Defense Minister Benny Gantz is expected to meet next week with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the Muqata in Ramallah, N12 reported on Thursday.
Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej of Meretz is also expected to be present at the meeting, according to Israeli media. The purpose of the meeting is to review several proposals for security and economic cooperation that will assist the Palestinian Authority in its day-to-day operations and to strengthen Abbas and the PA and prevent Hamas from gaining strength in the West Bank. This is their second public meeting since the government was formed.
According to the report, Minister Frej noted today that the situation in the Palestinian Authority is "on the verge of collapse."
He said, "The spirit of the authority permeates to the citizens. The authority controls the area through 200,000 salaries, and at the moment does not have the ability to pay them, so it has been paying half-salaries so that money doesn't run the streets." According to him, this is what explains the current wave of terrorism through stabbings.