Fatah official reveals Turkish mediation to end Palestinian split

A senior Fatah official has revealed details of Turkish mediation in Palestinian reconciliation attempts, local media have reported. According to Jibril Al-Rajoub, there is a meeting scheduled to be held on Monday in Ankara between Mahmoud Abbas and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The official expressed his hope that the Turkish efforts to end the political split which has lasted for 10 years now are successful. He pointed out that he had met with one of Erdogan’s senior advisers and that the two parties agreed that Hamas must put an end to its absolute authority in the Gaza Strip.

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Most Palestinians hope that reconciliation precedes an agreement to form a National Unity Government and fix a date for the legislative elections. Hamas won the previous elections in 2006 and formed the Palestinian government. Israel and its Western supporters rejected the results of what were declared by independent observers to be free and fair elections, and launched a blockade against the Hamas administration, supporting a Fatah-led Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah instead. The blockade is still in place 11 years later.

Hamas accuses the PA of prolonging siege on Gaza

New academic year in Gaza on 23 August, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]