Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held his first official meeting with a senior Israeli official in more than ten years.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he traveled to Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday evening to discuss security, civil and economic issues.
Gantz told Abbas that Israel would seek to strengthen the Palestinian economy.
US President Joe Biden wants both sides to repair relations that have deteriorated since the collapse of the last round of direct peace talks in 2014.
At the White House on Friday, Biden called on the new Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, to take “steps to improve the lives of Palestinians and support greater economic opportunities for them.”
He also reiterated his view that a negotiated two-state solution is the only viable path to a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
An Israeli government source confirmed that Sunday’s meeting was approved by Bennett, and that Gantz did not discuss peace talks with Abbas.
“There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians and there will not be,” the source told the BBC.
Palestinian official Hassan Al-Sheikh said that the talks dealt with “all aspects” of Palestinian-Israeli relations.
The Palestinian Authority severed relations with Israel last year over a plan by then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex a large part of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the future, along with the Gaza Strip.
Relations between the two sides were restored in November after the annexation plan was suspended. In June, Bennett assumed the prime ministership of Israel, succeeding Netanyahu.
Bennett, who rejects the idea of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel, said his coalition would not seek annexation and would not try to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
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