GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — A diplomatic thaw between Israel and Turkey has created challenges for
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which counts on Ankara's support and who,
experts believe, could be a more "trustworthy" middleman to deal with
Israel.
اضافة اعلان
With Turkey's ties to Israel effectively
broken for more than a decade, President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fostered a
close relationship with Hamas, which took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
In addition to providing financial and
logistical support to the group, Turkey is also home to senior Hamas officials,
including Salah Al-Aruri, a long-standing Istanbul resident.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and former chief
Khaled Meshal visit Turkey often.
Erdogan is a vocal supporter of the
Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel — but he altered regional
strategy earlier this year by initiating an outreach to Israel.
Ties between the two countries collapsed in
2010 following the death of 10 civilians in an Israeli raid on the
Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla trying to breach a blockade to carry aid
into Gaza.
But Erdogan took a step toward
reconciliation by calling Israeli President Isaac Herzog following his
inauguration in July.
He hosted Herzog in Ankara last week, the
first trip by an Israeli head of state to Turkey since 2007, in a visit both
men hailed as a turning point in bilateral relations.
'Hamas
concerned'
Experts have said that Erdogan's move toward
Israel had little to do with Palestinian affairs and that the Turkish
leader was likely motivated by a desire to shore up his struggling economy
through improved ties with a key regional economic power.
But Hamas will feel the effects of the
rapprochement, said Mokhaimer Abu Saada, a political scientist at
Al-Azhar University in Gaza.
"Hamas is concerned," he told
AFP.
"Israel is expected to increase the
pressure on the
Turkish authorities. I expect that Hamas leaders will leave,
perhaps for Beirut or Iran, because Istanbul will no longer be welcoming."
Sources involved in the Erdogan-Herzog
talks, who requested anonymity, said the presidents discussed the presence of
Hamas leaders in Turkey, a longstanding Israeli grievance.
Possible
upside?
Hamas issued a condemnation of Turkey's
decision to welcome "the Zionist occupation president", but it did
not mention Turkey or Erdogan directly, a move experts saw as an attempt to
safeguard essential ties with Ankara.
A senior Hamas figure told AFP that his group
does not interfere in the internal politics of any country and wishes to
"preserve a good and balanced relationship with all
Arab and Muslim countries, and particularly with Turkey".
Hamas "will not sacrifice its relations
with Turkey" over the Israel outreach, said Naji Shourab, also a political
scientist at Al-Azhar University.
He noted that there may even be an upside
for Hamas in Erdogan repairing ties with Israel. Hamas does not talk to Israel
directly but needs an interlocutor to deal with Israel.
Egypt has played that role in recent years,
notably negotiating a ceasefire between the sides to end an 11-day conflict
last May.
But Hamas's ties with Egyptian
President
Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi are undermined by perpetual mistrust. Sisi
ousted Egypt's late Islamist president and Hamas ally Mohamed Morsi in
2013.
"Turkey is a more effective and
trustworthy channel to pressure Israel than Egypt is," Shourab said.
Hossam Al-Dajani, an expert in Islamist
movements, told AFP that Turkey will also seek to retain its close Hamas
ties because its support for the Palestinians earns Ankara credit in the Muslim
world.
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