Netanyahu phones Abbas, offers condolences on brother’s death

Abbas' brother had received cancer treatment at Tel Aviv’s Assuta Medical Center.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Netanyahu and Abbas (photo credit: LOIC VENANCE / AFP)
Netanyahu and Abbas
(photo credit: LOIC VENANCE / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday made a rare phone call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Netanyahu offered the Palestinian leader his condolences on the death of his brother Omar from cancer in Qatar on Thursday.
Abbas' brother had received cancer treatment at Tel Aviv’s Assuta Medical Center.
Netanyahu and Abbas shook hands at November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
But such exchanges are unusual given the hostile diplomatic climate between Israeli and the Palestinian Authority.
Abbas has refused to negotiate with Netanyahu since 2010.
The nine-month US led failed peace process that ended in April 2014, did not involve a meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu.