Ronald Lauder
Ronald LauderFlash 90

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas met in Amman with World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, Kol Yisrael radio reported on Tuesday evening.

According to the report, the two discussed efforts to advance the peace process between Israel and the PA.

The Walla! Hebrew-language news website reported about the meeting as well, citing the PA-based Wafa news agency. According to that report, Lauder and Abbas discussed the situation in the region, and the PA chairman reportedly brought up the arson attack on the PA village of Duma and claimed that “settlers” were attacking Palestinians.

Lauder is considered a close associate of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but there were no indications in any of the reports that the meeting was initiated by Netanyahu.

The meeting comes amid repeated attempts by the West to renew talks between Israel and the PA, which have been stalled for over a year.

The European Union recently said it will explore setting up a new international format to breathe life back into the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

France has also sought to bring the sides back to the negotiating table, saying recently it was working on a possible resolution at the UN that would set negotiating parameters and establish a time period, possibly 18 months, to complete talks.

Minister Silvan Shalom, who was appointed by Netanyahu to be in charge of peace talks, met last week in Jordan with the PA’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat.

Shalom recently called for the resumption of peace talks, but also noted that “it takes two to tango” and that the PA needs to also show willingness to resume talks.

Netanyahu himself recently spoke with Abbas and indicated in that conversation that the citizens of Israel want peace and added that Israel would continue to act toward regional stability.