Alwaght- A spokesman with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement has strongly condemned Thursday’s meeting of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli minister of military affairs Benny Gantz in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
Tariq Salmi pointed to the history of cooperation between the PA and Zionist occupiers against Resistance forces in the West Bank, noting that such relations make the enemy able to continue aggression.
“Insistence on holding security calls and meetings serves the interests and plots of enemy and keeps the enemy able to continue daily aggressions against the Palestinian nation,” he said.
According to reports, the meeting sought to coordinate security measures ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the occupied territories between July 13-16.
“Maintaining illegal ties with the enemy, which is considered a crime across the country, is a fundamental obstacle on the path of reviving the unity that the Palestinian nation talks about,” Tariq added.
Referring to the continuation of resistance and fight against occupiers in the West Bank, he said, “We strongly believe in the capabilities of brave battalions of Islamic Jihad for continuing confrontation with settlement projects and occupiers’ aggression in the West Bank.”
This was the third meeting between Abbas and Gantz in a year and the first since Lapid took over as caretaker prime minister.
The Palestinian Authority has been under heavy criticism for sharing intelligence with the Israeli regime about Palestinian activists who are wanted by the regime.
A Palestinian journalist has described the meeting as “adding salt to a wound.” Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, Mariam Barghouti regretted the disregard of the PA for the needs of Palestinians. “It’s very telling of where the PA stands and its complete disregard and disrespect of the Palestinian need to live in dignity, to live in freedom,” she said.
Meanwhile, the latest reports indicate that Abbas also held separate phone calls on Friday with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and prime minister Yair Lapid.
Media outlets have dubbed the call as the first one between an Israeli prime minister and the PA president in several years.
In a statement, Lapid’s office announced that the parties discussed “continuing the collaboration between the two sides and assuring calm and de-escalation” ahead of Biden’s trip.
The calls and meetings come as Palestinians are marking July 8 as the anniversary of Israel’s 50-day war on the Gaza strip in 2014.
The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women, and 410 elderly people – were also injured.
