Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas meets Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Ankara

On Tuesday night, 25 July, a meeting was held between Fatah-ruled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his opponent Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas, the Islamist group ruling the Gaza Strip in Ankara.

"The meeting came as a result of an official request issued to the Palestinian President to discuss the internal Palestinian issues, mainly in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the ongoing conflict with Israel," senior officials closed to both Fatah and Hamas, said to The New Arab.

The meeting aims to bridge the views between the two parties, before the meeting of the general secretaries of the factions in Cairo at the end of July, according to the officials.

"During the meeting with our brothers in Fatah, we consulted on several issues related to the Palestinian national impasse and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause," Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior official of Hamas, said in a press statement.

Hamas is keen to meet all parties in the Palestinian national arena, he noted and pointed out that the meeting will discuss his movement's vision for the success of the secretary-general's appointment.

Likewise, he hoped to find a common national position in which Palestinian efforts would be unified "to confront the dangers posed by the Israeli enemy."

"Stopping the policy of arresting the resistance fighters is at the top of this national formula, and the need to release them because they are the first line in defence of the Palestinian people," he stressed.

A few days ago, Hamas held several political meetings with its national components, including parties and elites, to listen to their views and ideas and develop practical and patriotic formulas, according to Abu Marzouk.

Another meeting will be held between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Palestinian PA president Abbas on Wednesday, 26 July, in the presence of a Hamas delegation headed by Haniyeh.

Hussam al-Dajani, a Gaza-based political analyst, told TNA that "the meeting will be a turning point in the Palestinian issue, mainly as both Fatah and Hamas become aware of the dangerous surrounding our cause because of the Israeli occupations."

"The meeting will give the Palestinians some hope for the success of the previous meeting of general secretaries, which was held in Lebanon years ago," al-Dajani added. 

Al-Dajani opined that the meeting's outcomes may lay the groundwork for a national consensus on a national strategy and vision for the next stage.

However, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, the second military power movement in Gaza, announced its position at the meeting of the general secretaries, as the movement's secretary-general, Ziyad al-Nakhala, set a clear condition before participating in it.

"We will not go to the meeting of the general secretaries in Cairo before the release of our mujahideen brothers in the prisons of the Palestinian Authority," he said.