On Tuesday, the long-distance leaders of Hamas and Fatah met for the first time in several years in Algeria. Thus, potentially signaling new efforts to mediate reconciliation talks between the warring factions
. Both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh are in Algeria this week to celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary of independence.
Algeria’s state broadcaster reported late Tuesday that representatives from the Palestinian Authority and the Islamist Hamas movement were also present at the “historic” meeting. Algerian and Palestinian media outlets printed photos of the pair shaking hands clasped together by Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune, who pushed for the meeting.
The pair last met in person in Doha in October 2016. They were brought together by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, whose country was celebrating its 60th anniversary of independence from France. The details of their conversation were not made public by either leader’s office.Â
The internal Palestinian conflict between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007.
It happened when Hamas took over Gaza from Fatah. Since then, the Palestinian territories have been divided into a Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas and a West Bank dominated by Fatah.
Palestinian-Hamas several failed attempts at reconciliation
Over the years, the rival groups have made several failed attempts at reconciliation. Senior Fatah and Hamas officials have met in regional capitals. In order to occasionally sign agreements. The most recent major round of talks took place in 2020.
Abbas’ secular Fatah party, which rules the Israeli-occupied West Bank through the Palestinian Authority. It has been at odds with Hamas since elections in 2007.
All this happened when the Islamists took control of Gaza. Tebboune and Abbas also signed a document naming a street in Ramallah, West Bank, “Algeria.”
In addition to Abbas and Haniyeh, Tebboune hosted several foreign dignitaries on Tuesday, who watched a massive military parade commemorating Algeria’s independence from French occupation in 1962.
