JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel unveiled a package of “confidence-building measures” for the occupied West Bank yesterday, after Defence Minister Benny Gantz hosted talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (AP pic below) on his first visit in years.

Abbas, leading a high-ranking delegation on his first visit to Israel for an official meeting since 2010, held talks with Gantz at his home in the central town of Rosh HaAyin, according to Israeli sources and media.

“We discussed the implementation of economic and civilian measures, and emphasised the importance of deepening security coordination and preventing terror and violence – for the well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians,” Gantz said after the meeting on Tuesday evening.

Yesterday, Israel’s Defence Ministry announced “confidence-building measures” with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

These included a USD32 million advance payment to the PA in taxes collected on its behalf by Israel, and the granting of 600 extra permits allowing Palestinian businessmen to cross into Israel.

It also announced the regularisation of 6,000 more Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, which has been under Israeli control since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Israel had already announced in October – for the first time since 2009 – the regularisation of the status of 4,000 Palestinians living in the large swathe of the West Bank known as Area C, where Israel exercises civilian as well as military control.

Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh welcomed the meeting with Gantz, saying it had been a “serious and courageous effort” towards a “political” solution.

“The meeting dealt with the importance of creating a political horizon that leads to a political solution, in accordance with international resolutions,” Sheikh said.

After Israel’s coalition government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was formed in June, Gantz had visited the PA’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah in August for talks with Abbas.

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA (AP) – A crew cutting down a dying oak at the University of Nebraska made a surprising find – flying squirrels.

A video shot by a member of the crew made its way to Larkin Powell, a conservation biology professor. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that he was surprised by what he saw – the only remaining Nebraska population of the nocturnal and tiny animals was 90 miles away in Nebraska’s southeast corner, near Indian Cave State Park.

It turns out the flying squirrels had been living undetected – until now – in the treetops just above the animal experts at the university’s School of Natural Resources in Lincoln. The crew made the discovery earlier this month, the newspaper reported.

Powell was surprised by their presence, if not by their elusiveness.

“It’s among the species that’s harder to document because they’re not out when people are around,” he said. “And they’re little dudes.”

The National Wildlife Federation said on its website that flying squirrels don’t really power themselves into flight like a bird or a bat, but rather glide. The federation said the southern flying squirrel is found throughout the eastern United States (US), while the northern flying squirrel is found primarily in the Northeast, along the West Coast, and into Idaho and Montana.

Still, Shaun Dunn, a natural heritage zoologist for the state of Nebraska, was not surprised by the Lincoln flying squirrels. He has documented 15 confirmed sightings since 2018.

Dunn isn’t sure how the flying squirrels got to Lincoln but said it’s “very unlikely they made it here on their own”.

Don Althoff, who earned his master’s degree at the university in 1978 and is now a semi-retired wildlife conservation professor at Ohio’s University of Rio Grande, has been studying southern flying squirrels for nearly 30 years. He’s watched them glide 40, 50, even 75 yards.

Though graceful in the air, the animals are awkward on the ground. Because their sail-like flaps run from wrist to ankle he said they move more like a hobbled horse.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA (AP) – The big waves are returning to Walt Disney World.

The theme park resort said on Tuesday that it will re-open its Typhoon Lagoon water park after an almost two-year hiatus.

The water park closed in March 2020 as the coronavirus started spreading throughout the United States (US). While Disney World’s other theme parks re-opened in summer 2020 with virus safety protocols in place, the water park stayed closed.

Visitors to Typhoon Lagoon will be able to swim in its massive wave pool, slide down its water coaster and meander down its lazy river starting on Sunday.