crucial block on Wayne Rooney just after the restart.

Thomas Graveson had a strong shot deflected inches wide by Franck Queudrue, but Boro finished the 90 minutes in charge and, from two superb crosses from Bolo Zenden, Michael Ricketts volleyed one effort against Alan Stubbs and then Maccarone slid the second one wide.

In extra time, Mendieta went close with two efforts, Jeffers fired over from close range and then Schwarzer made his match-saving stop from Osman in the 116th minute.

So it was all down to penalties, and that’s where attacking coach Steve Round’s work with Boro’s five penalty-takers on the training ground paid dividends.

The same five players who had been practising penalties with Round lined up for the tense finale.

As the fans bit their fingernails to the base, the first four kicks were converted - Graveson and David Unsworth for Everton, and Ricketts and Zenden for Boro.

The fifth kick was effectively where Boro won it, Osman hitting his penalty straight and Schwarzer making the vital save with his legs.

Mills hammered home the sixth penalty, James McFadden levelled and then Maccarone put Boro back in front.

Alan Stubbs needed to score to keep Everton in the tie and he hammered the ball high into the net.

So it was all down to Mendieta.

The Spaniard’s kick was the best of them all, deceiving Martyn and cheekily stroking it into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

The celebrations were intense and the Boro players produced a special “Klinsmann dive” for the benefit of the North Stand.

What a pity that the stadium was just over half full to witness a top game.

Now we’re off to White Hart Lane in two weeks.

Spurs will need some pretty good penalty-takers to beat this lot.

MATCH STATS

Referee: Mark Harsley (Welwyn Garden City). Weather: Cold, dry. Attendance: 18,568.

Shots: Boro 13 Everton 14

Corners: Boro 6 Everton 6

Offsides: Boro 3 Everton 3

Fouls: Boro 10 Everton 18

Bookings: Li Tie, foul on Nemeth 62; Unsworth, foul on Mendieta 102; Graveson, foul on Mendieta 102

Penalties: Graveson (1-0); Ricketts (1-1); Unsworth (2-1); Zenden (2-2); Osman saved (2-2); Mills (2-3); McFadden (3-3); Maccarone (3-4); Stubbs (4-4); Mendieta (4-5)

Man of the match: Gaizka Mendieta

Boro: Schwarzer, Mills, Queudrue, Riggott, Southgate, Boateng, Mendieta, Nemeth (Ricketts 77), Maccarone, Greening, Zenden. Subs: Nash, Davies, Ehiogu, Cooper

Everton: Martyn, Hibbert, Naysmith, Stubbs, Unsworth, Carsley, Li Tie (Linderoth 117), Graveson, Rooney (Radzinski 99), Jeffers (Osman 108), McFadden. Subs: Simonsen, Clarke

Egypt sentences dozen of protesters to jail terms

Egypt has sentenced more than a dozen of Muslim Brotherhood members to jail terms over their alleged role in protests against the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.

On Saturday, the defendants were sentenced to two years in prison for attacking reporters during anti-government protests nearly a year ago.

The latest ruling is seen as part of a massive crackdown on supporters of Morsi. Dozens of Brotherhood members have already been tried and sentenced to prison for their roles in anti-government protests.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since last July when the army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president Morsi, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mahmoud Mansour as the new interim president.

The interim government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and arrested thousands of Brotherhood members, including the party’s senior leaders.

On December 25, the military-appointed government listed the movement as a “terrorist” organization over alleged involvement in a deadly bombing, without investigating or providing any evidence.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International criticized Egyptian authorities for using an “unprecedented scale” of violence against protesters and dealing “a series of damaging blows to human rights.”

According to the UK-based rights group, 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”

GJH/NN/AS

Egypt army demolishes 10 tunnels with Gaza border

The Egyptian army has demolished ten more tunnels under the border with the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade for the past 79 months.

The tunnels were destroyed on Saturday as a part of the military-appointed government’s campaign of tightening the noose around the Palestinians living in Gaza.

The Egyptian army has destroyed hundreds of tunnels since it ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in a coup in July last year.

The tunnels are the only lifeline for Gazans living under the Israeli siege. Palestinians use the tunnels to bring essential supplies, such as foodstuff, cooking gas, medicines, petrol, and livestock, into the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, the Egyptian army also destroyed several homes in the Sinai Peninsula as part of a new plan to create a buffer zone along its border with Gaza.

The campaign began with a military operation in the border town of Rafah where tunnels leading into the Gaza Strip were destroyed.

The zone would potentially threaten dozens of homes in the town, which has been divided by an international border since the 1982 Camp David Accords.

Thousands of Palestinians were displaced in the early 2000s when Israel demolished homes to build a buffer zone on the Palestinian side.

The 1.7 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip are living in what is called the world’s largest open-air prison as Israel retains full control of the airspace, territorial waters, and border crossings of the territory.

Gaza has been blockaded by the Israeli regime since June 2007, a situation which has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

GJH/NN/AS

Israel soldiers injure two Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli troops have injured two Palestinians in two separate attacks in the occupied West Bank.

In the city of Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers on Saturday attacked Palestinian cameraman, Yousef Shakarna, who was part of a crew documenting the daily suffering of Palestinians.

Witnesses said the soldiers violently assaulted Shakarna and he was hospitalized for his injuries. The Palestine Journalists Syndicate has condemned the attack.

The assault on Shakarna is another case of the Israeli military’s violation of freedom of press, the syndicate stated.

The Palestine Journalists Syndicate seeks to file an official complaint with the International Federation of Journalists against the Israeli military.

Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers attacked an anti-settlement protest near the northern city of Jenin.

A 25-year-old Palestinian man was shot in the leg after Israeli soldiers used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse angry protesters demanding an end to Tel Aviv’s settlement expansion on the Palestinian land.

The demonstration was organized by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) to mark the 45th anniversary of its establishment.

Israel has announced plans for building several thousands of new settler units in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) since July 2013, when it started a fresh round of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

More than half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in 1967.

The Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.

DB/HSN/SS

Rights groups slam Egypt government for ‘systematic torture’

A group of human rights organizations in Egypt has accused the interior ministry of using “systematic torture” against political detainees.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said tens of protesters were killed by interior ministry forces while many anti-government protesters arrested during the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution were subjected to systematic torture and sexual assault.

The Cairo-based body said in a joint statement on Wednesday that torturing the detainees is not an arbitrary practice but a planned one.

The Egypt Freedom Party, the Bread and Freedom Party, the Egyptian Popular Current, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPA), the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and the Constitution Party signed the statement.

“No one should be detained unless they are charged by judiciary order,” the statement said.

It also added that the “savageness” of torture incidents reported by those arrested has surpassed those under the “worst dictatorial regimes.”

The group urged Egypt’s prosecutor general to launch an “immediate and independent” probe into alleged systematic torture of political detainees by the ministry and called for subjecting all those detained on January 25 to medical examinations.

The statement also demanded permission to visit detention facilities to interview detainees.

According to ANHRI, Egypt’s national human rights council has already been informed of the violations of prisoners’ rights. The group also accused Egypt’s Interior Ministry of refusing to arrest officers allegedly involved in the killing of protesters.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since the first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted on July 3, 2013.

MOS/HSN/HMV

Cuba suspends consular services in US

Cuba has suspended its consular services in the United States after failing to find a bank to process its diplomatic accounts due to the US-imposed economic embargo.

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington said in a statement that it suspended its consular services such as processing passports and visas as it has been “impossible” to find a US-based bank that could operate banking services for the Cuban diplomatic missions.

The interest section cited restrictions stemming from the US “policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade” as the reason and that the suspension would continue “until banking services are re-established.”

The statement also said, “The section regrets any inconvenience this situation may cause.”

Humanitarian cases can still be processed by the mission, the statement added.

M&T Bank, which operates accounts of the Cuban Interests Section and Cuba’s United Nations mission in New York City, has announced that it would discontinue handling services for the Cuban diplomatic missions from March 1.

The March deadline was an extension decided last November, when Cuba suspended its consular services indefinitely as it could not find a replacement bank.

Havana says Washington is required under diplomatic accords to ensure “full facilities for the performance of the functions” of diplomatic missions and consular offices in the United States.

Havana and Washington have been at odds since the Cuban revolution, led by Fidel Castro, toppled Fulgencio Batista’s regime in 1959. The United States started imposing measures in the same year and placed an official embargo against Cuba in 1962.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said last October that Havana has lost over USD 1.1 trillion because of the embargo, adding that the embargo has prevented his country from gaining access to heart and anti-AIDS medications for children.

CAH/HSN

12-year boy killed as Egypt police fire bird shot at protesters

Egyptian security forces have fired tear gas and bird shot at anti-government protesters killing one person amid recurring high tension in the country.

The 12-year-old boy identified as Arafat Kamal was killed on Friday after being hit with bird shot as he was watching protests from the balcony of his home in the Samallot area of the central province of Minya.

Clashes between security forces and protesters were also reported in the capital Cairo as well as in the cities of Giza, Suez and Daqahliya.

Several protesters were injured as security forces used excessive force against demonstrators in a number of cities. In addition, several others were arrested during the protests.

The mass protest rallies were called for to denounce plans by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to run for president in Egypt’s upcoming elections.

The rallies were also staged to mark the passing of six months since the army’s bloody crackdown on the sit-ins at Rabia al-Adawiya Square and Al-Nahda Square near Cairo university last August that left scores of people, mostly Brotherhood members, killed or injured.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since July 2013 when the army ousted former president, Mohamed Morsi, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the new interim president.

Last month, Amnesty International criticized Egyptian authorities for using an “unprecedented scale” of violence against protesters and dealing “a series of damaging blows to human rights.”

CAH/AB/SS

Palestinian rights group slams Israel for Gaza crimes

The Palestinian Center of Human Rights has slammed the Israeli regime for using excessive force against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The rights organization on Saturday called on the international community to force Tel Aviv it to stop crimes against Palestinians.

It said Israeli forces have killed one Palestinian worker and injured another while collecting rocks in the east of Gaza city over the past few days.

“The Israeli attack killed 36-year-old Ibrahim Mansour and injured 21-year-old Rafiq Herokli,” the Gaza-based center said in a statement.

Hundreds of jobless Palestinians make money by collecting and selling rocks for construction purposes, the center added.

Israeli troops, the rights organization said, also attacked a group of children and youth near the separation fence on February 14, injuring nearly 20.

Israeli crimes are tantamount to war crimes under “Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect civilians,” the statement added.

The Tel Aviv regime established a so-called buffer zone along the border with Gaza in 2008 for alleged security reasons, damaging a large portion of Palestinian farmland.

The zone officially extends 300 meters into the Gaza territory, but reports indicate that the Israeli regime is in effect forcing a much larger no-go zone.

The Israeli military frequently targets Palestinians along the border with Gaza, which has remained literally cut off from the outside world by a crippling blockade since 2007.

The Israeli siege has turned the densely-populated coastal sliver, home to some 1.7 million Palestinians, into the largest open-air prison in the world.

DB/HSN/SS

Pictures: Were you at Vicarage Road to see Watford v Boro?

16 Feb 2014 14:18

Over 1,200 Boro fans travelled to Vicarage Road to see Boro lose out 1-0 to Watford

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Boro fans at Watford

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Boro have now failed to score in five matches but the away following continues to be impressive.

1,258 Boro fans were at Vicarage Road to see Aitor Karanka's men draw another blank as they went down 1-0.

Can you spot yourself or anyone you know in the pictures above?

The whole Saharan region was contaminated following the atomic test by France

A report says France covered up the extent of the nuclear fallout from its first atomic bomb test in North Africa.

The report published by the French daily Le Parisien was based on a recently declassified military map regarding the fallout from the detonation of the Gerbouise Bleue bomb in the Algerian desert in 1960.

The map revealed that radioactive particles reached the Italian island of Sicily and the southern Spanish coast on the 13th day after the blast.

Lawyer Fatima Benbraham, who represents dozens of cases in Algeria, said the map shows that Algeria and practically the whole Saharan region was contaminated following the atomic test.

The documents were declassified last year following a ten-year legal battle, in which the French government fought long and hard to prevent the documents to become public, according to Bruno Barrillot, a member of the pressure group Observatoire des Armaments.

The pressure group along with others battled through court to have the documents released in a bid to bring compensation to people whose health has been allegedly affected by the radioactive fallout.

Human rights activists say civilians were not warned of the danger of the 17 blasts that took place in North Africa in 1960-66.

France admitted in 2009 that a small-populated area has been affected by the fallout.

Barrillot said he hopes the newly declassified maps would force the administration of French President Francois Hollande to admit that more people could have been affected by the fallout.

“They did not do these tests under the Eiffel Tower,” said Barrillot. “No, they went far away from France and then lied about the true impact.”

France conducted a total of 210 tests in Algeria and then in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean from 1960 to 1996.

CAH/HSN

Israel has full access to intelligence collected by US: Analyst

An American political analyst says Israel has full access to the intelligence collected through spying activities by the United States, Press TV reports.

In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, James Fetzer pointed to an article published by Seattle-based blogger Richard Silverstein, which asserts that there is a facility in al-Quds (Jerusalem) that monitors all US satellite intelligence.

He further noted that the revelation means that the Tel Aviv regime has access to all the intelligence gathered by the US.

“In my opinion, this arrangement apparently implemented by (former US President) George Herbert Walker Bush, is a massive act of treason and betrayal to the people of the United States,” Fetzer commented.

The analyst added that a petition drive by former US Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul to pressure the US President Barack Obama administration to grant clemency to American whistleblower Edward Snowden is getting very little coverage in the American media.

On February 13, Paul said on his website that he wants Snowden to return to the United States without facing prosecution before his amnesty in Russia expires at the end of July.

He argued that Snowden had done a service through his “courageous actions” and should not be prosecuted for revealing the secrets of widespread communications surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Meanwhile, Paul’s son, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky filed a class action lawsuit against Obama and his top officials, saying the US government’s phone-data-collection program violates the constitutional rights of the American people.

The Obama administration and many members of Congress have called for Snowden’s prosecution. He has been living in Moscow under temporary asylum since releasing thousands of classified documents on NSA spying programs.

The NSA has faced severe criticism for violating privacy rights by monitoring the communications of Americans and foreigners through sweeping eavesdropping programs.

MP/HJL

Cuban Fury (15)

16 Feb 2014 10:51

Shamed into leaving the world of professional dance, former prodigy Bruce Garrett has resigned himself to a hapless and ordinary existence. But after Bruce learns that his beautiful new boss Julia has a secret love for salsa dancing, he decides to reignite the fire in his heels and get back on thedance floor.

Nick Frost (Bruce Garrett) in Cuban Fury

After spending eight years working in a Mexican restaurant, Nick Frost is putting his salsa music ghosts to bed with this new film.

His amazing journey from waiter to Hollywood film star – while actually wanting to be a novelist – genuinely validates the arc taken by his latest character.

Bruce Garrett was a wannabe dancer until schoolboy bullies caught up with the young Belly Elliot and forced him to swallow his sequins.

Now 40, Bruce is the portly victim of unpleasant, cocksure work colleague Drew (Chris O’Dowd), until their rivalry for new boss Julia (Rashida Jones) relights Bruce’s dance floor fire.

Seven months of non-stop training has enabled Frost to deliver one of the great physical performances of the modern cinema era.

Four Lions’ star Kayvan Novak as Bejan and Olivia Colman as Bruce’s sister Sam offer moments of comedy gold in support.

But the roles of Bruce’s numbskull friends are underwritten, while Ian McShane is left isolated as an anonymous, ageing teacher when he could have been a hoot as Peter Stringfellow.

As a resolutely feelgood film aiming to capitalise on a fusion of hits like Strictly Ballroom, The Full Monty and Strictly Come Dancing, Cuban Fury is like asking for chilli sauce on chips – hot stuff on top of simple potato.

The one-joke film will warm you up and, like some of the characters, might even give you a kick.

Sexually, though, it is inexplicably playing for a decidedly ‘adult humour’ audience, thus eliminating Sunshine on Leith-style family audiences who would have loved Frost’s physical humour.

Christopher Bucktin: Dylan Farrow is poor victim in this 22-year tug of hate

Chris was appointed editor of the Evening Gazette in January 2012. He is also a former Gazette news editor. Chris has more than 20 years experience as a journalist and has previously worked in senior positions in Newcastle, Exeter and Nottingham.

Movie review: The Monuments Men (12A)

16 Feb 2014 09:38

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, the film is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners

The Monuments Men. Pictured: (l to r) Sam Epstein, John Goodman, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Bob Balaban

George Clooney is a man of many talents – but whether he can ever become a great director is seriously open to question after this.

Based on a true story, The Monuments Men follows a platoon of men who bravely risk their lives to search for priceless art treasures plundered by the Nazis.

While its intent is laudable from start to finish, the pace of the movie is, as the uninspiring title probably suggests, pedestrian at best.

Long delayed, it is finally opening in the middle of three Second World War stories – after The Railway Man (recently overshadowed despite the brilliance of Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine playing the same character) and before the February 28 release of The Book Thief, a highly spiritual reflection of death.

While it’s pleasing to see this period back on the big screen, The Monuments Men is comparatively unfocused, covering several years and half of Europe with little sense of real danger.

Much of the story could have been introduced with a prologue, leaving Clooney’s character Frank Stokes to either concentrate on one raid or the perilous journey of a particularly prized piece of art.

The all-star cast includes Matt Damon (James Granger), Bill Murray (Richard Campbell), John Goodman (Walter Garfield) and Hugh Bonneville (Donald Jeffries).

Damon’s performance flatlines – he’s unrecognisable as the star of pulsating war movies like Saving Private Ryan and Green Zone.

And you’d never guess that Cate Blanchett, as museum insider Claire Simone, is a best actress Oscar contender this year for Blue Jasmine.

The lesser known Bob Balaban, who plays Preston Savitz, looks more ready to take the lead role in a future biopic of Rupert Murdoch.

Senior citizens will enjoy this for what it is, but it could well tank at the British box office.

The Crate Escape it’s not.

Israel attacks Erdogan for blocking flotilla deal

An Israeli minister has accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of blocking a compensation agreement for those killed in a fatal attack by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010.

Relations between the Israeli regime and Turkey soured in 2010, when Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

The two sides have been engaged in talks over compensation since March 2013. Officials on both sides recently confirmed that they were close to an agreement.

However, on February 11, the Turkish premier said no agreement could be cut without a written commitment by Israel to lift its restrictions on the besieged Gaza Strip.

In reaction to Erdogan’s comments, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told public radio on Thursday, “I am in favor of an agreement with Turkey, but (the current impasse) is Erdogan’s fault.”

The development comes as on February 10, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country and Israel were the closest they have been to a normalization of ties since the deadly Israeli raid on the flotilla.

“There has recently been momentum and a new approach in compensation talks,” Davutoglu told a local television station.

Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The apartheid regime of Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education.

MR/NN/HMV