Head of the Knesset subcommittee on foreign affairs Emilie Moatti convened a meeting Feb. 15 on civil initiatives for advancing cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. She said, "Today is the first of a series of meetings I am planning throughout the year to examine our relations with the Palestinians. What the left and the right within the current coalition have in common is the unwillingness to cause suffering to the Palestinian people."

Moatti added that in the coming weeks, she intends to convene meetings on Israeli-Palestinian relations in the domains of sustainability, textiles, technology and agriculture, with the goals of promoting cooperation and of defining obstacles that need to be removed. She has already planned a meeting on Israeli-Palestinian cooperation over climate change in three weeks’ time. She explained to Al-Monitor that she is committed to convene as many meetings on working with the Palestinian leadership as on "traditional" foreign affairs issues.

Moatti invited several civil servants, public figures and activists engaged in projects supporting the Palestinian economy. Participants were invited to present existing projects and asked to evaluate the usefulness of the ventures, how they impact Palestinian and Israeli lives and what lessons can be learned from their success or failure.

The first to speak was Yael Patir, senior diplomatic adviser to the minister for regional cooperation, who explained that from the moment Issawi Freij was appointed minister, he has made advancing Israeli-Palestinian economic relations a priority.