Egypt: Officials from the Israeli and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are holding negotiations in Egypt despite criticism and demands for a boycott from Palestinian political parties.

The one-day conference began in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where officials from Jordan, the US, and Egypt are also present. The negotiations take place before Ramadan, which is about to start, in an effort to keep things “calm” during the Muslim holy month, when tensions between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories frequently rise.

The situation has been heated on the ground for more than a year, with frequent raids and almost daily killings of Palestinians by the Israeli army. These killings have only increased under the new Israeli government’s strong right-wing policies, which took office at the end of the previous year.

The meetings are intended “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,” according to a statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry.

With the exception of Fatah, which governs the PA, all significant Palestinian political parties condemned the talks and advocated for a boycott. The militant organisation Hamas declared that it “rejects the conference in Sharm al-Sheikh,” which is under siege in the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) political parties declared the PA’s insistence on joining the Sharm al-Sheikh conference “constitutes a coup against popular will.”

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