PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS MEET IN EGYPT TO MAINTAIN “CALM” DURING RAMADAN

Sun 19 March 2023:

Officials from the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are holding talks in Egypt despite criticism and demands for a boycott from Palestinian political parties.

The one-day conference began on Sunday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where officials from Jordan, the US, and Egypt are also present.

The talks are being held ahead of Ramadan, which will start on Thursday, in an effort to keep things “calm” diplomatically during the Muslim holy month, when tensions between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories frequently rise.

The situation on the ground has been tense for more than a year, with frequent raids and near-daily killings of Palestinians by the Israeli army, which have only spiked under the new extreme right-wing Israeli government sworn in at the end of last year.

A statement by Egypt’s foreign ministry said the talks aim “to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to work to stop unilateral actions and escalation, and to break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm”.

This could “facilitate the creation of a climate suitable for the resumption of the peace process”, the statement added.

On Saturday, top PA official Hussein al-Sheikh said the Palestinian delegation will be participating in order to “defend the rights of our Palestinian people to freedom and independence”, and “[request] an end to this continuous Israeli aggression against us and to stop all measures and policies that violate our blood, land, property and sanctities”.

According to Israeli media, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi is leading the Israeli delegation, along with intelligence (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar and military general Ghassan Alian.

All major Palestinian political parties, except for Fatah which runs the PA, opposed the talks and called for a boycott. Hamas, the armed group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip, said it “rejects the conference in Sharm al-Sheikh”.

Spokesman Mousa Abu Marzouq said in a statement published on Friday that “European and American authorities issue statements about the crimes of the [Israeli] occupation, but do not take any measures to pressure the Israeli entity to stop its crimes”.

In a joint statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) political parties said the PA’s insistence on joining the Sharm al-Sheikh summit “constitutes a coup against popular will”.

They said Israel is “taking advantage of these summits and security meetings to launch more aggression against our people”.

Jordan talks

Sunday’s talks follow a US-brokered summit in Jordan last month involving the PA and Israeli officials – the first of its kind in years. That meeting was also met with widespread opposition and failed to restrict the Israeli occupation’s escalating oppressive measures against Palestinians.

While the closing statement of the Aqaba Summit in Jordan claimed Israel agreed to halt announcing new illegal settlements for several months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied any such commitments being made barely hours after the end of the meeting.

“Contrary to reports and tweets about the meeting in Jordan, there is no change in Israeli policy,” Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said at the time.

Israel has erected hundreds of illegal settlements and outposts throughout the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, housing about 700,000 Israeli settlers, preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on those territories, which Israel has militarily occupied since 1967.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 89 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers this year, including 18 children and one woman.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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