CAIRO: Israeli and Palestinian officials were holding talks in Egypt on Sunday “to restore calm” after a surge in deadly violence in the occupied West Bank, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.
The meeting, which follows similar talks last month in Jordan where both sides pledged to prevent more violence, comes amid concerns of a feared escalation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting in the coming week.
The meeting is aimed at “supporting dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to put a stop to unilateral actions and escalation and break the cycle of violence”, Egypt’s foreign ministry added.
Officials from Egypt, Jordan and the United States were attending the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, it added.
Hussein al-Sheikh, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) secretary general, said on Saturday that the Palestinian delegation would participate “to demand an end to the continuous Israeli aggression against us”.
Few details have emerged from the talks, but the efforts were already rejected by Palestinians.
Hamas said it “rejects the Sharm al-Sheikh conference and conferences that aim for calm,” senior member Mussa Abu Marzouk said in a statement.
“Our choice... is to escalate the resistance in the face of the occupation”, he added.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a joint statement that Israel “takes advantage of these security meetings to launch more aggression”.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine also demanded Palestinian representatives leave the talks.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 86 Palestinian adults and children this year, including civilians.
Islamic Jihad said on Sunday one of its commanders had been shot dead in Syria in an assassination by Israeli agents.
The Gaza Strip-based group said Ali Ramzi al Aswad, 31, was killed on Sunday morning “by agents of the Israeli
enemy” in the countryside outside the Syrian capital Damascus.
Aswad, a Palestinian refugee living in a Syrian camp and also known as Abu Abed al-Rahman, was a member of the group’s Al Quds Brigade armed wing, it said.
Many of the group’s senior leaders have been based in Damascus, and the killing is the latest reported targeting of the group by Israel.
Last week, Israeli airstrikes targeting a weapons depot in Syria killed an army officer and two fighters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. — AFP
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