It may be, as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisted, that there is “no peace process ongoing with the Palestinians”. But a flurry of meetings between the two sides, including an unprecedented visit by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to the home of Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, are hopeful signs that an end to the standoff may be imminent. At a rare gathering of the Palestine Liberation Organisation leadership last Sunday the octogenarian Mr Abbas said the meetings were not “an alternative to our demands for a political solution according to international law and an end to the occupation”.
He added: “We are holding contacts with Israeli ministers and officials … to solve issues that serve our people’s interests.” But, given that his unusual trip to Mr Gantz’s home (reciprocating a visit Mr Gantz made to him in Ramallah) was the first time the PA leader had held talks with a senior Israeli official in Israel since 2010, and the last formal peace talks were in 2014, the significance of the contact is clear.
Mr Abbas is in desperate need of Israeli help. After what The Wall Street Journal termed “a decade of frayed relations” under former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the PA is facing a significant threat from the growing popularity in the West Bank of the Iran-backed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups that rule Gaza. Israel’s new centrist coalition government, successor to Mr Netanyahu’s hardline Likud, has understandable self-interest to justify stepping up and offering much needed economic and other aid designed to prop up the PA, unpalatable though that may be to many Israelis. Despite its many problems, including its own legitimacy after 15 years without an election, the PA provides essential security assistance to Israel.
Read the editorial in The Australian.