RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel has been seeking to open direct communication channels with the Palestinians, in an attempt to weaken the decision of the Palestinian leadership, which President Mahmoud Abbas announced May 19, to disengage from all agreements with Israel, including the security and civil ties.

In this context, Israeli officials have created social media pages in Arabic, namely the Facebook page of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and that of the spokesman for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee. 

Israel is also attempting to communicate with Palestinian citizens through Israeli civil administration offices. It is betting on the Palestinians’ need for its civil and basic living services, as a bridge to communicate with them and sometimes to put pressure or blackmail them. Those needs include work permits or special permits for medical treatment in Israel, or electricity services for residential compounds and villages.

In the framework of this policy, COGAT's coordinator Kamil Abu Rukun announced on his Facebook page May 29 that his office would welcome workers from the West Bank seeking work permits, as of May 31, instead of them having to go to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee that handled this task previously.