Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (c) alongside PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidential Office

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday hosted his Palestinian Authority counterpart Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh for a joint meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, in a signal that the sixteen-year-old rift between the two Palestinian factions may be on the cusp of healing.

Although Erdogan’s office confirmed that the meeting took place behind “closed doors,” local media outlets reported that Hamas and the Fatah-dominated PA — bitterly divided since the civil war in Gaza in 2007 that drove the PA’s officials out of the territory — had agreed to unity talks. On Tuesday, Erdogan held separate talks with Haniyeh, who divides his time between Qatar and Turkey, at which the Hamas leader reportedly agreed to a conference of Palestinian factions in Cairo at the end of July to explore reconciliation. A statement from Hamas after the meeting restated the Islamist organization’s view that “resistance is the most efficient way to confront the (Israeli) occupation.”

At a joint press conference following Wednesday’s talks, Erdogan pledged that Turkey would “continue to support the Palestinian cause in the strongest way possible.”

“We are deeply concerned about the violence of illegal settlers,” Erdogan declared. “We cannot tolerate any acts attempting to change the historical status quo of holy places, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem]. The unity and reconciliation of the Palestinians are key elements in this process.”

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

Erdogan’s initiative comes less than one year after Israel and Turkey restored full diplomatic relations following a rupture in 2018 that was triggered by clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians on the border between Gaza and Israel in the wake of the US decision to move its embassy in the Jewish state from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Last November, Israel failed in its attempt to persuade Turkey to deport Palestinian leaders residing there. At the time, Turkish Foreign Minister Mehmet Cavusoglu told the Israelis that his government does not regard Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been due to visit Ankara this week, but canceled his visit after he was hospitalized last week for heart surgery amid furious demonstrations in Israel opposing his right-wing government’s attempt to overhaul the country’s independent judiciary.

Since Israel and Turkey restored relations last year, Erdogan has moderated his tone, meeting with senior Israeli leaders including President Isaac Herzog and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid. As recently as 2021, however, Erdogan earned a rebuke from the US State Department for engaging in antisemitic rhetoric when he opined, when criticizing Israeli air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, that Israelis were “murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old.”

“They only are satisfied by sucking their blood,” Erdogan said.