Meretz ministers Horowitz and Frej to meet with PA's Abbas

• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Author: LAHAV HARKOV
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"We are in a government that agreed to disagree, but we didn't agree not to meet," Frej said on Thursday regarding the Palestinians.

"As for [Abbas], there is no need to get excited," he told Army Radio. "We still are not resolving the Palestinian problem."

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Later in the day at a virtual conference hosted by Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, Frej said Israel is looking to reduce the points of friction with the Palestinians.

Israel, however, "must renew the peace process and contacts with the Palestinians," he said, adding that "we have to do this."

Israel "can't run away from the Palestinian issue. It is here and it is the heart of the matter," Frej said.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed reservations about the meeting, but he did not block it from taking place, Army Radio reported. His representatives declined to comment.

A month ago, Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) met with Abbas in Ramallah and offered him a slew of goodwill gestures, including a NIS 500 million loan from the tax funds Israel withheld due to the PA's payments to terrorists and their family members, as well as 16,000 additional permits for Palestinians to work in Israel and more permits for Palestinian construction in Area C, which is under IDF control.

Bennett gave his consent for that meeting, but a source close to him clarified soon afterward...