Gaza border violence erupts after Palestinian president visits Israel

[December 29, 2021]  JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli was wounded in a shooting attack on the Gaza border on Wednesday, the military said, after a rare visit to Israel by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas drew condemnation from the enclave's Hamas rulers.

The Israeli military said it responded to the shooting with tank fire, targeting Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip. Gaza health officials said three Palestinian farmers were wounded.

Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz hosted Abbas in his home late on Tuesday, the Western-backed Palestinian leader's first such visit to Israel in more than a decade, although it signalled few prospects for any resumption of long-stalled peace negotiations.

Following their talks, the Israeli Defence Ministry announced a series of what it described as "confidence-building measures" that would ease the entry of hundreds of Palestinian business people to Israel.

In Gaza, Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said that by meeting Gantz, Abbas was "deepening Palestinian political divisions" and encouraging accommodation with "the occupation", a term the Islamist militant group uses to describe Israel.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting attack from Gaza, which the Israeli military said slightly wounded the civilian. The border has been largely quiet since an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants in May.

'POLITICAL HORIZON'

Abbas and Gantz last met in August, in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said that at Tuesday's talks they discussed the "importance of creating a political horizon" for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia November 23, 2021. Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

Gantz, in his summation of the meeting on Twitter, made no mention of a peace process, stalled since 2014 after U.S.-backed talks collapsed. Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"We discussed the implementation of economic and civilian measures, and emphasised the importance of deepening security coordination and preventing terror and violence - for the well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians," Gantz wrote.

Israel's multi-party government is deeply divided over the statehood issue. Palestinian rivalries remain strong, with Hamas, which has fought four wars with Israel, running the Gaza Strip.

In a move that could ease travel for thousands of Palestinians, the Defence Ministry said Gantz approved registration as West Bank residents for some 6,000 people who had been living in the territory, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, without official status.

Another 3,500 people from Gaza would also receive residency documentation, the ministry said.

The meeting followed several Palestinian attacks on Israelis in recent weeks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians also complain of attacks by Israeli settlers.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Richard Pullin and Alex Richardson)

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