Senior intel official: Israel-PA deal possible

PA President Mahmoud Abbas is a legitimate peace partner and he has “consistently kept the peace and quiet,” a senior military intelligence officer told Channel 10.

Speaking to MKs and ministers recently, Brig.-Gen. Dror Shalom said, “I know some of you might not like to hear this, but since 2004, there is a leader, Abbas, who has generated quiet and opposed terrorism.” He added that “there is a basis for a solution to the conflict.”

Shalom said “it is true that we are not the world’s problem, but we are an easy target.”

In early September, there was talk of a Russian-arranged meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, either in Moscow or in Luxembourg.

“We’ll see, either one – or any other place,” Netanyahu had said, reiterating that Israel is “always ready for direct negotiations without preconditions.” However, the meeting did not come to fruition.

Later that month, President Reuven Rivlin and Abbas were seen in a video posted on the Ramallah News Facebook page, greeting one another before the funeral of former president Shimon Peres.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.