OCCUPIED JERSALEM — Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas made a rare visit to Israel Tuesday for
talks with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, that the defense ministry said focused
on security and civil matters.
اضافة اعلان
Gantz told Abbas that he intended to “continue to
promote actions to strengthen confidence in the economic and civilian fields,
as agreed during their last meeting,” the ministry statement said.
“The two men discussed security and civil matters,”
it added.
Israeli media reported that the meeting took place
at Gantz’s home in the central town of Rosh HaAyin.
In late August, Gantz visited the
Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with
Abbas, the first official meeting at such a level for several years.
But after those talks, hawkish Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett underlined that there was no peace process under way with the
Palestinians, “and there won’t be one”.
Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh
tweeted on Wednesday that Abbas met with Gantz.
“The meeting dealt with the importance of creating a
political horizon that leads to a political solution, in accordance with
international resolutions,” he said.
The pair also discussed “the tense conditions on the
ground due to the practices of settlers” as well as “many security, economic
and humanitarian issues”.
Israel’s right-wing opposition party Likud condemned
the latest meeting, saying that “concessions dangerous for Israel’s security
were only a matter of time”.
Likud added a dismissive reference to Bennett’s
governing coalition, which includes an Israeli Arab party for the first time.
“The Israeli-Palestinian government has put the
Palestinians and Abbas back on the agenda ... it is dangerous for Israel,”
Likud said.
Hamas condemned the visit.
It went against
the “national spirit of our Palestinian people”, a Hamas statement read.
“This behavior by the leadership of the Palestinian
Authority deepens the Palestinian political divide, complicates the Palestinian
situation, encourages those in the region who want to normalize relations with
the occupier, and weakens the Palestinians’ rejection of normalization,” Hamas
spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
Qassem was alluding to Gulf Arab states Bahrain and
the UAE, as well as Morocco and Sudan, which signed US-brokered normalization
deals with Israel during the presidency of Donald Trump.
Relations between Israel and the Palestinians
deteriorated sharply during Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12 years
as prime minister, up to June this year.
US-sponsored
peace talks broke down in 2014 as Netanyahu oversaw an intensification of
Jewish settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, regarded as
illegal by much of the international community.
Right-winger Bennett, the former head of a settler
lobby group who opposes Palestinian statehood, leads a coalition of parties
from the Jewish nationalist right and the left and center.
Gantz’s meeting with Abbas follows a visit to the
region by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
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