On Monday, Israeli officials stated that the country will lend the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority more than $150 million after the sides held their highest-level meeting in years, while playing down prospects of any major diplomatic breakthrough.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who has overall responsibility for the Israeli-occupied West Bank, travelled to the Palestinian self-rule are of the territory for previously undisclosed talks on Sunday with President Mahmoud Abbas.
A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reported that the latter approved the Gantz-Abbas meeting and deemed it a “routine” matter. The source stated, “There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one.” Naftali Bennett, who is a nationalist that opposes Palestinian statehood, allowed the meeting to take place as of his return from his first talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
