The two were meeting at the King David Hotel on the eve of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama at the White House.

Palestinians officials insisted the two would not discuss any issues related to the ongoing indirect peace negotiations, and said the focus would be on security coordination on the ground.

Barak said the talks would focus on security coordination and “the situation on the ground” in remarks to reporters on Wednesday, while Fayyad’s office said he would demand Israel end the blockade on Gaza and halt incursions into West Bank cities. “The meeting today doesn’t fall within the scope of negotiations but aims to make life easier for our people,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.

“The meeting will focus on the means and ways of ending the Israeli siege on Gaza and stopping Israeli attacks on West Bank cities,” he said. “It aims to enable the Palestinian security services to provide services to citizens outside the cities.”

But Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip, reacted angrily to the talks, saying it proved Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was violating his own commitment not to engage in direct talks with Israel.

“This meeting proves that Abbas is lying when he says he doesn’t want to move to direct negotiations,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

Israel and Washington are trying to push the Palestinians into upgrading the US-brokered indirect talks to direct negotiations - a move which Abbas says will only happen when there is progress on the key issues of borders and security.

But the Palestinians say very little progress has been made, with Abbas accusing Netanyahu of stalling the talks in comments published last week.

Meanwhile, Israel on Monday dropped its long-standing restrictions on allowing consumer goods into the Gaza Strip but retained tight limits on desperately needed construction materials, redefining the rules of its heavily criticized Gaza embargo.

The decision ends the use of a narrow and often arbitrary list of permitted items. In a boost to the moribund Gaza economy, officials also said raw materials would soon be allowed to flow to Gaza’s shuttered factories.

But prospects for rebuilding the damage from a Israeli military offensive last year remain uncertain.

Israeli officials said construction materials like iron and steel would be allowed to enter only under Israeli supervision for use in projects overseen by the United Nations or other international bodies.

Israel has been under intense international pressure to loosen its three-year embargo on Gaza since Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in a May 31 raid on a flotilla carrying international activists trying to breach the blockade.

Obama has said the embargo is unsustainable and has called for it to be significantly eased. Other world leaders have demanded the blockade be lifted entirely. Under the old blockade rules, Israel permitted only a few dozen types of products, including basic food and medicine, into the territory.

The system has forced Gazans to become accustomed to shortages of basic items like instant coffee, spices and fresh meat, or to depend on erratic deliveries of goods smuggled through tunnels along the southern border with Egypt.

Now, everything will be allowed into Gaza, except for items on the list. — With input from MOHAMMED MAR'I