On the fringes of the celebrations honoring the centennial of Algeria’s independence, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh had their first public encounter in more than five years.
State-run media in Algeria said late on Tuesday that the meeting, which it dubbed “historic,” also included members of the Palestinian Authority and the Islamist Hamas movement.
In a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, whose nation celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence from France, the two, who had their last official face-to-face encounter in Doha in October 2016, were brought together.
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Since the 2007 elections, when the Islamists seized power in Gaza, Abbas’ secular Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority that governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been at odds with Hamas.
A document renaming a street in the West Bank city of Ramallah as “Algeria” was also signed by Tebboune and Abbas.
In addition to Abbas and Haniyeh, Tebboune on Tuesday hosted a number of foreign dignitaries who saw a sizable military parade to commemorate Algeria’s 1962 declaration of independence from 132 years of French rule.
