Israel’s FM Lapid Meets Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Sheikh
High-level contacts are continuing between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials. Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who will take over as prime minister a year from now, met on Sunday with PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, a close confidant of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. It is the first meeting made public between Lapid and a PA official.
“I met this evening with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and we discussed several political and bilateral issues. I have highlighted the need for a political horizon between the two parties based on #international legitimacy,” Sheikh tweeted after the meeting. Lapid’s office neither confirmed nor denied the meeting in response to questions from Israeli media. Sheikh is poised to become the PA’s new chief peace negotiator with Israel, months after the death of Saeb Erekat.
Lapid has publicly said that he cannot enter into peace negotiations with the Palestinians since the current Israeli government, made up of lawmakers from several disparate political parties from the left, right and center, does not support such a move. Last month, al-Sheikh was among the senior Palestinian officials present at a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz at Gantz’s home in central Israel.
