In rare move, Abbas hosts Hamas delegation in Ramallah

Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas holds a rare meeting in Ramallah with a delegation from Hamas over possible reconciliation between the battling Palestinian factions.

The meeting comes amid reports of lightning talks aimed at restoring PA control in Gaza and getting the PA to lift sanctions against Hamas in the Strip are underway. The talks were reportedly initiated by Abbas.

The Hamas delegation was headed by former Palestinian education minister Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, and included Hamas lawmakers, Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, Mohammad Totah, Ayman Daraghmeh and Samir Abu Eisha.

According to a report of the meeting in the PA official news outlet Wafa, the sides “reviewed the general situation, ways of strengthening unity and ending division.”

The Hamas group, according to the report, also congratulated Abbas for “defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque and preserving the historical and legal status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Abbas threw his support behind two weeks of Palestinian protests in Jerusalem against Israeli security measures put in place at entrances to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharig, following the killing of two policemen at the site by three Arab Israelis who smuggled weapons from with the compound.

— Dov Lieber