Top Israeli, Palestinian leaders speak on phone first time in 2 years

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Friday on the phone first time in two years, the Palestinian state-run news agency (Wafa) reported.

The Palestinian news agency said that Netanyahu called President Abbas on the phone to wish him happy Eidul Fittr, the Muslims' holiday that comes after the fasting month of Ramadan.

It said that Abbas thanked Netanyahu for his call and the good wishes, adding that Abbas reiterated to Netanyahu that achieving a comprehensive peace is very important between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The report didn't mention more details on what had been discussed during the telephone conversation, and there was no Israeli comment to the conversation.

Ties between Israel and the Palestinians had been under deep tension and deterioration since the stop of the U.S. sponsored peace negotiations in March last year, which failed to achieve any progress after going on for nine months.