Authorities from Israel and Palestine promised this Sunday to “avoid new acts of violence” and to seek ways to calm the situation of growing conflict between the two nations, according to a joint statement published after a meeting in Jordan.
While that meeting was taking place, there was an attack by a Palestinian against two Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
After “deep and frank discussions”, the participants at the meeting in the Red Sea resort city of Aqaba “reaffirmed the need to commit to detente on the ground and avoid further acts of violence”.they indicated in the statement.
In addition to Israeli and Palestinian officials, High officials from Jordan, Egypt and the United States attended, three countries linked by a peace treaty with Israel.
Among them were the head of the Palestinian intelligence services, Majed Faraj; the head of the Israeli internal intelligence service (Shin Beth), Ronen Bar, and the coordinator of the US National Security Council for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, specified the eight-point document, quoted by the AFP news agency.
The Israeli prime minister traveled to the Jordanian capital, Amman, in January for a rare meeting with King Abdullah II, who insisted on “the need to remain calm and cease violence,” the royal palace said.
However, this is the first meeting of its kind in years.
At the end of the discussions, the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority “confirmed their willingness and joint commitment” to end unilateral measures for a period of three to six months.
The agreement includes a commitment by Israel to stop discussing the establishment of new settlements for four months and not to legalize “wild” settlements for six monthsaccording to the text.
This agreement came after Israel’s Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration approved on Thursday, according to the Haaretz newspaper, a plan to build 7,287 homes in settlements in the West Bank, a number that almost doubles that of the last two years.
“Following comprehensive talks, the participants have announced that the Israeli and Palestinian sides have confirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them and to work for a just and lasting peace.”they indicated in the statement, according to the Europa Press agency.
While the meeting was taking place in Jordan, Two Israelis were killed in a Palestinian “attack” in the northern West Bank, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who condemned the attack as “terrorist.”
The murder perpetrated by a Palestinian against two Israeli settlers in a shooting attack on their car occurred in the Palestinian city of Huwara, near the northern city of Nablus.
The Palestinian fled the scene, apparently on foot, the Israeli army said in a statement.
The victims – two men in their 20s, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service – were identified as residents of the Har Bracha Jewish colony near Huwara.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a war against Arab countries in 1967and since then he colonized them, illegally according to the UN.
Palestinians claim those territories to found an independent state and Huwara has long been a hotspot in the West Bank, being almost the only Palestinian city through which Israelis travel regularly to reach settler settlements in the northern West Bank.
In recent months, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly attacked military poststroops operating along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements and civilians on the roads.
Parallel, The Israeli Army has been carrying out raids on Palestinian cities in the West Bank for a year.
This Sunday’s attack prolongs one of the most violent periods in years and adds to the 11 Palestinians killed Wednesday at the hands of Israeli forces during an operation in Nablus.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, one of the victims was a 16-year-old teenager, and more than 80 people were shot in an operation in Nablus. It is the deadliest military operation of its kind since the UN began recording the deaths in 2005.
Since the beginning of the year, the conflict has cost the lives of up to 62 Palestinians (both members of armed groups and civilians, including minors), 10 Israelis (one police officer and nine civilians, three of them minors) to which are added the two on Sunday , and a Ukrainian citizenaccording to an AFP balance made from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
Wednesday’s military operation occurred two months after the inauguration of a new Netanyahu government in Israel, one of the most conservative in the country’s history, and in which there are many supporters of a strong hand with the Palestinians and the advance of more settler settlements in the West Bank.
Also this Sunday, Israeli ministers approved a draft law to impose the death penalty on Palestinians who commit lethal attacks against Israelis and which will begin to be debated by Parliament this week.
The great promoter of this initiative is Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, a settler leader and leader of the far-right Jewish Power political party, which is part of the government coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud group.
The law will be presented next Wednesday before Parliament to receive a preliminary approval in commission.
Then it must be submitted to debate within the so-called National Security Cabinet, before a vote on the law in first reading in the parliamentary plenary session.
For its part, the Israel Attorney General’s Office anticipated that it will do everything possible to block the advancement of the legislation, about the legality of which it expressed serious doubts.
Critics of the project say that it would imply that the Israeli government is imposing its national law in the West Bank, which would mean, for all intents and purposes, a violation of the fundamental bases of all the agreements signed with the Palestinians.
