Israeli minister meets Palestinian PM for peace talks
Jerusalem: Israel's Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the Palestine's West Bank city on Monday, and called on to renew the long-stalled peace talks.
The rare meeting was attended also by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major General Yoav Mordechai, and Deputy Finance Minister Itzik Cohen, Xinhua reported.
The meeting was focused on security and financial issues, including the activity of Palestinian banks, building new industrial zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and creating new jobs in the unemployment-stricken area.
Kahlon urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table with the United States as a mediator.
"The Americans are the only honest broker in the region," he said, adding that the talks should be restarted through the involvement of US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt.
The Palestinians denounced the White House as a biased broker following Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 6.
The meeting marked a rare talk between Israeli and Palestinian officials, after the last round of peace talks reached an impasse in 2014.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
