Israelis, Palestinians pledge to curb violence at Jordan meeting
AMMAN (Reuters) – Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged to de-escalate surging violence after meeting on Sunday, issuing a joint statement in which Israel said it would halt discussions about new settlement units in the occupied West Bank for four months.
Attended by senior U.S., Jordanian and Egyptian officials in addition to the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, the meeting in Aqaba, Jordan was the first of its kind in years.
The Israeli and Palestinian sides said in their statement that they would work closely to prevent “further violence” and “reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground”. They affirmed their commitment to previous agreements.
Jordan, along its allies Egypt and the United States, said the understandings were “major progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two sides”.
But underlining the challenges, Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, called the meeting “worthless”, and condemned the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority for taking part.
The meeting was held as anxiety mounts of an escalation in violence in the run-up to the holy Muslim month of Ramadan that begins in late March.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority “confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months”, the statement said.
“This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months.”
That could cause trouble in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, one of the most right wing in Israeli history.
