Huckabee meets with Palestinian Authority VP in Ramallah

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s deputy Hussein al-Sheikh met earlier today with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for the first time in Ramallah.

During US President Donald Trump’s first term, the PA refused to meet with his ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who is an ardent supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Huckabee holds similar views, and the decision to meet him highlights the change of circumstances since Trump’s first term, when the PA adhered to a more dogmatic approach to its ties with the US. Moreover, Ramallah’s financial and political situation has reached unprecedented lows, and it appears in desperate need of international assistance to coax Israel to reverse a series of steps that have it on the verge of collapse.

Sheikh tweets that he and Huckabee discussed efforts to end the ongoing Gaza war, notably including the need to release the Israeli hostages in addition to urgently delivering humanitarian aid to the Strip amid mounting reports of deaths due to complications from malnutrition.

The pair also discussed the West Bank economic crisis, the PA’s financial crisis and rampant, unchecked settler violence in the West Bank, the senior Palestinian official says.

“Ways to strengthen bilateral relations were explored as well as the importance of the American role in achieving stability, security, and peace in the region,” Sheikh writes.