Today, Sunday, Egypt will host a five-party meeting that includes high-ranking Palestinian, Israeli, Jordanian, and American political and security officials in Sharm El-Sheikh, to support the truce between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Egypt is scheduled to host in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, today, Sunday, a five-way meeting with the participation of high-level political and security officials from Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and the United States, within the framework of regional and international efforts aimed at achieving and supporting Calm between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
He added that the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting comes as a continuation of the discussions that took place in the Aqaba meeting on February 26, with the aim of supporting dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to work to stop unilateral measures and escalation, break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm, in a way that paves the way for creating an appropriate atmosphere that contributes to the resumption of the peace process.
He pointed out that the participation of regional and international actors in the meeting comes within the framework of seeking to establish mechanisms to follow up and activate what the participants in those meetings agree upon.
Palestinian dispute
This comes at a time when the Palestinians’ opinions differ regarding the meeting, some of whom expressed their support and saw it as an opportunity to defend Palestinian rights, and some of them opposed it and demanded its cancellation.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, announced on Saturday morning that the Palestinian Authority will participate in the Sharm Al-Sheikh meeting, which will be held on Sunday in Egypt.
Al-Sheikh said in a tweet he wrote on his Twitter account: “The Palestinian delegation will participate tomorrow in the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting, with a regional and international presence.”
Al-Sheikh added: “The aim of participating in defending the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence, and to demand an end to this continuous Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and to stop all measures and policies that violate their blood, land, property and sanctities.”
Tomorrow, the Palestinian delegation will participate in the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, with regional and international presence. To defend the rights of our Palestinian people to freedom and independence, and to demand an end to this continuous Israeli aggression against our people and to stop all measures and policies that violate their blood, land, property and sanctities.
– Hussein Al-Sheikh Hussein AlSheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) March 18, 2023
As for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, it announced yesterday, Saturday, that the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting constitutes a political cover for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to indulge in Palestinian blood and expand his crimes by killing unarmed civilians, carrying out cold-blooded executions, and demolishing homes and facilities.
The Democratic Front added, during a vigil in the governorates of Rafah and Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, condemning the massacres of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and rejecting the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, that the number of martyrs since the beginning of the year reached 89 martyrs and more than 1,100 wounded Palestinians, and the number of people displaced due to the crimes of demolishing homes and facilities reached about 157 Palestinians. .
Representatives of the national and Islamic forces, notables, mayors, national personalities, and a number of leaders and cadres of the Front in the governorate participated in the vigil.
A member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front, Ibrahim Abu Hamid, said in a speech during the mass stand: “The crimes of the Israeli mob government and the bloodshed of our people in the West Bank, the latest of which was the Jenin crime and the burning of the town of Hawara and the bloodbaths that expose the claims of the Sharm el-Sheikh team to serve the interests of the Palestinian people and preserve Security and curbing the aggressive actions of the occupying state.
Abu Hamid explained that the American pressure on the political leadership of the Palestinian Authority has become exposed by its bias towards the occupying state, calling on the leadership of the Authority to re-read its policy and review its destructive decisions to join the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting and to apologize to its people for the political disasters it inflicted.
Abu Hamid called for the necessity of actual commitment to the foundations of the coalition, national consensus and partnership in making crucial decisions, and a return to work through national bodies, foremost of which is the Executive Committee as the daily and collective leadership of the Palestinian people.
Abu Hamid also demanded that the two sides of the division end their division and return to the realm of national unity in order to cut off the plans of the United States and confront the Zionist rabble and mob government.
Abu Hamid stressed the need to form a unified national leadership for popular resistance and support the steadfastness of citizens, as it is a national priority towards a comprehensive popular uprising on the path of liberation from occupation and settlement and the realization of national rights on the path of freedom, return and self-determination.
Aqaba meeting
The Sharm el-Sheikh meeting follows the one-day Aqaba meeting, which was held on February 26, and issued a statement stressing the need to reduce escalation in the Palestinian territories, “prevent further violence,” and stop settlements and outposts from 4 to 6 months.
A five-way meeting was held in the city of Aqaba, in southern Jordan, between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, in the presence of representatives of the United States, Jordan and Egypt.
The meeting concluded with announcing an agreement to stop unilateral measures for specific months, including stopping the promotion of settlements, and holding a second meeting in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
Since the beginning of 2023, confrontations have escalated in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and have resulted in the killing of 89 Palestinians and 14 Israelis in separate operations.