"This is a meeting that has been planned for almost one year, and it is an initiative taken by the Palestinian side. The Turkish government welcomed our proposal, and eventually we decided to hold this internal meeting of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Ankara," Maarouf told Today's Zaman on Monday.
Palestinian ambassadors are expected to arrive in the capital city on Feb. 14 for a three-day meeting that will kick off on Feb.15 and be hosted by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will deliver welcoming remarks at the meeting, Maarouf said. The Palestinian visitors are also likely to meet with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, although no exact meeting has yet been scheduled.
Ankara, which has been closely following developments in the region with a keen interest in peace in the Middle East, hosted a landmark meeting of Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last fall ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference held in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Turkish capital has constantly urged unity among the Palestinian groups for reaching the goal of establishing a Palestinian state, while also warning Israel against stifling the new Middle East peace process, which kicked off after the Annapolis conference with controversial decisions to build new settlements in annexed east Jerusalem.
Most recently, Babacan once more described "the dual structure in Palestine" as one of the most important obstacles to the peace process.
"Mahmoud Abbas is assuming talks on behalf of the Palestinians but what will happen to Gaza? There is a separate administration there. There is a de facto divided Palestine. This dual structure is one of the most important obstacles to the peace process. Recent developments are extremely harmful for the Annapolis process. The developments are in a way strengthening the hands of those who don't want peace and weakening those who support peace," Babacan said in Davos over the weekend while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a summit of the World Economic Forum.
"This is putting Mahmoud Abbas, who is involved in the peace process, in a difficult position. No doubt missiles targeting Israel from Gaza are extremely wrong. But, on the other hand, operations launched on the people in Gaza [by Israel] are another wrongful [act]. It is also wrong to blockade and impose an embargo on Gaza," Babacan added, also criticizing Israel's policies.
Abbas' Fatah party wants a state in the West Bank and Gaza, but Hamas claims a right to all land that is now Israel and opposes Abbas' drive for peace with Israel. Late last year, soon after the Annapolis talks, Babacan warned that failure to unite will result in an element excluded from the process -- Hamas -- harming the peace efforts and said Palestinians must end the division to better serve the Palestinian cause. Asked whether he would give that message to Hamas, he dismissed prospects for any direct talks then, saying Hamas members could probably hear his call. A visit by a Hamas delegation led by Khaled Mashaal to Ankara in 2006 drew ire from Israel, which, like the US, calls Hamas a terrorist organization and refuses talks with it.
On Monday Mashaal met with Saudi officials in Riyadh as part of a Saudi bid to mediate the return of Gaza, under Israeli blockade, to Palestinian authority control, Saudi and Palestinian officials said. The Syria-based leader of Hamas held talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal after arriving in Riyadh on Sunday night, a Saudi source told Reuters news agency. Arab efforts are under way to return control of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to the Fatah group of Abbas. Thousands of Palestinians have breached the border in recent days to stock up on supplies because of an Israeli blockade of the territory.
Benzer Haberler 
Diplomacy
