Defense Minister Bnei Gantz met tonight (Monday) with Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen in Ramallah, in the first official meeting of a senior minister with PA Chairman since 2010. It should be noted that in 2013 a side meeting took place between Abu Mazen and then-President Shimon Award, but not an official meeting.
The two discussed security and civil-economic issues, and the bilateral relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
During the meeting, Ganz told Chairman Abu Mazen that Israel is ready for a series of measures that will strengthen the Palestinian Authority's economy. The two also discussed shaping the security, civilian and economic realities in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.
The two even agreed to keep in touch on the various issues raised.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was updated at the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the Coordinator of Operations in the Occupied Territories, Maj. Gen. Rassan Aliyan, Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein a-Sheikh and Chief of Staff Majed Faraj, after which the two held a four-way meeting.
"Palestinian frustration will explode inside Israel and US"
Only yesterday, Palestinian sources expressed anger and frustration at the meeting of US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Washington on Friday, due to the push of the Palestinian issue to the margins of the discourse.
A senior figure in the Ramallah Muqattah told Israel Today that the Palestinian disappointment stemmed from the fact that the US president had not yet announced whether he would meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and that senior figures in Abu Mazen's office said it was not clear "To the White House and to meet with him, since all the messages we sent and the references we conveyed regarding the need for a meeting between the two leaders were not answered at all."
The Palestinian issue has been pushed to the margins.
President Biden and Prime Minister Bennett in the Oval Office, AFP
Another senior official in Ramallah told Israel Today that the Palestinian Authority chairman and advisers are furious with the Biden government over the fact that the US president and his men are "dissolving the opening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem." Biden people that the consulate will reopen after the change of government in the US.
The same senior official added: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general and the Palestinian issue in particular are not on the administration's agenda. Unfortunately, frustration among the Palestinian public in the West Bank and in Gaza may explode on Israelis and Americans."