The Hebrew website Walla said Friday that a meeting will be held between the Israeli Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and the Palestinian Authority (PA) government’s premier Rami Hamdallah in the coming weeks.
Quoting an Israeli diplomatic source the website reported that the place of the meeting which will be held immediately after the end of Eid al-Fitr has not been determined so far but it might be in Ramallah.
According to the website this will be the second meeting between the two sides in less than a month and it is expected to result in the announcement of a series of economic measures and facilities to the PA based on recommendations by the US President Donald Trump.
Since his appointment as the Minister of Finance in the Israeli government Kahlon has held semi-periodic meetings with senior PA officials such as his Palestinian counterpart Shukri Bishara and the PA Minister of Civil Affairs Husein al-Sheikh.
Most of these meetings took place in Kahlon’s office in Tel Aviv and with the knowledge of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The website pointed out that Kahlon is the only Israeli minister who has publicly visited the PA areas since 2009.
The website noted that Kahlon believes that the stability of the Palestinian economy serves Israel on the economic political and security levels.
US special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt is expected to arrive in the occupied Palestinian territories next week for another round of meetings in Tel Aviv and Ramallah that fall in line with the efforts exerted to resume negotiations.
The Israeli cabinet approved in May a series of economic measures aimed at improving the Palestinian economy ahead of Trump’s visit to Israel in the same month.
