On Sunday evening, Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the Muqata in Ramallah, allegedly in order to discuss security-policy, civilian and economic issues. The meeting was held with the knowledge and approval of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Responding to the news, the Religious Zionism party issued a statement decrying the meeting.
"The attempts of Bennett and his men to diminish the severity of this meeting and its consequences will not succeed in disguising the truth. After years during which the right wing turned Abu Mazen [Abbas] into an irrelevant figure, using massive effort to choke off the option of a two-state solution and remove it from the agenda, this Bennett government has restored Abu Mazen to the forefront of the international arena, is artificially reviving him, reviving the diplomatic process between Israel and the PA, and is inviting the international community to exert pressure on Israel to submit to demands to divide the Land.
"Bennett's left-wing partners understand all too well the significance of this meeting, and that is the reason why they are all loudly rejoicing this morning. To our sorrow, Bennett has proven that he has no red lines in his determination to ensure his political survival in a government of left-wing parties and Arab supporters of terrorism that he himself established."