Liberman quietly met top PA officials two weeks before resigning
Palestinians told then-defense minister they wanted to review economic annex of the Oslo Accords
Adam Rasgon is a former Palestinian affairs reporter at The Times of Israel
Some two weeks before Avigdor Liberman resigned as defense minister last month, he met two top Palestinian Authority officials, Majed Faraj and Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official confirmed on Tuesday.
The Kan public broadcaster first reported Monday evening about the meeting.
“Faraj and Sheikh met Liberman,” Azzam al-Ahmad, a top Fatah and Palestine Liberation Organization official, told The Times of Israel in an interview in his northern Ramallah office. “They told him we want to set a date to review the Paris Protocol with the Israeli side.”
Faraj is the PA General Intelligence Services chief and Sheikh is the PA official responsible for coordination with Israel on civil matters.
The Paris Protocol is the economic annex of the Oslo Accords that defines the PA and Israel’s economic ties.
In recent months, the Palestinians have said they intend to review the Paris Protocol, with the goal of ending their economic dependence on Israel.
Fifty-nine percent of Palestinian imports come from Israel, and 81% of Palestinian exports go to the Jewish state, according the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Ahmad said Liberman vowed to raise the Palestinian request regarding the Paris Protocol in the cabinet, but failed to give the Palestinians a response before he resigned.
“He told our side, ‘I recommend you don’t think about changing the protocol. But I will bring your request to the cabinet and provide you with its response,’” Ahmad said. “Two weeks passed and then Liberman resigned without us ever receiving his response.”
The Paris Protocol established a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to discuss and arbitrate economic disputes, but, in recent years, it has very rarely convened.
Liberman officially resigned from the government on November 15 to protest a ceasefire agreement between Israel and terrorist groups that brought an end to a major flareup in violence in the Gaza Strip.
Ahmad also said that Liberman and the top Palestinian officials discussed “security matters,” but declined to elaborate.
Israel and the PA coordinate on a number of security issues in the West Bank, including preventing violence against Israelis.
In September, PA President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Israeli peace activists in a meeting in Ramallah that Israeli and PA forces work together “on a daily basis” and that he and his people “do anything possible so that no Israeli gets hurt,” according to Peace Now, whose executive director attended the meeting with the Palestinian leader.
Liberman confirmed that he met Faraj and Sheikh, but denied Ahmad’s characterization of the meeting.
“The description and details of the meeting that were sent to us are completely untrue,” Liberman said in a statement provided through a spokesman. “Naturally, the defense minister maintains ties with all security parties in the region including the Palestinians.”
The Times of Israel Community.