A Palestinian-Israeli political and security meeting will be held today, Sunday, in Aqaba, in the presence of representatives of the United States, Jordan and Egypt. Palestinian and Jordanian sources said that it will discuss calm, but Israeli media said that it will discuss an American plan to eliminate resistance in the West Bank.

The announcement of the participation of the Palestinian Authority in the meeting sparked angry protests in the Palestinian territories, as it came days after the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the city of Nablus, in which 11 Palestinians, including resistance fighters, were martyred.

An official Jordanian source told Al-Jazeera today, Sunday, that the Aqaba meeting comes in the context of efforts to stop unilateral measures, reach a period of calm and confidence-building measures, and reach a more comprehensive political engagement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

The source added that stopping all unilateral measures is the main starting point for stopping the deterioration, which will be the basis of the issues that will be discussed, indicating that the meeting is taking place at a very sensitive time and in light of great political and security challenges, as he put it.

The meeting comes - according to the Jordanian source - as a continuation of the intensive efforts that Jordan is making in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and the rest of the parties to stop the unilateral Israeli measures and the security escalation that threatens to erupt large cycles of violence, in addition to reaching security and economic measures that alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

A Jordanian military helicopter transported the Palestinian delegation from Ramallah, which includes the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Hussein Al-Sheikh, the Director of Palestinian Intelligence, Majed Faraj, the spokesperson for the presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, and Majdi Al-Khalidi, the diplomatic advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A few days ago, the Israeli army stormed the city of Nablus and carried out an operation that resulted in the death of 11 Palestinians (Reuters)

Calm down and end the resistance

A senior Palestinian official told Al-Jazeera yesterday, Saturday, that the goal of the Aqaba meeting is to reach understandings about a transitional period that guarantees that Israel will stop all unilateral measures of settlements, demolitions and incursions for a period of 6 months, during which preparations will be made for calm and moving to a more broad track.

He stressed that the Israeli government refused the participation of other Arab parties in this meeting, which is the first between the Palestinians and the Israelis with regional and international participation in years.

The Palestinian official indicated that Jordan, Egypt and the United States are doing their best to prevent the situation from exploding during the month of Ramadan and the Jewish holidays next March.

On the other hand, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (privately) said that the parties are expected to discuss at the Aqaba summit the American plan to reduce tensions in the West Bank and end armed resistance there.

She added that the American plan includes Israel halting additional unilateral steps with regard to settlements, in exchange for the PA halting its steps against Israel at the United Nations.

The newspaper reported, quoting unnamed private sources, that the head of the Jewish National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, will participate in the security summit.

Condemnations and demonstrations

Last night, cities in the West Bank witnessed rallies condemning the Aqaba security meeting and the participation of the Palestinian Authority in it, as Palestinians, led by armed men, marched in the Jenin camp and roamed the streets of the camp to express their condemnation of the meeting and to demand that officials in the Palestinian leadership abandon this participation.

A march also took place in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, and they chanted slogans denouncing this summit.

The military arms of the Palestinian resistance factions in Jenin camp said that the Aqaba security meeting will give the Israeli occupation an opportunity to commit more crimes, adding that it is not in the interest of the Palestinian people, but rather represents a free service to the occupation, as they put it.

The Palestinian resistance factions denounced the participation of the Palestinian Authority in the meeting, and said that this participation comes in the opposite direction of the national consensus rejecting it.

For its part, the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza denounced the participation of the Palestinian Authority in the security meeting in the city of Aqaba, and considered in a statement the participation of the Palestinian Authority a new stab at the sacrifices of the Palestinian people and a betrayal of the sacrifices of the martyrs.

The resistance factions warned of the danger of the Aqaba meeting, saying that it was "a continuation of plots to plot against the Palestinian people and their cause, and a new attempt to eradicate the resistance project."

The statement added, "The participants in this meeting are outside the national consensus and represent only themselves," as he put it.

Palestinians clash with settlers who burned cars south of Nablus (Anadolu Agency)

Clashes with settlers

On the other hand, two Palestinian youths were injured yesterday, Saturday, by the Israeli occupation army, near the village of Beit Sira, west of Ramallah, in the West Bank, under the pretext of their attempt to throw Molotov cocktails at settler vehicles near the village. One of them was arrested while he was injured.

In Al-Arroub camp, north of Hebron, a number of Palestinians suffocated as a result of the occupation forces firing gas canisters at the camp's houses.

Settlers burned two civilian vehicles and attacked Palestinian farmers with stones on their lands and homes in the village of Burin, south of Nablus in the West Bank.

Eyewitnesses said that groups of settlers in "Yitzhar" settlement, adjacent to the village of Burin, stormed the outskirts of the village and burned the two vehicles, causing severe damage to them.