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Palestinians pivot to Turkey, Qatar for support in wake of normalization deals

The various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, are shoring up ties with Turkey and other countries in the region that stand against normalization with Israel.
(L to R) Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Abu Ahmad Fuad, Assistant Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) Talal Naji, Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine Ziad al-Nakhala, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Fahd Suleiman attend a meeting with representatives of other Palestinian factions at

The normalization agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed on Sept. 15 in Washington have already made an impact on the Palestinians’ regional and Arab relations, reflected in the Palestinians’ repositioning with Beirut, Istanbul, Doha and Tehran and their distancing from Cairo and Riyadh.

On Sept. 21, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas phoned his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and thanked him for his support of the Palestinians. The two have shared several calls in the past few weeks, discussing political developments and US pressure on the region to normalize ties with Israel and ways to face such pressure.

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