Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh on Sunday (January 23rd), the latter said on Twitter, marking Lapid’s first known official meeting. with a Palestinian leader. “I met this evening with the Israeli foreign minister and we discussed different political issues and bilateral relations”, said Hussein Al-Sheikh, without specifying where the meeting took place.
Questioned by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its part declined to comment without denying the holding of the meeting. At the end of December, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz during a visit to Israel. It was the first time since 2010 that Mr. Abbas had traveled to the Jewish state for an official meeting with a member of the Israeli government.
“Need a political horizon”
In the wake of the coming to power last June of the coalition government led by Naftali Bennett, Israeli ministers – including Mr. Gantz – had however visited Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, in the occupied West Bank .
In his tweet on Sunday, Hussein Al-Sheikh added that he “highlighted the need for a political horizon between the two parties, based on international law”, with particular reference to the UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After Mr. Abbas’ visit to Israel in December, the Jewish state approved a series of “confidence-building measures” with the Palestinian Authority such as the granting of 600 additional permits allowing Palestinian businessmen to travel to Israel, and the regularization of 6,000 Palestinians living in an area of the West Bank under Israeli control.
