Israel announced Tuesday, for the first time since 2009, the regularization of the status of 4,000 Palestinians residing in the occupied West Bank, speaking of a "
humanitarian
"
gesture
.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967. In a statement, Cogat, the Israeli body responsible for civilian operations in the Palestinian Territories, said that “
1,200 requests, from Palestinian residents living in Judea and Samaria (name given by Israel to the West Bank, editor's note) for many years but not registered in the Palestinian population register have been approved
”.
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"
These are residents who have been in Judea and Samaria for many years but who, for various reasons, were not entitled to documents,
" Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Twitter, calling the decision "
Humanitarian civil gesture
".
"
This decision is part of my policy to strengthen the economy and improve the lives of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria,
" he added.
The Cogat also announced that 2,800 Palestinians originating from the Gaza Strip and having reached the West Bank before 2007 could carry out a change of address.
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diplomacy
At the end of August, Benny Gantz visited the Palestinian Authority HQ in Ramallah, West Bank, to discuss security and economics with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a first meeting at this level officially announced in years. And since the arrival in June of a coalition government that ended Netanyahu's 12-year rule, two other Israeli ministers have visited the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, Nitzan Horowitz the Minister of Health and Issawi Freij, Minister of Regional Cooperation. Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid recently proposed a plan to “
improve
” the living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a commitment to “
calm
”.
Of the Islamist movement Hamas in power in this impoverished enclave.
