Hundreds of delegates are attending the first full session of the Palestine Liberation Organization's parliament in more than two decades.

President Mahmoud Abbas is speaking to the Palestinian National Council later Monday, launching four days of meetings during which an aging PLO leadership group is up for election.

The meeting comes at a time of deep internal divisions between Abbas and his rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has raised its leadership profile in recent weeks with mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel. By comparison, Abbas' longstanding strategy — statehood through U.S.-led talks with Israel — is seen as a failure.

Abbas suspended contacts with the Trump administration after its recognition in December of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital.