Jerusalem | Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz discussed “security and economy” Tuesday evening during a meeting held, according to the Israeli press, in Israel, a first in years.
“I met this evening (Tuesday) the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. We discussed the implementation of economic and civil measures, and the importance of strengthening our security coordination (…) ”, wrote on Twitter Mr. Gantz, shortly after the announcement by his ministry of a meeting with Mr. Abbas.
On the Palestinian side, the Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh, a close friend of Mahmoud Abbas, indicated on Twitter that this meeting had focused on “security, economic and humanitarian” issues, on “tensions” linked to the activities of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and on “the importance of creating a political horizon” to achieve a “solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli Minister of Defense and the Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs did not specify the location of the meeting. According to the Israeli press, it was held at Mr. Gantz’s residence in Rosh Haayin, in central Israel.
Following the coming to power in June of the coalition government led by Naftali Bennett, Israeli ministers, including Benny Gantz, visited Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority. But it would be the first time since 2010 that Abbas has visited Israel for an official meeting with a member of the Israeli government.
The Likud party (right) of the leader of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister from 2009 to last June and virulent critic of the Palestinian president, condemned in a press release this meeting Abbas-Gantz which led according to him to “dangerous concessions for Israel’s security ”.
Hamas denounces
The government of Naftali Bennett, moreover supported by an Arab party, a first in the history of Israel, “put the Palestinians and Abbas back on the agenda and that is dangerous for Israel”, added the party. of right.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade, also condemned the meeting, believing it to deviate from “the national spirit of our Palestinian people”.
“This behavior of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority worsens the Palestinian political divide, complicates the Palestinian situation, encourages some in the region who want to normalize with the occupier and weakens the Palestinian position which rejects normalization” with Israel, he said. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem in a statement.
The Abbas-Gantz meeting comes less than a week after the visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who had discussed with Mahmoud Abbas “the resumption of a significant level of economic aid and development ”from the United States.
The current Israeli government says it wants to discuss ways to “improve” the standard of living of Palestinians, without however seeking to embark on new peace negotiations.
Peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians have stalled since 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former leader of the pro-settlement movement in the West Bank, opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.