Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hosted a meeting in Ramallah Thursday night which included the leaders of terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The meeting focused on reconciliation efforts among the Palestinians and on the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalize ties with Israel last month.
Senior members of all 14 main major Palestinian factions were in attendance for the first time in nearly a decade. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah joined by video conference from Beirut.
“We will work to end division, achieve reconciliation, and hold general legislative elections… Know that we are one people,” Abbas said in a speech opening the meeting. Abbas’s PA has said it seeks co-existence alongside Israel; Hamas and Islamic Jihad avowedly seek Israel’s destruction.
Abbas called for a “follow-up committee” to be formed as well as for “national dialogue… to create mechanisms to end the division.”
“We want it to be over,” he said, referring to the schism between the Palestinian factions. “It’s enough. We’re one people.”
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