Palestinian Minister of National Economy Bassem Khoury met with Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem on Wednesday in what is believed to be the first minister-level meeting since the current Israeli government came to power.
The meeting was said to address bureaucratic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including entry permits for businesspeople, the export of milk products from the West Bank to Israel, and medical treatment for Palestinians in Israel.
Although the Palestinian leadership refuses to negotiate with the current right-wing Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is forced to coordinate on day-to-day issues with Israel, which is still the occupying force in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel controls nearly all border crossings and entry points to Jerusalem, in addition to Palestine’s tax system, customs code, major West Bank highways, customs code, and directly administers a large portion of the West Bank.
Representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, and the Justice and Finance ministries were slated to attend the meeting, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said.
According to the newspaper, Minister Shalom's objective in the meeting was to advance the concept of “economic peace” between the two parties.
Shalom and Khoury are also slated to discuss a proposed industrial zone in the West Bank city of Jenin, the Christian pilgrimage site Qasr al-Yahud on the Jordan River, and other areas of PA-Israeli coordination.
"I am glad that the Palestinians have realized that boycotting meetings with Israel and its government are harmful first and foremost to them," Shalom said before the meeting, according to Yedioth.
"I have said in the past that our goal is to achieve economic peace and this does not prevent political dialogue, but helps it," he added.
The two ministers recently shook hands in the past at a Peres Center for Peace seminar on economic peace.
At the time, Khoury said he "would like to meet with Israeli ministers for bilateral talks when the conditions allow."
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