For the first time since last week’s election and just days before the swearing in of the 20th Knesset, the leaders of the Joint List, including its head, Ayman Odeh (Hadash), met in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) on Tuesday evening, March 24.

Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Al Ittihad)

In addition to Odeh, the delegation included Masoud Ghanayim, Jamal Zahalka, and Usama al-Saadi. Member of the Fatah movement’s central committee, Muhammad al-Madani, also attended the meeting.

Abbas congratulated the delegation on their 13-seat win in the 20th Israeli Knesset elections which took place earlier this month, and the delegation applauded President Abbas’s persistent efforts to achieve national rights for the Palestinians. In the run up to the Israeli elections, Abbas had publicly supported the Joint List as a political party within Israel which opposes “racism, discrimination, and apartheid.”

In a statement issued by the delegation of the conclusion of the meeting, the members declared that “The Joint List is prepared to hold meetings with anyone in the country, in the occupied territories, or abroad to make every effort to advance a just peace based on the United Nations resolutions. It goes without saying that this includes meeting with the leadership of the Palestinian people, which unfortunately has found no equally-ready partner on the Israeli side.” The statement added that “The Joint List will continue to conduct courageous and frank discourses with all the citizens in Israel and continue to fight for the liberation of both peoples from the occupation. We believe that this is in the genuine interest of both peoples.”