After Israeli PM Met With President Biden, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Met The Israeli Defense Minister

JAKARTA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday local time, officials said.

It is the first high-level meeting between President Abbas and an Israeli minister to be made public since the new Israeli government under Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was formed in June.

Minister Benny Gant, who heads the centrist party, told Abbas that Israel would take steps to strengthen the Palestinian economy, according to a statement from his office.

"They also discussed establishing the security and economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza", the statement said.

"They agreed to continue to communicate further on the issues raised during the meeting", the statement continued.

Separately, Hussein Al-Sheikh, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah Group which is President Mahmoud Abbas's political base, said the discussions covered "all aspects" of relations between the Palestinians and Israel.

The meeting in Ramallah comes just days after PM Naftali Bennett met US President Joe Biden at the White House, where President Biden reaffirmed support for a two-state solution.

Peace talks between the two sides broke down in 2014, although Israel has over the past year reached normalization agreements with several Arab countries, under US sponsorship.

To note, Israel's new government currently includes a long stretch of party streams, from far left to far right, including the joining of a small Islamic faction in the Israeli governing coalition.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the ultranationalist party, opposes Palestinian statehood. But given the makeup of the coalition, any sensitive policy decisions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be difficult.