David Cameron draws fire over Gaza comments

No 10 denies it has raised rhetoric as row heats up over 'prison camp' comparison

Ian Black and Nicholas Watt
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 27 July 2010

British Prime Minister David Cameron is in Turkey. David Cameron made the comments during his visit to Ankara, Turkey. Photograph: Tolga Bozoglu/EPA

David Cameron was embroiled in an angry diplomatic row with Israel tonight after describing the Gaza Strip as a prison camp for its 1.5 million Palestinian residents.

The prime minister drew fire at home and in Israel for remarks he made in Turkey about the need to further ease the blockade of the coastal territory, following the lifting of some restrictions last month. But Arabs and many others will agree wholeheartedly with his words.

"The situation in Gaza has to change," he told businessmen in Ankara. "Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."

Foreign Office sources suggested Downing Street had been remiss in omitting from Cameron's speech the sort of "balancing" comments that are routinely made about Israel's security – especially the fate of a captured soldier being held by Hamas – when its policies on the Palestinians are criticised.

(More here.)