The Palestinian Authority’s intelligence chief Majed Faraj is slated to meet with CIA counterparts in Washington this week for the first time since Donald Trump returned to the White House, a US official and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel.

Contact between the Trump administration and Ramallah has been limited, but the US has maintained some of its funding for the PA’s security forces, despite a near-complete freeze on foreign assistance, the US official said.

Faraj is in the US to undergo a medical procedure but is using the opportunity to tack on work meetings at Langley, as he seeks to boost his standing amid an ongoing shakeup within the PA that on Saturday saw President Mahmoud Abbas appoint longtime loyalist Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy, two other sources familiar with the matter explained.

Spokespeople for Faraj and the CIA did not........

© The Times of Israel