GAZA

Hamas Speaker Salah Bardawil said they welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statements about reaching national understanding and unity in Palestine.

"We appreciate Erdogan's efforts for unification of Palestinians. Turkey's condition of ending the siege on Gaza for normalizing the relations with Israel is a very noble behavior," Bardawil told AA on Sunday.

Bardawil added that Gazans had a special sympathy towards Erdogan and expressed hope Erdogan's Gaza visit would succeed in ending the siege, preventing Israeli attacks and stopping "jewishization" of Jerusalem.

On the other hand, Speaker of Fatah Diyab Loah said they wished Erdogan's visit would witness unification of Palestine.

An independent parliamentarian Jamal Hadri also said that Erdogan's speech in Washington regarding the unity of Palestine was critical, widening horizons for ending the occupation. 
Erdogan had said that unification of Hamas and Fatah was an immediate must for Israeli-Palestinian peace, within the scope of his Washington meetings.

Reporting by Nur Abu Iysa, Mustafa Habbus