Palestinians Welcome Israeli-Turkish Normalization

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Palestinian authorities, including Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip, welcome the normalization of relations between Türkiye and Israel because this helps Ankara better support the Palestinian cause.

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"Both the Palestinian president (Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas side want our relations with Israel to be normalized. They also know that thanks to this dialogue, we will better defend the Palestinian cause," Cavusoglu said.

The normalization of ties between Israel and Türkiye would not mean that Ankara will "make concessions on the Palestinian cause," he said. "Dialogue should continue even if you do not agree on everything."

Cavusoglu's remarks came as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas arrived in Türkiye's capital Ankara on Tuesday to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Cavusoglu and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh had a phone call on Aug. 8.

Last week, Türkiye and Israel announced that they would reappoint ambassadors, four years after they expelled each other's envoy when Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians during the protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

The relations between Israel and Türkiye became strained in 2010 when a Turkish-led flotilla attempting to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip clashed with Israeli forces, leaving 10 Turks on board killed.

Erdogan has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel, but he changed the Turkish regional strategy earlier this year as the energy issue emerged as a key field of cooperation.

Türkiye and Israel have been working to mend their ties in the past months, including Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to Türkiye in March, the first of its kind by a senior Israeli official since 2008, and their talks on pipelining natural gas from Israel to Europe via Türkiye.