Days before US President Joe Biden’s scheduled visit to the region next week, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has met Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz.
The meeting was the third of the two in less than a year. Furthermore, it was held late on Thursday at the PA’s headquarters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
Senior PA official Hussein al-Sheikh said in a statement on Twitter that Abbas stressed the “importance of preparing the calm atmosphere” before Biden’s visit, adding that the PA welcomed the US president’s trip.
In addition to “respecting the signed agreements and stopping the actions and measures that lead to the deterioration of the situation,” al-Sheikh said the PA president also “stressed the importance of creating a political horizon.”
For his part, the meeting was held “for the purpose of security and civil coordination in preparation” for Biden’s visit, Gantz said on Twitter.
It involved an agreement “to continue close security coordination” between the PA and Israel, he noted.
