Although Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the Palestinian issue his vehicle to move Turkey closer to its Muslim neighborhood, and earned an unprecedented popularity on the Arab street like no other Turkish leader, he may be risking for the first time losing the support of at least a part of the Palestinian population if he chooses to travel to Gaza toward the end of May, before the Palestinian rift between Fatah and Hamas can be reconciled. And it seems the chances of overcoming this separation by then are dim.
“Inshallah, this issue between Fatah and Hamas will be resolved soon,” Palestinian Ambassador to Ankara Nabil Maarouf said during an interview with Al-Monitor on Friday [April 19]. “Our main problem with Erdogan’s [announced potential] visit to Gaza [toward the end of May] is obvious: Is he going to be received in Gaza by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas? If Erdogan travels to Gaza before the reconciliation takes place, this means you’re enhancing the position of Hamas; you’re enhancing the separation. This will be like the visits of the prime minister of Malaysia, and the sheikh of Qatar.”
Maarouf told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian Authority had issued statements after each of those visits to Gaza “saying that this is helping the division, because the people of Hamas feel like they’re an independent entity. And this helps keep Gaza far from West Bank.” He went on to say: “When President Abbas met with [Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu in Doha during the Arab League Summit [March 26-27], we officially asked the Turkish government not to pay this visit to Gaza before the elections.”
The elections the ambassador referred to are about a comprehensive deal that Fatah and Hamas are working together on to overcome their differences. “Our request is only one thing. President Abbas wants to hold elections. If Hamas wins the elections, let them also take over the West Bank. We don’t mind.” Maarouf also told Al-Monitor, “When Hamas agrees to implement the decisions taken in Doha and Cairo, President Abbas will confirm the new united government all [composed of] technocrats, and they will have two tasks: to hold elections in 90 days and to start reconstructing Gaza.”
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