Meeting President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Minister Affirms Support For Palestinian Independence And Two-State Solution

President of Palestina Mahmoud Abbas. (Wikimedia Commons / Press Service of the President of Russia)

JAKARTA - The Palestinian president asked Israel to end the occupation and expulsion of civilians in his country, citing the importance of realizing peace according to international agreements, while receiving a visit from a delegation of Israeli officials, Sunday evening in Ramallah.

President Mahmoud Abbas received Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Freij, and deputy Michal Rozin, all from the left-wing Meretz party, part of the ruling coalition.

"The president underlined the importance of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just and global peace in accordance with international resolutions," the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing Middle East Eye on October 3.

On the occasion, President Mahmoud Abbas also stressed the need to end Israeli settlements, including ending the forced expulsion of Palestinian families from various parts of occupied East Jerusalem, the report said.

Meretz members reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution to the conflict, for an independent Palestinian state, and the need to build trust between the two sides.

"We share the same mission," Horowitz later wrote on Twitter.

"To keep the hope of peace based on a two-state solution," the tweet continued, featuring a photo of him standing with Abbas.

Leader Meretz Horowitz has been heavily criticized by the right-wing in Israel for his meeting with President Abbas.

In late August, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited the Palestinian Authority headquarters for talks with Abbas, the first official meeting at this level in years.

But after the talks, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said there was no ongoing peace process with the Palestinians, "and there won't be one".

Sunday's meeting came as leaders of the Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, were holding talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, over a possible prisoner swap with Israel.

Earlier, speaking at the UN General Assembly last month, President Abbas on September 24 gave Israel one year to withdraw from the occupied territories. Failing that, he will no longer recognize Israel under the 1967 borders.

Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 and considers all cities its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they want to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While some Palestinians and Israelis support the idea of a single binational state, most have very different ideas about what the entity might look like and how it will be governed.

To note, PM Bennett, who leads a fragile coalition government, has ruled out the creation of a Palestinian state, saying his government will continue to expand existing illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

יו"ר מרצ השר @NitzanHorowitz , השר @EsawiFr ויו"ר סיעת מרצ ח"כ @Michal_Rozin הערב ברמאללה עם נשיא הרשות הפלסטינית מחמוד עבאס. pic.twitter.com/SZuMFMMgXt

— מרצ (@meretzparty) October 3, 2021