Hamas slams Palestinian participation in Egypt security meeting with Israel

By Nour Abu Eisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday condemned the participation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a planned security meeting with Israel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The five-party meeting on Sunday will be attended by delegates from the PA, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the US.

Egypt said the meeting aims to follow up on efforts to ease tensions between the Palestinians and Israel.

"We condemn the PA participation in the Sharm El-Sheikh security meeting with Israel, which escalates its aggression against the Palestinian people," Hamas said in a statement.

The group also condemned what it described as the “PA insistence on deviating from the [Palestinian] national consensus."

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, renewed its call for the Ramallah-based authority to halt its security coordination with Israel and “stop participating in dangerous security schemes that target the Palestinian resistance”.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank in recent months amid repeated Israeli raids into Palestinian towns.

Nearly 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year, according to Palestinian figures. Fourteen Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar