Mongolia joins summit members to condemn Israel over Gaza raid

Mongolia joined several l leaders from the Middle East and Asia to condemn Israel"s raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza at a summit in Istanbul on Tuesday, calling on the Jewish state to end its "inhuman" blockade of the Palestinian territory, according to a report by Reuters. All members of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) except Israel itself denounced it for last week"s raid. President Ts. Elbegdorj led the Mongolian delegation to the summit.

A final declaration of the 20-member forum issued at the end of the two-day summit omitted any reference to Israel, which as a fellow member had objected to such mention, but Turkish President Gul, who was also acting as chairman of CICA, read a separate declaration in which all members except Israel criticized Israel"s actions.

CICA has been a low-key forum until now, but the timing of the conference and the list of attendees transformed it into a platform for countries to launch verbal attacks against Israel and issue pledges of Muslim brotherhood. Its members include: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
source:www.news.mn