Palestine, Israel to reactivate joint economic committee: official

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-02 00:48:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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RAMALLAH, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Palestine and Israel agreed on Thursday to reactivate the joint economic committee and expand its power in the West Bank, a Palestinian government spokesperson said.

Yousef Al-Mahmoud, the Palestinian government spokesperson said in a press release that the agreement was signed in a rare meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and the Israeli minister of finance Moshe Kahlon in Ramallah on Wednesday.

According to Al-Mahmoud, the agreement includes opening Al-Karama crossing between the West Bank and Jordan all the time except Friday and Saturday, starting from June 20 to November. The crossing will be running all the time from the beginning of 2018 as well.

He added that both sides agreed to activate the joint economic committee, reconsider Paris Economic Agreement and expand the Palestinian Authority influence in area (C) according to the previous agreed agreement that linked to stopping Israeli demolition of the Palestinian facilities under non-licensing excuse.

The meeting also agreed on establishing an industrial area in Tarqumiya, Hebron governorate that includes customs clearance area and oil, gas stores. Al-Mahmoud said the meeting discussed Palestinian national rights and interests that Israel must offer and commit according to the signed agreements.

The spokesperson also said that Hamdallah affirmed during the meeting on the necessity of the political solution, insisting on the two-state solution and the Arab peace initiative as a comprehensive solution in the region.

Hamdallah also considered the Israeli people want peace and they need a courageous political leadership. Israeli ministerial council approved on May 21 facilities for Palestinians in the West Bank.

The approval was endorsed hours before the first visit of the U.S. president Donald Trump to Israel and the West Bank which took two days with promises to work on resuming peace talk between both sides.

The peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis halted in the end of March 2014 after 9 month of U.S.-backed talks, with no positive results to end the long-term conflict.

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