Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has arrived in Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the highest level since the new Israeli government came to power in June. It is believed that the meeting took place at the insistence of US President Joe Biden, who last week met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House. This is reported by Arab News.
It also included the head of the Israeli military department responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, Hasan Alyan, a senior official of the Palestinian Authority, Hussein al-Sheikh, and the head of Palestinian intelligence, Majid Faraj.
Abbas and Gantz discussed Israel’s legal obligations and commitments, a senior Palestinian source said. “We demand the restoration of the security of the Palestinians at the border crossing, as it was before October 2000, the opening of the airport in Gaza, ensuring freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank, family reunification, the solution of many financial obligations that Israel owes us and has the right to build on all the occupied territories,” the agency interlocutor said.
“We are not obliged to make any concessions on these Israeli obligations, which are contained in the signed agreements, which the United States is witnessing.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a former member of the PLO’s executive committee, told Arab News that the meeting was about economic cooperation and maintaining the Palestinian Authority’s security role. “This is not political, it is manipulating the occupation in the interests of Israel, emphasizing the functional role of the PA,” she said.
Najib Kadumi, a member of the Palestinian National and Central Council, told Arab News that the timing of the meeting was aimed at creating a false sense of movement, but in fact nothing significant has changed.
“They still look at the Palestinians through the prism of security, and not through the prism of national rights and the right to national self – determination,” he said.
Kadumi said that the Palestinians and the world should not expect serious expectations from the Biden administration. “Of course, he is different from Trump, but he did not tell the Palestinians anything about settlements or Jerusalem, but only verbally supports the idea of a two-state solution.”
Dina Buttu, a former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating group, said: “The equation is always the same – the occupation should give the occupier a safe space to commit war crimes. In return, we get bread.”
Fadi Elsalamin, a senior fellow at the American Security Project, said the meeting was part of a strategy to strengthen Abbas as ruler in the West Bank in the hope that somehow, with Israel’s support, Abbas could make a difference for himself and Israel. “Anyone with common sense knows that this is a failed strategy,” he said.
After the meeting, Israel said it would lend the PA more than $ 150 million to ease the authorities ‘ financial crisis, but analysts noted that Israel was actually lending the Palestinians their own money. Last month, the Israeli government withheld $ 180 million from 2020 tax revenues collected on behalf of the PA.