Palestinian president and Hamas chief hold rare meeting in Algeria

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — who officially last met face-to-face in Doha in October 2016 — were brought together in a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune

(Left to right) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas shakes hands with Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and with Palestinian Hamas movement’s leader Ismail Haniyeh during Abbas’ visit to attend Algeria’s 60th Independence anniversary in the capital Algiers | Photo Credit: AFP

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met publicly for the first time in over five years, on the sidelines of Algerian independence anniversary celebrations.

Algeria’s state broadcaster reported late Tuesday that representatives of the Palestinian Authority and the Islamist Hamas movement also attended this meeting, which it called “historic”.

Algeria’s 60th anniversary of Independence

The pair, who officially last met face-to-face in Doha in October 2016, were brought together in a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, whose country marked the 60th anniversary of independence from France.

Mr. Abbas’ secular Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority that rules the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been at loggerheads with Hamas since elections in 2007, when the Islamists took control of Gaza.

Mr. Tebboune and Mr. Abbas also signed a document to name a street “Algeria” in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

As well as Mr. Abbas and Mr. Haniyeh, Mr. Tebboune on Tuesday hosted several foreign dignitaries, who watched a huge military parade to mark independence in 1962 when Algeria broke free from 132 years of French occupation.