Palestinian president, Israeli defence minister hold rare talks

IsraeliDefenceMinisterBenny Gantz metPalestinianpresidentMahmud Abbas in the West Bank on Sunday for the first officialIsraeli-Palestiniantalkssince PrimeMinisterNaftali Bennett took office in June.

Gantz travelled to the West Bank city of Ramallah for security and economic discussions with the 85-year-oldPalestinianleader, officials said on Monday.

They came hours afterIsraelipremier Bennett returned from Washington where he met with USPresidentJoe Biden at the White House.

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"DefenceMinisterBenny Gantz met withPalestinianAuthority Chairman Mahmud Abbas (Sunday) evening to discuss security policy, civilian and economic issues," Israel'sdefenceministry said in a statement.

Gantz, head of a centrist party in Israel's government coalition, told Abbas "that Israel seeks to take measures that will strengthen the PA's economy. They also discussed shaping the security and economic situations in the West Bank and in Gaza," it added.

"They agreed to continue communicating further."

The meeting included the head of theIsraelimilitary branch responsible for civil affairs in thePalestinianterritories, Ghasan Alyan,senior PA official Hussein Al Sheikh andPalestinianintelligence chief Majid Faraj.

Al Sheikh confirmed the meeting on Twitter. Gantz's office said thedefenceministerand Abbas held "a one-on-one meeting" after the largertalks.

Relations between Israel and the PA, which is based in theIsraeli-occupied West Bank, have deteriorated substantially in recent years.

FormerIsraeliprimeministerBenjamin Netanyahu, in power from 2009 to 2021, was derided by Palestinians.

He made no substantive efforts towards resolving the decades-old conflict while overseeing a steady expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, communities regarded as illegal under international law.

Bennett is a hardline nationalist who opposesPalestinianstatehood and previously led a powerful settler lobbying council.

His office has made clear that Israel's ideologically disparate coalition, which includes left-wingers and hawks like the premier, has no plans to initiate a new round of peacetalks.

But topIsraeliofficials have indicated a desire to boost the PA amid concern over a fresh conflict with Hamas Islamists who control Gaza, anIsraeli-blockadedPalestinianterritory that is separate from the West Bank.

Eleven days of conflict between Israel andPalestinianmilitants in Gaza in May marked the worst hostilities in the area since 2014 and unrest has persisted despite an Egypt-brokered ceasefire.

Abbas's PA has also come under mounting global criticism over an alleged crackdown on key rights following the death inPalestiniancustody of a prominent activist.

The United Nations and European Union last week expressed alarm over a spate of arrests targeting leading critics of Abbas and the PA.