July 8 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke by phone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, marking the first direct contact between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in years.
The two men spoke of “the continuation of cooperation and the desire for calm and tranquility,” he added.
He and Abbas are “briefly the newest situation,” Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said in a tweet.
The verbal exchange marked the first time an Israeli prime minister has addressed Abbas directly in more than five years and came as arrangements for a U. S. president are underway. U. S. President Joe Biden next week.
Al-Sheikh said Abbas had under pressure “the importance of preparing a calm environment” ahead of Biden’s stopover at his meeting with Gantz, adding that the Palestinian Authority welcomes the US president’s vacation in the region.
Biden is expected to make stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia on a three-day trip, which is expected to begin Wednesday.
It is expected to end on July 15 with a stopover in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Biden will attend a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, an organization also known as GCC 3.