© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view reveals a seashore vacation spot Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/File Photo
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt hosts Israeli and Palestinian officers on Sunday within the resort metropolis of Sharm el-Sheikh in a U.S. and Jordanian backed effort to calm a surge of violence within the West Bank forward of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The five-way assembly follows a Feb. 26 U.S.-brokered summit in Jordan, the primary of its sort in years, that secured Israeli and Palestinian pledges to de-escalate however was challenged by factions on either side and didn’t halt violence on the bottom.
The assembly in Sharm el-Sheikh “aims to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to work to stop unilateral actions and escalation, and break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm”, a press release from Egypt’s international ministry stated.
This might “facilitate the creation of a climate suitable for the resumption of the peace process”, it added.
The Palestinians purpose to determine an impartial state within the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital – territories Israel captured in a 1967 struggle.
But peace talks have been stalled since 2014 and Palestinians say Jewish settlement growth has undermined the possibilities of a viable state being established.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins in late March.
In earlier years, clashes have erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians round Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque on the peak of Ramadan, which coincides this 12 months with Judaism’s Passover and Christian Easter.
