--- description: Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas shook hands with a smile, a rare moment captured in a photograph. title: Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Exchange Rare Handshake image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc969e8c996f9533/69887317a988caa3686b57ff/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Middle East](/tag/middle-east/) ## Middle East Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Exchange Rare Handshake by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 9:06 PM CUT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center left, talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center right, at the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget, France, on Nov. 30, 2015. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center left, talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center right, at the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget, France, on Nov. 30, 2015.Martin Bureau—AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 9:06 PM CUT Israel’s prime minister and the Palestinian president, in France for the climate summit, met and shook hands for the first time in years. A photograph shows Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas shaking hands and smiling on the sidelines of global climate talks outside Paris on Monday. It wasn’t immediately clear if they had agreed to meet or if they spoke. U.S. mediated peace talks between the sides collapsed early 2014 and the two leaders haven’t met in years. Their meeting came amid heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past 2 months, almost daily Palestinian attacks have killed 19 Israelis while at… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/netanyahu-abbas-exchange-rare-handshake-climate-summit-n471511?cid=par-time%5F20151130 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/"},"headline":"Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Exchange Rare Handshake","datePublished":"2015-11-30T21:06:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:58:27.268Z","description":"Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas met on the sidelines of the Paris climate talks","url":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/","keywords":["Middle East","France","Israel","Gaza and the West Bank"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc969e8c996f9533/69887317a988caa3686b57ff/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc969e8c996f9533/69887317a988caa3686b57ff/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"France Climate Countdown","caption":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center left, talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center right, as they wait to pose for a group photo as part of the COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, outside Paris,","creditText":"Martin Bureau—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/middle-east/","name":"Middle East"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/","name":"Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Exchange Rare Handshake"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Parisians Fill Square With Shoes To Urge Climate Change Reform","description":"Parisians filled a public square with shoes and urged world leaders to take action on climate change at the U.N.'s environmental conference in Paris.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eIoeZZYq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-29T18:25:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eIoeZZYq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/","duration":"PT55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4129758/benjamin-netanyahu-mahmoud-abbas-paris/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```