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Turkey calls on Israel to look positively on Palestinian reconciliation


The Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who spoke with Sec State Hillary Clinton on Thursday about developments in Palestine, has called on Israel to take the opportunity of Palestinian reconciliation to renew the peace process, as they now no longer have the excuse of not having a counterpart to negotiate with on the Palestinian side. The signs are not good from Israel though with Lieberman continuing with the 'Hamas are terrorists' mantra.
The international community should not repeat yet another mistake by not lending sufficient support to an agreement reached on Wednesday by rival Palestinian groups on reuniting their governments in the West Bank and Gaza after years of bitter infighting, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu warned on Friday, while calling the agreement “a key window of opportunity” for the entire region, which has been experiencing “an earthquake.”

“I contacted both sides yesterday [Thursday],” Davutoğlu noted, referring to his talks with leaders of the rival Fatah and Hamas movements, as he responded to questions from reporters in Karapınar, Konya, where he kicked off his campaigning activities for the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 12.

“God willing, the process will come to the point of signing of a comprehensive agreement next week,” he said, underlining: “This is a significant development. This is the most important and positive development in our region in the last few months.”

On Wednesday night, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initiated a telephone conversation with Davutoğlu as the two focused on the Palestinian reconciliation in their talks....

...“Israel should also see the Palestine reconciliation as a positive development. Up until this very moment, the Israeli side has always complained that they haven't been able to find a counterpart on the Palestinian side; they have complained about the split. Now given that the Palestinians have this unity, everybody should feel happy about it. This [reconciliation] should not be hindered,” Davutoğlu said. “Those who hinder this [reconciliation] will have to bear the responsibility of negative developments.” more

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