Officials in Ramallah were not surprised that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's made no mention of the Palestinians in his UN General Assembly address.
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Nevertheless, a senior official from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office told Israel Hayom Ramallah had no expectations Bennett would promote a diplomatic process with the Palestinians. Instead, he said they were waiting for the day when Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would enter the Prime Minister Office as part of the coalition's government rotation agreement.
"Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is ignoring the Palestinians. It doesn't matter. We're ignoring him too. We didn't expect the person who headed the Yesha Council [the umbrella organization of Jewish localities in Judea and Samaria] to change his ideology," the senior Palestinian official told Israel Hayom. He added: "All of the talks, the contacts, and the meetings held thus far and that will be held later down the line are aimed at one thing, and that is laying the ground for the possibility Bennett will conclude his role in another year and a half, and the prime minister will be Lapid.
"It's clear to us that Bennett has neither the ideological desire nor sufficient public support to start the peace process back up and return to the negotiating table, although in the current Israeli government, unlike the governments over the past decade, there are those who are willing to sit and talk and try to promote processes, and accordingly, we as well the Israeli representatives we are in contact with are working to restore trust in both sides.
Another member of Ramallah's negotiation team, which was dismantled following the death of chief negotiator Saeb Erakat in Oct. 2020, also told Israel Hayom the objective was for both sides to return to the negotiating table shortly once Lapid takes on the role of premier.
"The political reality in Israel is different now, and officials in the government and in the coalition are interested in promoting diplomatic moves," he said. "If we act now and lay the ground for a diplomatic process, we can renew negotiations following the rotation agreement. Even Abu Mazen [Abbas] himself alluded to this in his speech at the UN."
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