/ world today news/ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke in Washington at a press conference with members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Contact Group of the Arab League. But for some reason he turned not to the United States, but to members of the group on the Gaza issue.
He noted that the problem now goes beyond Israel and the Palestinians and said: “Regional countries must take responsibility for this problem and act knowing their responsibilities.” Fidan also stressed that now “the US approach to resolving the conflict is no longer a priority” and recalled that “there were two previous wars in Gaza and now there is a third war and if there is no two-state solution, if we leave this problem in future, we will only see it in a different format. So, he said, “we need a structural solution.” According to him, “there is, firstly, the need for an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, but this does not seem to be a priority for the international community, and secondly, there must be a credible road map for the creation of a Palestinian state.”
But who should prepare such a “road map”, at least in the form of a project? Judging by Fidan’s statement, the Contact Group has not prepared such a document that includes a gradual building of relations between Israel and Palestine. This means that the emphasis was, or still is, on the implementation of the first position, which stipulates the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza. But that point also proved a failure after the UN Security Council failed once again to pass a draft resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza after the United States vetoed it. In addition, as Al Jazeera suggests, contradictions began to emerge within the Contact Group itself regarding Hamas, but with regard to the participation or non-participation of this group in the process of creating a Palestinian state.
In such a situation, the development and emergence of a “road map” in this format is impossible, although, for example, Saudi Arabia refused to condemn Hamas, as the United States wanted. In addition, Riyadh announced the suspension of all actions aimed at normalizing relations with Tel Aviv.
But there are elements of subtle intrigue here. Separate positions are not a secret and Turkey knew this very well. However, it was she who was able to make a decision at the extraordinary joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States on November 11, 2023 in Saudi Arabia to create a group of foreign ministers of Turkey, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt , Jordan, Qatar and Nigeria to “undertake international initiatives to end the war in Gaza and achieve lasting peace.” The group has already held talks in Beijing, Moscow, London and Paris. He is now in the US, where he has contacts with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, representatives of think tanks and the media. She will then go to Ottawa. But the group makes only certain general demands: it calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver aid and meet the basic needs of the Gaza Strip, and insists that the world recognize the state of Palestine as a sovereign state. That is why the actions proposed by Fidan in this format outwardly look like a “voice in the wilderness.” They were outlined more specifically by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He proposes Turkey as a guarantor for the creation of a Palestinian state and for guaranteeing its security, and believes that it is Turkey, not the Arab countries, that is the “initiator of diplomatic efforts to restore peace.” According to him, this necessitates the creation of an independent and geographically integrated Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and failure to resolve this issue will cause the situation to escalate in the future. It also calls for the convening of a peace conference for a Palestinian-Israeli agreement involving all players in the region, including Israel. However, the West is not mentioned.
Therefore, there is a strong feeling that the mission of the Contact Group has failed. And yet another move by Erdogan. Speaking at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, he warned countries in the region about the risk of the conflict in Gaza escalating into a regional war, and his first victim, he said, could be Syria. In general, it is a bad sign when one problem piles on top of another and the conflict in Gaza escalates, which Turkey seems to be preparing for.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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