Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister approved the raft measures aimed at increasing relations with Palestine on Wednesday after a rare meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Israel.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz met Abbas at his personal residence on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.
It was the first time Abbas met an Israeli official in Israel since 2010.
Both discuss the coordination of security between Israel and the Abbas Palestinian authority, which manages the occupied West Bank bags.
Gantz’s office said he agreed “the action of building trust” including the transfer of tax payments to Palestinian authorities, authorization of hundreds of permits for traders and VIP Palestine, and agreed to residence status for thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel collected taxes worth hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of PA as part of a temporary peace agreement signed in the 1990s.
Tax Transfer is the main source of funds for Palestinians who are bound by cash, but Israel has funds because PA benefits to thousands of families have killed, injured or imprisoned in conflict.
Israel said the payment gave terrorism, while Palestine said they provided important support for families in need.
Israel approved a residency for around 9,500 Palestinians.
Israel controls the Palestinian population registry, and for years the policy has left forecast tens of thousands of Palestinians without legal status, greatly limiting their freedom of moves, even in occupied areas.
Israel provides legal status to around 4,000 Palestinians in October.
Israeli Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett opposes Palestinian state.
His government did not show interest in reviving peace negotiations, which strike more than a decade ago, but said he wanted to reduce tensions by improving living conditions in the West Bank.
The last months have seen a surge in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestine in the West Bank and Palestinian attacks on Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Gantz’s meeting with Abbas – the second in six months since the Bennett coalition government served – drawing vocal criticism from Israeli opposition lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the largest in parliament.
Palestinians seek an independent state covering all Westerns, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli area was arrested in the Mideast War in 1967.
Hamas confiscated Gaza from Abbas forces in 2007, a year after the Islamic militant group won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
Gaza has been under Israeli-Egypt’s blockade since then.
Israel approved steps for Palestine after leaders met
