AMMAN (Reuters) -Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged to de-escalate surging violence after meeting on Sunday, issuing a joint statement in which Israel said it would halt discussions about new settlement units in the occupied West Bank for four months.
Attended by senior U.S., Jordanian and Egyptian officials in addition to the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, the meeting in Aqaba, Jordan was the first of its kind in years.
The Israeli and Palestinian sides said in their statement that they would work closely to prevent “further violence” and “reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground”. They affirmed their commitment to previous agreements.
Jordan, along with its allies Egypt and the United States, said the understandings were “major progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two sides”.
But underlining the challenges, Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza…
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