Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met an Israeli government delegation in Ramallah Sunday evening, the second meeting between the two sides in a month, said sources on both sides.
Abbas received Israel's Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Freij and deputy Michal Rozin, all from the left-wing Meretz party, part of the ruling coalition.
"The president underlined the importance of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just and global peace conforming to international resolutions," the territory's official news agency WAFA reported.
Abbas also stressed the need to put an end to the settlements, and to end the expulsion of Palestinian families from different parts of East Jerusalem, WAFA added.
The Meretz members reiterated their support for a two-state solution to the conflict, for an independent Palestinian state and the need to build trust between the two sides.
Meretz leader Horowitz has been harshly criticized by the right in Israel for his meetings with Abbas.
Horowitz posted a picture of himself and Abbas on Twitter. “We have a shared mission: to preserve the hope for peace, on the basis of a two-state solution," he said.
In late August, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited the Palestinian Authority's headquarters for talks with Abbas, the first such official meeting at this level in several years.
But after those talks, Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that there was no peace process ongoing with the Palestinians, "and there won't be one".
The new Israeli government is comprised of eight parties spanning the Israeli political spectrum, from far-right hardliners who oppose a Palestinian state to dovish parties that support a two-state solution. Horowitz leads the most dovish faction in the coalition.
Bennett comes from a small, hardline religious party, and he has ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch. But he has called for reducing frictions, primarily by taking steps to boost the Palestinian economy.
