Global Courant
ANKARA
Rawhi Fattouh, chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), said that Palestinians put their hopes in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resolve the conflict between the Palestinians and achieve reconciliation.
The Palestinian official attended the inauguration ceremony of the Turkish president on Saturday.
“I was commissioned by President Mahmud Abbas to attend President Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony and express the depth of fraternal relations between the two leaders,” Fattouh told Anadolu Agency.
We express our pride in the fair and free election process in Turkey,” he said. “It was a very successful democratic experience.”
Acting as the legislative body of the PUK’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Fattouh said that they put their hope in President Erdogan to support the cause of the Palestinians at local, regional and international levels.
We bet that President Erdogan will carry the political atmosphere to broader horizons,” he said.
“Palestinians are divided and we put our hope in President Erdogan to achieve national reconciliation.”
Since 2007, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, a political and geographical division has prevailed in the Palestinian territories.
The Fatah movement has ruled the West Bank ever since, while Hamas has taken control of the Gaza Strip. Many efforts to bridge the gap between the two rival movements have failed.
Turkish democracy
Fattouh congratulated the Turkish people for their democratic experimentation.
Presidential and parliamentary elections (in Turkey) were successful, and the Palestinian people respect and love Turkey for its support for the Palestinian people and their cause,” he said.
Fattouh, “We wish progress and prosperity to Turkey. We care about our relations with Turkey, we thank the Turkish people for their support to the struggle of the Palestinian people.”
US role
Fattouh criticized the US role in Middle East peace.
“Washington is the party that rejects the two-state solution,” he said.
“The US administration can force Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, end the siege of Gaza and establish a Palestinian state,” he said.
“Israel’s role is functional to serve American interests, nothing more,” the Palestinian official added.
He said the US stances on the Palestinian issue were “contradictory”.
The US administration is putting obstacles in the way of reaching a solution,” he said. “We do not trust the American administration”
The Palestinian official described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government of Israel as the most radical.
“The current government is trying to destroy all hope for a two-state solution,” Fattouh said.
*Written by: Ikram Kouachi
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