Palestinian PM, Israeli minister discuss economic ties

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah `met Sunday with Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to discuss strengthening economic ties between the two sides.

US President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt tweeted Monday that the meeting in Ramallah yielded “meaningful steps forward on key economic issues - revenues, customs and investment - that help support the search for peace.”

Important progress last night between Israeli & Palestinian sides led by @RamiHamdalla & @KahlonMoshe & Gen Mordechai of @Cogat_Israel (1/2) pic.twitter.com/VzFVbkBnX1

— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) October 30, 2017

Meaningful steps forward on key economic issues - revenues, customs, and investment - that help support the search for peace (2/2)

— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) October 30, 2017

The meeting, also attended by Israeli and Palestinian security officials, was the second by Kahlon and Hamdallah in recent months. It came just days after Israel approved construction of almost 200 new Jewish homes in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, part of a major settlement boom.

The Palestinian state news agency Wafa said the Palestinians protested Israel’s settlement expansion and demanded Israel stop “incursions by Jewish extremists” into Jerusalem’s contested Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.