RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli media said that Mahmoud Abbas cancelled a ceremony, scheduled to take place on Thursday, intended for naming a square in the West Bank city of Ramallah after female martyr Dalal Al-Mughrabi who carried out a commando operation in 1978.

Israeli news reports quoted Palestinian officials in Ramallah as saying that Abbas’s decision to call off the ceremony came after Israeli demands in this regard.

The reports said that Abbas wanted to avoid drawing criticism against his authority especially since this ceremony coincided with the visit of US vice president Joe Biden to the region.

Israeli information minister Yuli Edelstein recently sent a letter to premier Benjamin Netanyahu asking him to deal firmly with the intention of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to dedicate a square in Ramallah to the memory of Mughrabi, who is considered by Palestinians as a national hero.

The letter called on Netanyahu to send a message of protest to the US administration to put an end to this ceremony.