Israel has decided to renew contacts with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) representatives abroad following the formation of the Salam Fayyad-led Palestinian government, local Ha'aretz said on Tuesday.
According to Ha'aretz, Israeli Foreign Ministry last week has issued an instruction to its ambassadors and consuls, saying that "the instructions that banned all contacts with official Palestinian diplomatic representatives have been altered."
"It is allowable to resume contacts with Palestinian representatives, like in the past," the constructions said.
The decision was made "in light of the new situation that has emerged in the Palestinian (National) Authority, and the formation of the new government headed by Salam Fayyad," it said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met twice last month with Fayyad, the US-backed prime minister of the Palestinian caretaker government.
Fayyad was tasked by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with forming an emergent government in mid June after Abbas sacked the Hamas-led coalition government following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip.
On July 13, Fayyad's emergency cabinet resigned and formed an interim caretaker cabinet.
But the would-be 12th Palestinian government is still unapproved by the Hamas-dominated parliament, which failed to convene due to the differences between Hamas and its rival Fatah movement.
There are currently 107 official PNA diplomatic offices worldwide. Under the new instructions, many Israel's ambassadors have held meetings with the Palestinian representatives, said Ha'aretz.
In early 2006 when Hamas made an overwhelming victory in the Palestinian legislative elections and later set up its government, Israel instructed its diplomats to refrain from all contacts with the Palestinian representatives.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)
