ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday spoke in Ankara with the Palestinian president and the head of Hamas in the run-up to a crucial meeting of Palestinian factions set for the weekend.

Erdogan, who has good ties with Mahmud Abbas of the Fatah party and Hamas’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, has said his government will do its best to push for intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

He told Wednesday’s meeting, which was held behind closed doors, that a lack of unity among the Palestinians benefited those “who wanted to undermine peace” according to the Turkish leader’s office.

An official in the Palestinian presidency said that Abbas “invited all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to attend the meeting of the heads of the factions in Cairo” on Sunday.

Ankara will do its best to push for intra-Palestinian reconciliation

The meeting will “discuss how to confront aggression against the Palestinian people, especially from the extremist Israeli government, and to strengthen Palestinian unity,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sources close to the Fatah party and Hamas said that the Ankara meeting organised by Erdogan focused on Palestinian unity and how to end divisions.

The meeting is “very important especially in light of the continuation of the Israeli aggression in Jerusalem and the West Bank and the continuation of settlement activity,” the sources said.

Netanyahu visit postponed

Turkiye is home to prominent Hamas officials even though the Palestinian group, which controls the Gaza strip. Haniyeh and the group’s former chief Khaled Meshal visits Turkiye often.

Erdogan is a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel — but he altered regional strategy by initiating an outreach to Israel after several years of tensions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to visit Turkiye this week, but his visit was later postponed, after he had surgery last weekend and as Israel is roiled by protests over contentious judicial reform.

Erdogan on Tuesday promised to continue supporting the Palestinian cause and voiced concerns over the flare up of violence in the West Bank, after meeting with Abbas separately.

“We will continue to support the Palestinian cause in the strongest way possible,” Erdogan said, alongside the Palestinian leader.

“We are deeply worried about the increasing loss of life, destruction, the expansion of illegal settlements and settlers violence,” the Turkish leader said.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023