Netanyahu to Abbas: Meet Anywhere You Want

Hillel Fendel Netanyahu Invites Abbas to Negev

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, holding his weekly Cabinet meeting in the Negev, has invited PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him “anywhere - even right here in Be'er Sheva." “There is no reason why I should not meet with the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority anywhere in Israel in order to get the diplomatic process going, and it could even be right here in Be’er Sheva,” Netanyahu said. This is the first time that he has made a public invitation of this nature.

Netanyahu noted that almost exactly 30 years ago, in late 1979, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat held their historic first meeting in Be’er Sheva – a meeting that led to the signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

“I call upon the leaders of the Palestinians and the Arab nations: Let’s meet, let’s cooperate,” he said.

The Cabinet meeting is being held in the municipal offices of the city known as the “capital of the Negev” in order to emphasize the government’s commitment to developing the region. Silvan Shalom, the Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, said at the start of the meeting, “Our goal is to bring 300,000 new residents to the Negev in the coming decade, and to this end we are working on infrastructures and more."

Minister Shalom, of the Likud, said he is working with settlement groups for the purpose of starting new towns in the arid region. “The question is how determined we are on this matter,” he qualified.

One project underway is a plan for a new stadium in Be’er Sheva.

Minister of Industry and Trade Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), said, “The high unemployment rate in Be’er Sheva – 11%, as opposed to the national average of 7.2%, requires us as a government and me as Minister of Industry, to place a special emphasis on the Negev and specifically on Be’er Sheva.”