Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli minister hold talks

Jerusalem, August 30

Israel’s Defence Minister held talks late Sunday with the Palestinian president in the first high-level meeting between the two sides in years, officials said.

The meeting between Benny Gantz and Mahmoud Abbas signalled a possible shift of direction after after the near-complete breakdown of communication between Abbas and Israeli leaders in recent years, under former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu pursued a hard-line policy toward the Palestinians, backed by former US President Donald Trump who had approved pro-Israeli policies such as moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Abbas halted most contacts with the US and Israel during those years.

Netanyahu had repeatedly claimed Abbas was not a reliable partner for negotiating a peace deal, a portrayal dismissed by Netanyahu critics as a pretext for avoiding making concessions. The meeting came just after Israel’s PM Naftali Bennett, was received at the White House by President Joe Biden. — AP