Israel, Palestine Agree to Reduce Tensions

Facts

• Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) met for the second time in less than a month on Sunday, pledging — in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh — to work toward easing tensions ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The measures include a partial freeze on Israeli settlements and an agreement to work together to “curb and counter-violence [sic].”¹
• The US and Jordan were also present at the meeting. Egypt’s foreign ministry said via a statement that the aim of the talks was “to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, to work to stop unilateral actions and escalation, and to break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm.'²
• Virtually all major Palestinian political parties and armed groups, save for Fatah which leads the PA, opposed the talks and called for a boycott. Hamas, the armed group that governs the Gaza Strip, said it “rejects the conference in Sharm al-Sheikh.'²
• A similar meeting in Jordan last month also ended with pledges to de-escalate tensions, but the promise was quickly derailed when violence erupted on the same day. A Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israelis in the West Bank town of Huwara, leading to Jewish settlers rampaging through the area, destroying property and killing one Palestinian.³
• Violence, primarily in the West Bank, has continued to escalate since last year, following a string of Palestinian attacks in Israel. On Sunday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli couple in their car in Huwara — one man was wounded in the attack that occurred in the same town as last month's shooting attack and settler rampage.⁴
• At least 74 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids in the West Bank since the beginning of 2023, while 14 people have died in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.⁵

Sources: ¹Jerusalem Post, ²Al Jazeera, ³Associated Press, ⁴Reuters and ⁵Itn.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine, as provided by Arab news. The talks that occurred in Egypt are just that: talk. In reality, the 'agreements' made have virtually no impact on the ever-worsening situation in the occupied West Bank, in which Israel is brutally killing Palestinians on a near-daily basis. The Israelis always promise that they will freeze their illegal settlement policy, but they never actually do, as Israel's ultimate goal is to colonize the entire area between the river and the sea.
• Pro-Israel, as provided by The times of israel. Though there is some value to the talks in Sharm al-Sheikh, ultimately they will do little to curb the wave of Palestinian terrorism and aggression that was unleashed last year. The PA continues to show its weakness and inability to contain Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank, which has forced Israel to increase its military activity. With Ramadan just around the corner, Palestinian violence will likely escalate, forcing Israel to respond aggressively.

Predictions