Representatives of Israel and Palestine met in Egypt on Sunday to discuss the escalating violence in recent weeks ahead of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims which begins next week. The meeting, also supported by the United States and Jordan, according to the Egyptian foreign minister “aims to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to try to stop unilateral actions and escalation, break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm”, with the ultimate goal of “facilitating the creation of a suitable climate for the resumption of the peace process”.
In recent months, the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel, has been crossed by frequent episodes of violence, both by Israeli soldiers and settlers, and by the Palestinian population. The victims are mostly Palestinians: in the last year, Israeli forces made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians. The people who died in Palestinian attacks are instead about forty.
The period of Ramadan – which this year partly coincides with the Jewish and Christian Passover – is particularly delicate, given that in recent years there have often been clashes between the Israeli police and the Palestinians (who are mostly Muslims) around at the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
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