Blue and White party

Turkey's president on May 24 reiterated his country's support for Palestine as the Muslim world celebrates Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

"We will not allow the Palestinian lands to be offered to anyone else," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a video message on Twitter addressed to U.S. Muslims.

As Turkey steps up to mobilize the international community against Israeli plans to annex West Bank, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu on May 21 had phone conversations with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Yousef Al-Othaimeen.

Turkish presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said on May 20 that Ankara rejects Israel's plan to annex the West Bank and called on the international community to show the same approach.
"Turkey rejects and calls on the world to reject any annexation plan by Israel. Occupation is a crime. The annexation of more Palestinian lands is a crime," Kalın said in a tweet.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on May 19 that the country is terminating all agreements and understandings signed with Israel and the U.S., including on security.

Abbas made the announcement at a Palestinian leadership meeting in Ramallah. The decision came in response to the proposed Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank.

Israel must stop illegal campaigns and the international community needs to stop "modern vandalism," Turkey's presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said on May 16. 
"Israel's policy of occupation and annexation is an invitation to more conflict and escalation," Kalın said on Twitter.

Opposition leader Benny Gantz will be asked to form a new government, Israel's president said on March 15, boosting his chances of ousting veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It was a blow to Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political life amid unprecedented political deadlock and a criminal indictment for corruption, which he denies.

Israelis began voting on March 2 in the country's unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power despite his upcoming criminal trial on corruption charges.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will announce his long-delayed Middle East peace proposal and that he believes Palestinians will eventually go along with it despite their refusal to engage on the subject.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu easily won a vote to keep the Likud party helm, the party said on Dec. 27, in a boost ahead of what is likely to be a hard-fought general election in March.