They agree to have aides have follow-up meeting next month

Huckabee holds rare meeting with PA official to discuss West Bank tensions — officials

Hussein al-Sheikh raises Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues and asks for US envoy’s assistance in securing access to Jerusalem, Bethlehem holy sites for Palestinian Christians

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee held a rare meeting with Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss ongoing tensions in the West Bank, a US official and a PA official revealed to The Times of Israel.

It was just the second known meeting between the pair since the start of US President Donald Trump’s administration, and came amid another largely unchecked wave of settler violence and IDF counter-terror operations that have the territory on edge.

The US has privately been urging Israel to respond more aggressively to settler violence, but with limited success, the US official said.

Huckabee and Sheikh also discussed the continued Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, which has severely hampered Ramallah’s ability to operate because the funds make up the majority of its budget, the PA official said.

Earlier this year, Huckabee said he had been working to convince Israel to release the funds, but that the effort was derailed by PA-backed decisions from Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been withholding the monthly payments — which have accumulated to several billion dollars — in protest of Ramallah’s policies, including the payment of stipends to terrorists and their families (payments the PA now claims to have stopped, though Jerusalem contests this).

Sheikh also requested the assistance of Huckabee — an ordained Southern Baptist minister — in convincing Israel to grant entry permits for Palestinian Christians to visit Jerusalem on Christmas and ensure freedom of movement to reach Bethlehem amid the proliferation of Israeli checkpoints across the West Bank.

The pair agreed to have their aides hold a follow-up meeting next month, the US official said.

A US Embassy in Jerusalem spokesperson subsequently told The Times of Israel, “Ambassador Huckabee had a very cordial and productive meeting with the vice president that covered a myriad of issues. He will continue to have conversations with officials in Ramallah and believes that ongoing dialogue is vital to everyone. The ambassador feels there is much to be gained by continuing to develop the relationships there and to have frank conversations about the many challenges faced in the region.”

Sheikh’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The US ambassador to Israel historically has not been in charge of maintaining ties to the PA — something that had been under the purview of the US Consulate in Jerusalem. But US President Donald Trump closed that de facto mission to the Palestinians in his first term. The PA cut ties completely and refused to engage with Trump’s first ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, arguing that doing so would legitimize the apparent downgrade of ties to merely a file within Washington’s relations with Israel.

But Ramallah has compromised in its approach to dealing with the US during Trump’s second term.

Washington largely avoided engaging with the PA in the months following Trump’s return to office, addressing the Palestinian issue largely through the Gaza lens.

But recent months have given way to a shift, as the US has sought the PA’s assistance in advancing its Gaza peace plan, even if — at Israel’s insistence — it doesn’t want Ramallah directly involved, at least initially.

Washington sought the PA’s support last month in rallying Arab countries to back a UN Security Council resolution codifying Trump’s peace plan. Ramallah’s assistance led to the establishment of a new high-level communication channel between Sheikh and Trump’s top aide, Jared Kushner, The Times of Israel revealed last week.

The US Embassy and Sheikh’s office did not respond to requests for comment.