Lapid’s office gave a brief statement saying that the men spoke about “continuing cooperation and the need for quiet and calm.”
The statement stated that Abbas had congratulated Lapid upon becoming Prime Minister. Lapid then passed along his best wishes for Eid al-Adha to the Palestinian leader, which is a Muslim holiday that starts Friday.
Wafa, a Palestinian news agency, also reported the conversation. They said that President Abbas had expressed his wish for “peace and stability” in the region.
While Lapid’s predecessor Naftali Bennett (right-winger) chose not to meet with Abbas during the 12-month period of his premiership, long-term leader Benjamin Netanyahu overseen a decline in Israel’s relations and the Palestinian Authority. He last spoke to Abbas in 2017.
The current Israeli government’s shift in approach was underlined by the visit of Defense Minister Benny Gantz to Abbas at his Ramallah office on Thursday evening.
The Palestinian leader stressed the importance to create a political horizon during the meeting [and]Wafa reported on the commitment to the signed arrangements, which refers to a series agreement signed between the sides in 1990.
Biden will visit Israel and the West Bank next week. There he will meet Abbas, in what will be the first meeting between a Palestinian leader with a US president since 2017. The White House hopes that this meeting will bring an end to the significant fall in US-Palestinian relations during the Trump administration.
Abbas also traveled to Algeria this week for a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. This was also a first in many years.
The meeting took place alongside celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary Algerian independence, according to Algeria’s State News Agency.
Since many years, tensions have existed between Abbas’s Fatah Party, the largest Palestinian faction, as well as Hamas, an Islamist group running Gaza. These two groups were involved in open conflict in June 2007, which led to violence that resulted from the loss of Palestinian Authority authority in Gaza.
