Middle East Monitor / February 25, 2023
Palestinian factions have condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s intention to participate in a security meeting with the Israeli occupation in Jordan, Safa Press Agency reported on Friday.
Jordan is expected to host a meeting between the PA and the Israeli occupation state on Sunday.
Egyptian and US representatives are also expected to attend the meeting, the Jordanian Al-Ghad newspaper reported.
The Jordanian newspaper pointed out that the meeting is part of Jordan’s increasing efforts to formulate a period of calm, restore trust between Israeli and Palestinian officials, end unilateral measures and curb the ongoing tension.
It would be the first such official meeting between Israel and the Palestinian side with participating regional countries in years.
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi worked on the summit together with Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh as part of the secret talks they have been holding, Axios reported.
Following the Israeli murder of 11 Palestinians in Nablus last week, the PA threatened not to participate in the summit.
Axios reported that the Biden administration pushed for the summit as part of its efforts to de-escalate the situation in the West Bank ahead of the sensitive period of the holy month of Ramadan.
“The PA’s participation in this meeting is like giving a deed of innocence to the Israeli occupation for its crimes against the Palestinians, the last of which was the heinous crime in Nablus,” the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) announced in a statement.
It added: “Our people pay high prices for US pressures… which always come to achieve Israeli interests or cover up for Israeli crimes.”
Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee Bassam al-Salhi said: “There is no meaning for the PA’s participation in this meeting. The massacre committed in Nablus ruined all justifications for attending this summit.”
According to Axios, the PA put a condition for attending the meeting – demanding assurances and guarantees from the US and Israel that all unilateral measures, including Israeli army incursions, home demolitions and settlements building, would be stopped.
The PA also threatens to resume its push for a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution that will call on the international community to protect the Palestinian people.
