Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged to “prevent further violence” and work towards “de-escalation”, according to a joint statement released after a meeting in Jordan on Sunday.
“Senior Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials” took part in this meeting in the city of Aqaba, on the Red Sea, and, after “thorough and frank discussions”, “reaffirmed the need to ‘Engage in de-escalation on the ground and prevent further violence’, according to the eight-point final communiqué.
The one-day “political-security” meeting was aimed at “building trust” between Israel and the Palestinians and achieving calming measures in the occupied Palestinian territories after several days of deadly violence, Israel reported on Saturday. Agence France-Presse (AFP) a Jordanian government official who requested anonymity.
This is the first of its kind in years between Palestinians and Israelis, with regional and international participation to discuss the situation in the Palestinian Territories, according to Jordanian state television.
At the end of the talks, the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority “confirmed their common will and commitment” to act immediately to stop the “unilateral measures” for a period of three to six months.
This includes an Israeli commitment to “cease discussing the establishment of new settlement units for a period of four months and not to legalize informal settlements” for a period of six months, according to the text.
” Mutual trust “
In this communiqué, the participants also agreed to help the two parties to “establish mutual trust” for a “direct dialogue”. The Palestinian and Israeli parties “will work in good faith to assume their responsibilities in this regard”, according to the text.
The participants agreed to meet again in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next March.
Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj, Israeli domestic intelligence chief (Shin Beth) Ronen Bar, US National Security Council Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk, and security officials Jordanians and Egyptians took part in the meeting.
King Abdullah II immediately met with Mr. McGurk and stressed “the importance of intensifying efforts for calm and de-escalation”, according to the Royal Palace.
The talks come amid fears of uncontrollable violence as the conflict escalates sharply.
The decision to attend the meeting in Aqaba, despite the pain and the massacres that the Palestinian people are undergoing, comes from the desire to put an end to the bloodshed.
While the meeting was underway, two Israelis were killed in a Palestinian “attack” in the northern West Bank – Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 – according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“The decision to attend the Aqaba meeting, despite the pain and massacres the Palestinian people are enduring, comes from the desire to end the bloodshed,” the president’s Fatah party said on Twitter. Palestinian, Mahmoud Abbas, while other Palestinian factions have denounced the involvement of the Palestinian Authority.
“Rupture”
Hamas thus condemned in a statement the participation of the Palestinian Authority, judging “the meeting with the Zionists as a break with the Palestinian national consensus, a contempt for the blood of the martyrs, an open attempt to conceal the crimes of the occupancy”.
The Israeli army has multiplied for almost a year its operations in the north of the West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups.
On Wednesday, it launched a new incursion into the old city of Nablus, in search, according to the army, of suspects involved in past or future anti-Israeli attacks.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 11 Palestinians were killed and more than 80 wounded by bullets during this raid, the deadliest since 2005 in the West Bank.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 62 Palestinians (including members of armed groups and civilians including minors) and 11 civilians (including 3 minors) and an Israeli policeman as well as to a Ukrainian woman, according to an AFP tally from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.