Israel and Palestine Agree to End Commercial Tensions: Official

Palestine and Israel have agreed to defuse their commercial tension over mutual export and import bans, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday.

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Palestinian Minister of Agriculture Riad Attari told the China-based Xinhua News Agency that Israel has agreed to stop all its measures of banning the shipment of Palestinian goods and products to the Israeli markets.

"Israel also agreed to lift the ban it imposed on the Palestinian export of products to the Arab and international markets," he said.

Last September, the Palestinian government decided to stop importing calves from Israel, which was followed by an Israeli ban on Palestinian fresh vegetables and fruits.

The second round of tit-for-tat measures came in early February, when the Palestinian government declared a ban on importing Israeli products including vegetables, fruits, mineral water and soft drinks before Israel decided to impose a ban on all Palestinian agricultural exports abroad.

Israel has also agreed to allow Palestinian merchants to import livestock from abroad without obstacles, according to Attari.

"Yesterday (Wednesday) Israel accepted the request of one of the Palestinian merchants to import a shipment of 500 calves from Portugal, which are supposed to arrive in the West Bank within 40 days," he said.

"Some more merchants are scheduled to drop more requests to directly import goods from all over the world," the Palestinian minister added.

In addition, a joint technical committee of Israeli and Palestinian agricultural officials will convene next week, Attari revealed.

It is the first time in a few years that direct talks will be held between the two sides to discuss and resolve bilateral issues.

"The joint Israeli-Palestinian committee is scheduled to discuss a list of Palestinian products that had been banned from being shipped to Israel for a long time," said Attari.

The Palestinian official expected to the committee to agree on stopping all Israeli measures against the shipment of Palestinian agricultural products to Israel.

"In return, the Palestinian side will allow the shipment of Israeli products to the Palestinian markets in the West Bank," he noted.

Meanwhile, Khaled Osaily, Palestinian minister of national economy, said the agreement on defusing commercial tension between the two sides was mediated by international parties and will come into effect on Sunday.

"The major point in the agreement is that the Palestinian side can import calves directly from any country in the world, including Israel, with no restrictions or obstacles," said Osaily.

Earlier on Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye announced that Israel agreed to end all procedures imposed on the Palestinian imports of livestock.

He said in a short statement published on his Facebook page that the Palestinians are determined to continue to boost the Palestinian national product and activate trade with the world.