/ world today news/ Ankara decided to publicize the fact of a recent meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior representatives of the Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah, at which the possibilities of uniting these two structures were discussed.
“I gathered representatives of Fatah and Hamas in my office,” Erdogan told reporters on the plane after returning from Hungary.
– “I believe that we, as Turkey, have done a lot and we can still do a lot in this matter, because Fatah and Hamas must live in peace with each other and must protect this unity. I believe that this is how we will achieve results.”
In any other situation, Erdogan’s statement would not be perceived as sensational. During almost 20 years of confrontation, Hamas and Fatah have held many meetings, often with promises of reconciliation and the upcoming holding of general Palestinian elections, but each has been “severely hindered” by something.
Moreover, all the agreements between them to create a coalition government were carried out with the open and closed mediation of the Arab countries, although for various reasons they were not followed.
The main problem was and remains that Fatah advocated and advocated peace with Israel, Hamas rejected and still rejects international demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. But be that as it may, the solution of the Palestinian problem was considered an “exclusively Arab problem” involving outside players.
As for Turkey, it gradually but quite actively became involved in the Palestinian process. It is enough to recall the events of May 2010, when Israel attacked a humanitarian flotilla sailing from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of several Turkish sailors.
By the way, this was the time Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza, which was already controlled by Hamas. Then Turkey, unlike the countries of the League of Arab States, was the only country that offered at least some ideas to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
At the time, few experts paid attention to the fact that Ankara for the first time began to position itself in the role of a regional mediator and arbiter, appealing to the past of the Ottoman Empire. But the contours of Turkey’s new regional foreign policy began to emerge more clearly during the current war between Israel and Hamas.
First, it began to seek to take center stage in the de-escalation process and offered itself as a mediator, including on issues such as the release of hostages. The Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and even American experts believe that this idea “stems from the recognition of Israel’s weakness.”
In this regard, a counterplay was undertaken and contacts with Hamas began to shift to Qatar and Egypt. Ankara went further, offering itself as the guarantor of Palestine’s security.
Erdoğan then shifted responsibility for the settlement of Gaza to the international community and again spoke in favor of a solution to the Palestinian problem based on the recognition of the independence of the State of Palestine “within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
He also proposed convening a peace conference for a Palestinian-Israeli agreement, but with the participation of only the regional powers.
Turkey’s project to reconcile Hamas with Fatah, which aims to neutralize Algeria’s desire to act as a mediator between these two groups, fits into this broad context. However, this situation has a flip side: Ankara is trying to dissolve Hamas and Fatah into some kind of joint national committee that can speak for Palestine.
Furthermore, Ankara sees the Arab world as silent on Israel’s intentions to deal with Hamas, but insists on keeping the Gaza Strip for the Palestinians, or rather for Fatah.
Until now, it was planned to thread the entire process of building a new Palestine on this thread, including the plot of the inevitable diplomatic recognition of Israel by a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Turkey thinks it will be easier to achieve this “according to historical law”, especially since some members of Hamas and Fatah appear to be on its side.
These “subtle nuances” have been recorded by many Arab experts. They point out that “after more than seventy days of continuous Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip”, there is no “radical change in Turkey’s position towards Israel”, although it has officially left the neutrality zone and condemns Israel, but without effective practical measures.”
Thus, a faction of the ruling Justice and Development Party and its ally the Nationalist Movement rejected in parliament a proposal by some opposition parties to scrutinize commercial ships traveling from Turkey to Israel.
Ankara had no intention of severing trade or economic relations with Israel, even though trade volumes had fallen by almost 50%. But, as Al Jazeera writes, “Ankara has already begun to plan its position on the Palestinian issue in the post-war period, and changes are coming.” Who?
According to this agency, “the epicenter of the problems has begun to move from Gaza to the Palestinian settlement” and now much of Turkey’s policy will depend on whether it can “achieve coordination with the Arab countries active in the Palestinian issue” or continue to play the “game” itself to “remain acceptable and desirable to the Palestinians.”
Because so far her attempts, according to her script, to reconcile Hamas and Fatah and thus “reunite Palestine” are perceived by many in the Middle East as a “game of escalation” with plots for new intrigues.
Therefore, it goes without saying that Turkey’s specific proposals regarding the Hamas-Fatah project are still unknown, as well as whether it has concrete and real opportunities to implement the planned scenario.
Translation: SM
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