Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet/Shabak) Director Ronen Bar met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last week, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
The focus of the meeting was Hamas’s attempts to increase its influence in and destabilize Judea and Samaria, according to Channel 12.
Bar’s trip to Ramallah came just days before he headed to Cairo to meet with top Egyptian security officials. Among other things, the two sides discussed tightening security cooperation amid shared regional threats, the security situation in the Gaza Strip and a possible prisoner-exchange deal with the Hamas terrorist organization.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Abbas in Ramallah in August, in the first official high-level talk between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since 2010.
Also attending that meeting were the head of Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Ghasan Alyan, the head of the P.A.’s General Authority of Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, and the head of the Palestinian Intelligence Service, Majid Faraj.
Bar’s office refused to comment on any of his recent meetings, according to Channel 12.
