Erdogan meets Palestinian president, Hamas leader in Ankara

ISTANBUL — Turkey'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 Mahmoud Abbas of the Fateh Party and Hamas' 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 told AFP 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.

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 Fateh 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.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the June War of 1967.

Since early last year, the territory has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces conducted a two-day raid on the Jenin refugee camp razing swathes of the area, and killing 12 Palestinians, including militants and children

One Israeli soldier was also killed.

The raid on Jenin was one of the biggest operations carried out by the Israeli forces in the West Bank in years.

Turkey is home to prominent Hamas officials even though the Palestinian group, which controls the Gaza strip, is considered a terror organisation by much of the West.

Haniyeh and the group’s former chief Khaled Meshal visits Turkey 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 Turkey 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.

“The only way to a just and lasting peace in the region is to defend the vision of a two-state solution.”

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the army confirmed it was conducting “counterterrorism activity” in a Nablus refugee camp.