Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with the politburo chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Ismail Haniyeh in Algeria on Tuesday.

Their meeting was organized by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on the sidelines of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence from France.

Haniyeh, who has been living in Qatar for more than three years, headed a Hamas delegation to Algeria upon the official invitation of Tebboune to join the Algerian independence celebrations. 

Abbas and a high-ranking Palestinian delegation were also invited by Tebboune to participate in the celebrations, according to the official Palestinian news agency.

Arab mediators have so far been unable to end the internal division between Abbas' Fatah Party and Hamas. The two rivals had reached a series of understandings and agreements sponsored by Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia which had never been implemented.

The internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007 when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah. Since then, the Palestinian territories have been split into a Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and a Fatah-dominated West Bank.