Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein Al-Sheikh (Reuters - Archive)
Israeli Channel 12 revealed that the head of the Israeli National Security Service, Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, and the coordinator of the Israeli government’s activities in the occupied West Bank, Ghassan Alian, met secretly in Tel Aviv yesterday, Tuesday, with the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Hussein Al-Sheikh.
The Israeli channel indicated that the meeting was aimed at preventing escalation in the occupied West Bank as part of what it called “joint efforts” to calm the situation on the ground before the month of Ramadan.
According to the same source, the meeting was not published in the media due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly attacking the Palestinian Authority.
Channel 12 reported that the two sides did not discuss in the meeting “the issue of the next day after the end of the war on Gaza,” as the Israeli occupation does not believe that the Palestinian Authority in its current form can be a party in managing Gaza after the war.
According to what was revealed by the Israeli channel, Hussein Al-Sheikh requested during the meeting to re-allow the entry of Palestinian workers within the Green Line to alleviate the economic crisis.
Channel 12 indicated that Israeli officials informed Hussein Al-Sheikh that the workers’ issue will be studied, and there will be a trial phase in the near future, during which Palestinian workers over the age of 45 who have been working within the Green Line for a long period will be allowed to enter after an investigation is conducted with them.
There is increasing talk in Israel about the danger of an explosion in the West Bank and the outbreak of a third intifada against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and the escalation of settler attacks and occupation incursions into cities and towns in the West Bank.
The occupation is launching a campaign of raids and arrests in the West Bank coinciding with its aggression against the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The devastating Israeli war on the Strip resulted in the martyrdom of 27,585 Palestinians, the injury of 66,978 others, and the widespread destruction and displacement of about two million people in Gaza.
The number of Palestinian detainees in the West Bank has risen to 6,870 since October 7, including 215 women and more than 400 children, according to what the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reported.
Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press