The General Israeli Broadcasting Radio said President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the Arab Follow-up Committee in Israel to play the role of the mediator to end the division between Fatah and Hamas.

The radio said Abbas’s request came during a meeting he held in the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, with Mohammed Baraka, a delegation of academics, mayors and Mahmoud Abbas.

الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس يلتقي وفد من لجنة المتابعة العليا للجماهير العربية #عباس للمتابعة: "أنتم جسر السلام… https://t.co/aNA3atQ0ZS

— NADER M Magboul (@NMagboul) August 14, 2016

(President Mahmoud Abbas meets with a delegation from the Arab Follow-up Committee in Israel)

The radio said Abbas expressed readiness “to accept understandings reached by the mediators.”

Abbas has recently accused Hamas of not collaborating with the national unity government, an accusation the movement refused, accusing Abbas of reluctance to hold local elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

(PC, SAMA)