ammonnews.net

Ammon News - A Jordanian helicopter landed on Saturday morning at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah to transport its delegation to participate in the Aqaba security summit, Ammon News reported.

The plane carried a delegation consisting of the head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, diplomatic advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Majdi Khaldi, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Israeli media revealed that "an emergency summit will be held on Sunday in the city of Aqaba, led by the US with the participation of Jordan, Egypt, and representatives of the Palestinian Authority, and perhaps Israelis."

However, Israeli media reported that Israeli National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat will participate in the summit on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

‘Stop escalations’
The summit aims to discuss attempts to stop the escalation and the security tension in the Palestinian territories before and during the holy month of Ramadan in particular.

The Aqaba security summit comes amid warnings of a potential third Palestinian Intifada, in light of the Israeli government's escalation under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, for its violence in the West Bank, including the recent deadly Israeli raid in Nablus, which killed 11 and injured more than 100 others.

Palestinian and Israeli officials are expected to discuss the US plan proposed to calm tensions in the West Bank and end Palestinian armed resistance, according to an Israeli newspaper.

The US plan stipulates that Israel will not take any unilateral action related to the settlements, while the Palestinian Authority will not act against it in the UN.

Preventing the PA’s collapse
This summit comes about 20 years since the Aqaba summit during the second Intifada, Israeli media reported, adding that senior PA officials have gone to another summit to achieve a calm.

According to reports from Amman, the Palestinian delegation expressed readiness to accept the US plan on condition of help in saving and preventing the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

A senior official in the Palestinian Authority reportedly told Israeli media that President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the idea of boycotting the meeting and accepted the US plan. However, this came under several conditions set by Abbas, including improving the financial situation of the PA, strengthening its power, and preventing its collapse.

One other condition was to stop Israeli military operations in West Bank cities that often end with a large number of casualties, he added.

The Palestinian delegation will also call for the expansion of security and technical cooperation between the PA, the US, and Israeli intelligence agencies to deal with online incitement by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, aimed at pushing Palestinians into confrontations with Israeli forces, said the official.

The Palestinian delegation will also call on Israel to stop promoting building settlements that the government recently announced, he said.

The delegation will also demand a return to negotiations, although the chances of that seem slim, according to Israeli media.