Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Ramallah on Sunday with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, to discuss Palestinian Israeli relations.
“President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, met, on Sunday evening, in Ramallah, with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz,” said Hussein Al Sheikh, member of the Central Committee of the ‘Fatah’ movement and head of the General Authority for Civil Affairs.
This meeting is the first official high-level meeting between Abbas and an Israeli official since the formation of the new Israeli government in June.
The session, which was not announced in advance, covered only “routine issues”, according to Al Sheikh, adding that the talks included “all aspects” of Palestinian-Israeli relations.
Gantz said on his Twitter account that he told Mahmoud Abbas that ‘Israel is ready to take a series of measures that will strengthen the economy of the Palestinian Authority.’
‘We also discussed shaping the security and economic situations in the West Bank and in Gaza. We agreed to continue communicating further on the issues that were raised during the meeting,’ he added.
Following this meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett moved to play down any notion of negotiations with the Palestinians.
Hours after Mahmoud Abbas met with Benny Gantz, Israeli media quoted “a source close to the prime minister” as saying: “There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one.”
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