PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat met with Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom in Amman last week, according to Israeli media reports.

Hebrew-language website Walla reported that the two officials met in the Jordanian capital five days ago in an attempt to “build trust” between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Further details of the talks were unclear.

Palestinian and Israeli officials have held several meetings since the inauguration of the Israeli government following elections in March.

After being sworn in as interior minister, Shalom called upon the Palestinian Authority to return to negotiations without preconditions.

At the 15th annual Herzliya Conference, Shalom, who leads the Israeli negotiations team, called for a regional conference to discuss security, politics, and economics and to advance peace.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu spoke to President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in 13 months via telephone reportedly wishing him a happy Eid al-Fitr at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Israel has maintained an illegal military occupation over East Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967 while enforcing a nearly nine-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Attempts at peace negotiations have failed for decades.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)