Erdogan plans to visit Gaza and West Bank

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said he would probably make his planned trip to Gaza in June and that he also was expecting to visit the West Bank. Erdogan gave new details of the Gaza trip, which will test Turkey's relations with Israel after a US-brokered rapprochement, as he appeared at a news conference with US President Barack Obama. "According to my plan, most probably I would be visiting Gaza in June," said Erdogan, who had earlier said that he would reveal details of the trip, which has been opposed by Washington, after meeting Obama. "But it will not be a visit only to Gaza. I will also go to the West Bank." The dual stops means Erdogan will hold talks with the Hamas rulers of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, likely in Ramallah. "I place a lot of significance on this visit in terms of peace in the Middle East. I'm hoping that that visit will contribute to unity in Palestine," Erdogan said. Washington had urged Erdogan to postpone visiting the impoverished Palestinian territory, saying it would be a "distraction" from its efforts to revive the moribund Middle East peace process. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Turkey last month that the trip would be "better delayed", and urged Erdogan to wait for the "right circumstances." But Erdogan hit back at Kerry's comments, saying: "We wish he had not said that" and Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters it was up to Turkey to decide what it would do. Erdogan has said that his visit would be aimed at pushing for the lifting of Israel's embargo on the Gaza Strip but Washington fears such a trip could hurt the truce Obama brokered between Washington's two key regional allies. The breakthrough came after Erdogan accepted an apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deaths of nine Turks during a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla as Obama left Israel after a visit in March.