Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Israeli delegation

An interview took place in Ramallah on Sunday (October 3) late in the evening between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an Israeli delegation. Mr. Abbas received, at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, Nitzan Horowitz and Issawi Freij, respectively Israeli ministers of health and regional cooperation, as well as MP Michal Rozin, all of the left-wing Meretz formation , member of the new Israeli coalition government.

“The president stressed the importance of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just and comprehensive peace in accordance with international resolutions, and the need to end the settlements.” and to “Expulsion” Palestinian families in different neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

These members of the Meretz party have affirmed their support “To the two-state solution”, an independent and viable Palestine alongside Israel, and the need to “Cooperate to build bridges and trust” between Israelis and Palestinians, the agency added.

“We have a common mission: to maintain the hope of a peace based on a two-state solution because there are no other solutions”, Nitzan Horowitz, head of Meretz training, wrote on Twitter late Sunday, by posting a photo alongside President Mahmoud Abbas, socket “Tonight in Ramallah”.

Criticism within the Israeli right

“We have taken a new step to deepen cooperation with our closest and most important neighbors”, added Horowitz, whose meeting with the head of the Palestinian Authority is provoking criticism from the Israeli right.

End of August, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz previously visited Palestinian Authority HQ in Ramallah to discuss security and economy with Mahmoud Abbas. It was the first meeting at this level officially announced in years.

“There is no ongoing peace process with the Palestinians and there won’t be”, however moderated a source close to the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, after the Abbas-Gantz interview.

Sunday evening’s meeting between the Palestinian president and an Israeli delegation coincides with talks in Cairo between the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Egypt, in particular about a possible exchange of prisoners between Israel and this movement. armed Islamist.