Israeli and Palestinian officials meet in Egypt in pre-Ramadan push for calm
Arab NewsMar 19, 2023
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].”
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."
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.
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.
There is a 50% chance that Israel will recognize Palestine by the start of 2071, according to the Metaculus prediction community.