PA president Mahmoud Abbas. Image credit: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Representatives of six Palestinian factions – including Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority president Abbas, and the Hamas terror group, which governs the Gaza Strip – are expected to hold talks in Algeria this week to discuss how to achieve “national reconciliation”.
The factions were invited by Algerian president Abdelmajid Tebboune, who rules one of the Arab countries most hostile towards Israel.
Algeria does not recognise Israel and has consistently dismissed diplomatic normalisation between Arab countries and the Jewish state.
In addition to Fatah and Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Popular Front-General Command (PFLP-GC) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are also expected to participate.
The Fatah delegation will be headed by Azzam al-Ahmed, a central committee member, while the Hamas team is led by Khalil al-Hayya, a politburo member.
Previous attempts by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Qatar to achieve Palestinians “national reconciliation” have been unsuccessful.
Several reconciliation agreements signed between Fatah and Hamas since 2007 have similarly failed to materialise.
Palestinian sources ruled out a breakthrough, with the gap between Fatah and Hamas remaining as wide as ever.