Palestinians Doubt Erdogan Will Visit Gaza

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.”