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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Huckabee holds rare meeting with PA official to discuss West Bank tensions — officials

2025-12-21

[IsraelTimes] Hussein al-Sheikh raises Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues and asks for US envoy’s assistance in securing access to Jerusalem, Bethlehem holy sites for Palestinian Christians

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee held a rare meeting with Paleostinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss ongoing tensions in the West Bank, a US official and a PA official revealed to The Times of Israel.

Only the VP? President Mahmoud Abbas must be heading down Joe Biden’s path. He hasn’t been well for a long time…

It was just the second known meeting between the pair since the start of US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s administration, and came amid another largely unchecked wave of settler violence and IDF counter-terror operations that have the territory on edge.

Remembering that such interactions are generally only reported after the Israelis finally respond following a series of Palestinian provocations. So it isn’t that the reports are untrue as such, merely misleadingly incomplete.

The US has privately been urging Israel to respond more aggressively to settler violence, but with limited success, the US official said.

Huckabee and Sheikh also discussed the continued Israeli withholding of Paleostinian tax revenues, which has severely hampered Ramallah’s ability to operate because the funds make up the majority of its budget, the PA official said.

Earlier this year, Huckabee said he had been working to convince Israel to release the funds, but that the effort was derailed by PA-backed decisions from Western countries to recognize a Paleostinian state. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been withholding the monthly payments — which have accumulated to several billion dollars — in protest of Ramallah’s policies, including the payment of stipends to Death Eaters and their families (payments the PA now claims to have stopped, though Jerusalem contests this).

Millions for terrorists in Israeli jails now being paid out under a different heading, but they and their families continue to be paid. Including, incidentally, Hamas jihadis, saving the Hamas government in Gaza a very pretty penny.

Sheikh also requested the assistance of Huckabee — an ordained Southern Baptist minister — in convincing Israel to grant entry permits for Paleostinian Christians to visit Jerusalem on Christmas and ensure freedom of movement to reach Bethlehem amid the proliferation of Israeli checkpoints across the West Bank.

The pair agreed to have their aides hold a follow-up meeting next month, the US official said.

A US Embassy in Jerusalem spokesperson subsequently told The Times of Israel, "Ambassador Huckabee had a very cordial and productive meeting with the vice president that covered a myriad of issues. He will continue to have conversations with officials in Ramallah and believes that ongoing dialogue is vital to everyone. The ambassador feels there is much to be gained by continuing to develop the relationships there and to have frank conversations about the many challenges faced in the region."

Sheikh’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Possibly he did not enjoy Ambassador Huckabee’s frankness — the man does have a strong line of blunt.

The US ambassador to Israel historically has not been in charge of maintaining ties to the PA — something that had been under the purview of the US Consulate in Jerusalem. But US President Donald Trump closed that de facto mission to the Paleostinians in his first term. The PA cut ties completely and refused to engage with Trump’s first ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, arguing that doing so would legitimize the apparent downgrade of ties to merely a file within Washington’s relations with Israel.

But Ramallah has compromised in its approach to dealing with the US during Trump’s second term.

No longer any hope of waiting him out? You poor darlings.

Washington largely avoided engaging with the PA in the months following Trump’s return to office, addressing the Paleostinian issue largely through the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
lens.

But recent months have given way to a shift, as the US has sought the PA’s assistance in advancing its Gaza peace plan, even if — at Israel’s insistence — it doesn’t want Ramallah directly involved, at least initially.

That’s ever, not merely at first.

Washington sought the PA’s support last month in rallying Arab countries to back a UN Security Council resolution codifying Trump’s peace plan. Ramallah’s assistance led to the establishment of a new high-level communication channel between Sheikh and Trump’s top aide, Jared Kushner, The Times of Israel revealed last week.

Sure. On their own the PA can’t hold Gaza. But with Washington’s weight behind them…

The US Embassy and Sheikh’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Posted by:trailing wife

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