CAIRO — For the first time since 2006, Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah agreed to hold general elections within six months. The announcement came Sept. 24 at the conclusion of talks that took place between the two parties in Istanbul, upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call on his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to sponsor the Palestinian reconciliation.

The agreement was met with official Egyptian silence, knowing that Cairo has been the one sponsoring and leading Palestinian reconciliation efforts for years. Egyptian media outlets close to the authorities condemned the agreement, accusing Hamas of implementing Turley’s plan to control the West Bank through its sponsorship of the Palestinian reconciliation.

Palestinian and Egyptian politicians and experts who spoke to Al-Monitor on this matter said the agreement points to Turkey’s plan to pull the rug out from underneath Cairo when it comes to the Palestinian reconciliation file. It also shows, according to these sources, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) growing discontent over Egypt’s support for the recent normalization deals reached between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.

Hussam al-Dajani, a political analyst and professor of political science at al-Ummah University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that by resorting to Ankara in the reconciliation file, the Palestinian parties sought to send a protest message to Egypt over its welcoming of the normalization deals.