Tomorrow the US will make another attempt to stop the wave of terrorism and violence in the West Bank ahead of the month of Ramadan.
In Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, representatives of the USA, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan will meet to discuss ways to reduce the violence in Judea and Samaria and the deterioration of the security situation to the border of the Gaza Strip and to other fronts.
This is a continuation of the security meeting in Aqaba about a month ago, the security meeting in Aqaba failed, on the day of the meeting a Hamas terrorist murdered 2 Israeli citizens in the town of Hawara near Nablus, following the attack settlers entered the town of Hawara, set fire to houses and damaged property.
Since the Aqaba encounter and until today, the IDF was forced to enter the Nablus area and the Jenin area several times and thwart attacks planned by the armed terrorist groups, several terrorists were killed in these incidents. Since the beginning of the year, 88 Palestinians have been killed by IDF forces, most of them armed terrorists.
The Israeli delegation to the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting will be headed by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, the Palestinian delegation will be headed by Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee.
The US exerted heavy pressure on the Palestinian Authority to participate in the meeting, the Palestinian street opposes the meeting and all Palestinian factions called on the Palestinian Authority not to participate in it.
A Palestinian public opinion poll conducted two days ago reveals that 73 percent of respondents oppose the security meeting that took place about a month ago in Aqaba, Jordan, 63 percent support the end of security coordination between the PA and Israel, 77 percent of respondents demand that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas finish his post and step down from the political stage, 57 percent of the respondents believe that the Palestinian Authority has no right to arrest the members of the armed groups in the West Bank.
Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk said that Hamas opposes the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting and called for escalating the terror attacks against Israel.
Jamal Nazal, spokesman for the Fatah movement, said that Israel escalated its operations in the West Bank to harm PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and to prevent the PA delegation from reaching the security meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas convened a special meeting of the Palestinian leadership where it was decided to participate in the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting.
The PA delegation presented Israel with a list of 13 demands at the Akaba meeting, and it will insist that Israel agree to them, the top demands being the cessation of the entry of IDF forces into Area A in the West Bank for the purpose of arresting wanted terrorists and the cessation of taking unilateral measures against the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority delegation will also demand guarantees that Israel will not renege on the agreements reached at the meeting. After the security meeting in Aqaba, senior Israeli officials in public statements renounced the Israeli commitment to halt construction in the settlements for several months.
A senior official in the Palestinian Authority says that the Palestinian delegation will present at the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting a series of steps taken by the Palestinian Authority to disarm the terrorist groups in the northern West Bank and to prevent Hamas from operating in the West Bank.
Last week, the Palestinian Authority arrested more than 20 Hamas operatives in the Nablus area and forcibly dispersed the funeral of Hamas terrorist Abdel Fattah Kharusha who murdered 2 Israeli civilians in the town of Hawara.
The Palestinian delegation will demand that Israel fulfill what was agreed upon at the Aqaba meeting and assist the Palestinian Authority in the security and economic spheres.
The Israeli delegation will present some confidence-building measures that Israel will take in preparation for the month of Ramadan.
Security officials in Israel fear that the terrorist organizations will carry out attacks on the day of the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in order to thwart it.
The expectations in Israel of the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh are low, the assessment in Israel is that the Palestinian Authority is not ready to confront the armed terrorist groups in the northern West Bank and disarm them.
Security officials in Israel say that Iran and its affiliates in the Middle East have made a strategic decision to carry out a wave of terrorism in preparation for Ramadan, and it will be very difficult to stop it, nevertheless the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh is a last attempt to reduce the expected violence in the month of Ramadan.
Political officials in Jerusalem say that Israel will make an effort to make the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh a success, especially because of its special ties with Egypt, which regularly works to calm the situation on the border of the Gaza Strip.
