Neither Israeli or Palestinian officials will attend that meeting.
Advertisement
Last Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on a package of measures to quell the violence, including completion of the unfinished security barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
It gave no further explanation nor more details, but settlement watchdog Peace Now said the land involved is south of the Palestinian city of Jericho and close to the Dead Sea.
According to senior Israeli officials who spoke to Haaretz on condition of anonymity, the Israeli proposal says the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would stop operations in Area A of the West Bank except for “ticking-bomb” cases.
Israel on Sunday banned Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi from entering to the occupied West Bank, where she was scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian leaders, the minister told The Jordan Times in Amman later in the day.
Israel and Indonesia do not have formal diplomatic relations.
Two Palestinians drove into a group of Israeli soldiers early Monday morning at a traffic junction in front of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, then exited the vehicle and opened fire, injuring one soldier, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
All three alleged attackers were shot dead and three Israeli soldiers were injured.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for implementing government policies in the Palestinian territories, said the move was taken “in accordance with the decision of the political level”. In addition to the continuing split and friction between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank, the presidential term of Mahmoud Abbas, now 80, expired in 2009. For Israel, that could potentially deliver a key demand: broader Arab recognition in exchange for a final peace deal.
Palestinians have cited Israeli settlement activity as one of the factors behind the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks in 2014, and a surge of violence over the past five months has dimmed hopes negotiations could be revived any time soon.
Advertisement
These deaths are similar to various previous incidents when the army, or paramilitary Israeli settlers, not only fired an excessive number of bullets, but actually executed the Palestinians after already shooting and completely incapacitating them.
