THE Palestinian Authority (PA) said Tuesday it will restore coordination with Israel, ending a six-month suspension, on the eve of a planned visit to the Jewish state by Washington’s top diplomat.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had announced a halt to coordination with Israel, including U.S.-backed security cooperation, in May in response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

“In the light of Mahmud Abbas’ international contacts... and given the written and verbal commitments we have received from the Israelis, we will resume relations where they were before May 19, 2020,” Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA’s civil affairs minister, said late Tuesday.

His announcement comes on the eve of a visit to Israel by Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State in outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, under which U.S.-Palestinian relations collapsed.

Sheikh’s announcement follows Abbas congratulating Democratic candidate Joe Biden just over a week ago on his presidential election victory, which he said gave rise to hopes of an improvement in “Palestinian-American relations.”

Biden has said his administration will restore U.S. opposition to Israeli settlements, after Trump broke with decades of American policy and international consensus by failing to condemn such construction.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said: “We will resume contacts with the Israelis on financial issues, on health issues, on political issues.

“The decision came after receipt of a letter indicating “that Israel is ready to commit itself to the signed agreements with us,” he said.

“This is for us a very important step in the right direction,” he added, noting that the development followed intervention by the United Nations, the European Union and “other countries.”(SD-Agencies)