First meeting in a decade with Palestinian leader
ISRAEL’S DEFENCE minister Benny Gantz this week sat down with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the highest level meeting between the two sides in a decade.
The talks were said to be conciliatory and more about mending bridges than big-picture peace negotiations.
Reacting to the financial crisis of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mr Gantz offered a £115 million loan. If accepted, Jerusalem will transfer the equivalent of tax money that it has collected on the PA’s behalf. A 2018 law states the money must be withheld because stipends are doled out from the PA capital Ramallah to convicted terrorists.
Mr Gantz and Mr Abbas also discussed security.
Though sources close to the Israeli government of Naftali Bennett stressed that the meeting was not a precursor to peace negotiations, it does appear to mark a change in attitude towards Ramallah.
The previous government of Benjamin Netanyahu government was antagonistic to the PA, but Mr Gantz appears keen to bolster it.
“The stronger the Palestinian Authority is, the weaker Hamas will be,” Mr Gantz said after the meeting, according to Israeli reports. “And the greater its ability to govern, the more security we’ll have, and the less we’ll need to do.”
Prime Minister Bennett has just returned from Washington where he met President Joe Biden. The timing of the meeting with the PA suggests it was requested by the US president with the agreement of Mr Bennett.
But some ministers on the right of Israel’s governing coalition were unhappy. Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope party said the meeting should not have taken place. Meanwhile, a
Hamas spokesman said the meeting was a “stab in the back” for Palestinians, and a “betrayal the blood of martyrs.” Tel Aviv University Middle East analyst Uzi Rabi said the meeting is unlikely to pave the way for peace talks but still has significance. He told the JC: “The Israeli government is comprised of so many orientations and opinions and we believe that its members have agreed in advance that the status quo on the Palestinian issue will remain. But there could be strategic meaning from this meeting for the long run.”
He added that Jerusalem may be investing in its relationship with the PA to ensure Gaza’s stability should Hamas be ousted.
Veteran Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin thinks the meeting represented “a positive step after a decade without contact at the ministerial level”.
He told the JC: “There is no chance of a renewed negotiating process on the basis of two states, because of the lack of ability by both sides to negotiate a two-state deal in good faith. But there is much that can be done to enable a more positive peacemaking environment.”