Palestinian president meets Carter in West Bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met on Saturday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Abbas, during their meeting, urged an end to internal divisions among all Palestinian factions, and called for reconciliation to pave the way for the general elections in the Palestinian territories, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Carter arrived in the Palestinian territories on Thursday leading a senior delegation of Council of International Wise Men. He was scheduled to pay a visit to Gaza and meet with Hamas movement officials, but the trip has been called off.

Abbas called on Hamas to enable the consensus government formed in June last year to perform its duties in the Gaza Strip and prepare for holding the general Palestinian elections.

Last week, the consensus government accused Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, of obstructing it from unifying the official establishments of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).