RAMALLAH — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the
Israeli defense minister met for a rare high-level meeting, but a source close
to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisted Monday his government had no plans
to reboot peace talks.
اضافة اعلان
Defense Minister Benny Gantz met
Abbas in Ramallah late
Sunday for what were reportedly the first direct talks between an Israeli
cabinet member and the 86-year-old Palestinian leader in several years.
The meeting, which Gantz's office said focused on
"security policy, civilian and economic issues", came just hours
after Bennett returned from Washington where he met US President Joe Biden.
Biden had said he would urge Bennett to find ways "to
advance peace and security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians".
According to an Israeli statement, Gantz told Abbas that
Israel "seeks to take measures that will strengthen the Palestinian
Authority’s (PA) economy."
"They also discussed shaping the security and economic
situations in the West Bank and in Gaza," and agreed to "continue
communicating further," it added.
A source close to Bennett said the meeting that he had
approved focused on "issues between the defense establishment and the
PA."
"There
is no peace process with the Palestinians nor will there be," under
Bennett's leadership, said the source who requested anonymity.
The Gantz-Abbas meeting also included the head of the branch
of the Israeli occupation forces responsible for civil affairs in the
Palestinian territories, Ghasan Alyan, senior PA official Hussein Al Sheikh and
Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj.
Gantz's office said he and Abbas had held "a one-on-one
meeting" after the broader talks.
Al Sheikh confirmed the meeting on Twitter but the PA was
not immediately available to comment on its substance.
Hamas vs Abbas
Bennett, 49, took office in June as head of an eclectic
coalition in which his hawkish party holds only a handful of seats.
He is a long-standing opponent of Palestinian statehood and
the former head of a council that lobbies for Jewish settlers in the West Bank,
a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Jewish settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal
under international law.
But despite Bennett's personal views, his government has
sought to warm ties with the PA after relations had effectively collapsed under
former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was in power from 2009 until June
this year.
Netanyahu, also a pro-settlement right-winger long reviled
by Palestinians, further alienated Abbas through his tight embrace of former US
president Donald Trump, who was accused of extreme pro-Israel bias.
Palestinian division
Bennett's government has indicated a desire to boost the PA
amid concern over a fresh conflict with
Hamas who controls Israeli-blockaded
Gaza and are rivals of Abbas's secular Fatah movement.
Israel’s 11-day aggression on Gaza in marked the worst
hostilities in the area since 2014 and unrest has persisted despite an
Egypt-brokered ceasefire.
Hamas meanwhile condemned the Abbas-Gantz meeting, charging
that it "deepens Palestinian political division".
Abbas has tightened his hold over the PA since his election
in 2006. He cancelled elections set for May and July that would have been the
first Palestinian polls in 15 years.
The veteran leader cited Israel's refusal to allow voting in
annexed east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as their future capital.
But some Palestinian experts said Abbas balked when it
seemed clear Hamas was poised to rout Fatah at the polls.
Abbas's PA has also come under mounting global criticism
over an alleged crackdown on internal opposition following the death in
Palestinian custody of a prominent activist.
The UN and EU last week expressed alarm over a spate of
arrests targeting leading critics of Abbas and the PA.
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