JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Tensions between Palestinians and Israeli forces have exploded in the region over the past year. The military said they were looking for attackers who fled after setting fire to a car on Main Street on the West Bank.
West Bank settler leaders have called on Israel to withdraw its delegation from the negotiations and crack down on the Palestinians, but Hamas, the Islamic extremist group that controls the Gaza Strip, has called on the Palestinians. said there was no summit to stop the resistance. Israel said the prime minister’s national security adviser and head of the National Security Agency Shin Bet will attend the meeting in neighboring Jordan. The head of Palestinian intelligence and an adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas should follow suit.
Abbas’ office said the Palestinians “underscore the need to stop all unilateral Israeli actions.” Israeli officials said the talks were aimed at de-escalating tensions before Ramadan and took place at the request of the United States.
Palestinian participants in the meeting were confirmed by Palestinian officials. Jordanian officials also said the talks were intended to “stop Israel’s unilateral actions”, build trust and lead to broader contacts between the two sides. He said the conference will be held in the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba, Jordan.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the media meeting.
Palestinians who oppose official engagement with Israel said they would protest the meeting, but Hamas criticized the meeting. It said Sunday’s shooting was a “natural response” to Israel’s invasion of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and the resulting deaths.
It is not clear what the talks will achieve. Israel has pledged to continue its fight against militants in the West Bank, which is often under little control by the Palestinian authorities. Israel is also led by a far-right government that opposes concessions to the Palestinians and supports building settlements in the occupied territories that the Palestinians aspire to be their future state. Israeli authorities last week approved the construction of more than 7,000 new settlements in her occupied West Bank, according to a group of activists who attended the planning meeting.
Violence between Israel and Palestine has increased since Israel stepped up its crackdown across the West Bank following a series of Palestinian attacks last spring. The bloodshed has escalated this year, killing more than 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks on Israelis killed 13 in 2023.
Israel says the raids are designed to dismantle militant networks and deter future attacks It says it continues to occupy and undermines its own security forces.
Ramadan coincides with his week-long Jewish Passover holiday this year, and believers of both religions are expected to flock to the Holy Land in Jerusalem’s Old City. Last year, clashes erupted at a key holy site in Jerusalem, and tensions there sparked his 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in 2021.
