After negotiations in Jordan, Israeli and Palestinian leaders promised to take action to reduce the escalating violence.
Israeli and Palestinian officials promised to cooperate closely to avert “future violence” and “reaffirmed the imperative of committing to de-escalation on the ground” in a joint statement following their meeting on Sunday in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba.
Israel pledged to forgo “discussing setting up any new settlement units for four months and refrain from approving any new settlements for six months,” according to a joint statement.
The Palestinian and Israeli parties “reaffirmed the need to commit to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence” following “thorough and candid discussions,” it said.
At the conclusion of a conference that was also attended by American, Egyptian, and Jordanian officials, a joint statement was released amid mounting worries about an uptick in violence before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which starts in late March.
According to the statement, “shared preparedness and willingness to act immediately to stop unilateral steps” was emphasized by Israel and the Palestinian Authority for three to six months.
The US, Egypt, and the host country Jordan all saw “these understandings as substantial progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two countries,” according to a statement.
In a statement, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the White House, said that the US acknowledged the conference as a “beginning point”.
“There is more work to do over the next weeks and months to achieve a stable and prosperous future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Sullivan said of the Aqaba meeting.
Implementation is important.
The parties also decided to get together once more in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the following month.
The Palestinian Authority, based on the West Bank, was criticized for participating by the Hamas organization, which rules the besieged Gaza Strip. A representative from the organization claimed the meeting was “worthless” and would not result in any changes.
The meeting had earlier been defended by the ruling Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The decision to attend the summit in Aqaba, despite the suffering and massacres experienced by the Palestinian people, was made out of a desire to put an end to the slaughter, the statement on Twitter said.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, who is also in charge of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, promptly said that he would not comply by any deal to halt settlement expansion.
Smotrich posted on Twitter, “I have no idea what they spoke about or not in Jordan.
The building and growth in settlements will not be stopped, not even for a day (it is under my power), that much I am certain of.
Reporting from West Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat said that while this conference saw the Israeli side meet with the Palestinian Authority, it was “much to the dismay of many Palestinians who have stated these talks result to in absolutely nothing.”
“Demolitions and raids on occupied regions, including the West Bank and Jerusalem, have increased under the current right-wing government as well.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tweeted that settlements won’t be frozen, which appears to be in contradiction with the statement that was released from the meeting in Jordan. They [officials at the meeting] agreed to de-escalate tensions and maintain security at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The negotiations took place on the same day that two Israelis were shot and killed in what the Israeli government described as a “Palestinian terror incident” in the occupied West Bank.
Days prior to the fatal shooting, Israeli soldiers carried out its deadliest raid in the West Bank in almost 20 years, which resulted in the deaths of 11 Palestinians in the northern city of Nablus.
Arab worries about an escalation have increased with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power at the helm of one of the most right-wing coalitions in Israeli history.
On February 12, Israel announced the mass building of new homes inside of established settlements and granted retroactive license to nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank.
For the first time in six years, the United Nations Security Council officially condemned Israel’s intention to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
