Israeli Defense Minister Gantz meets Palestinian Authority President Abbas in Ramallah. It is the first known high level meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in almost a decade. It occurs on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Bennett’s first meeting with US President Biden. With the PA’s popularity among Palestinians on a precipitous decline and with the Biden administration realizing that neither Palestinians nor Israelis were remotely ready for political negotiations, Israel suggested substantial measures to better Palestinian lives. Among other improvements, Gantz promises to allow 15,000 more permits for Palestinians to work in Israel, (hourly wages are three times greater), increase the geographic areas for Palestinian policing to curb criminality, provide a loan to the PA to get through a financial crunch, and grant undocumented Palestinians West Bank residency. Application of these improvements was applied at the end of September 2021. Though the PA was drained of popular appeal, neither Israel, the US, Jordan, nor other states could afford to have a withering PA undermined by radically toxic governance, supported from Iran for example. In December 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Ganz met with PA president Abbas to implement economic and social betterment measures for the Palestinians.
August 30, 2021
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