Palestinians in occupied West Bank protest PA's participation in Egypt's summit

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank cities on Sunday protested the participation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a Shram Al-Sheikh security summit in Egypt.

Protesters marched throughout Ramallah and Nablus, chanting slogans against the security summit and the PA's security coordination with Israel.

"The Sharm Al-Sheikh summit implies putting the violence of colonial settlers and the Palestinian resistance, especially in Nablus and Jenin, on the same level," Hala Yacoub, a 23-year-old protester in Ramallah, said to The New Arab.

"The summit is also based on previous arrangements in the Aqaba summit where Israel is supposed to freeze permits for settlements' building for a few months, but settlements are illegal all the time and much of the settlement expansion happens without the need for Israeli government's permit anyway," Yacoub added.

"The summit Sharm Al-Sheikh is based on the Aqaba summit, which itself is based on the US-brokered deal between the PA and Israel a month ago, the logic of which is to maintain security for the occupation's benefit," a protester in their 60s, who asked not to be named, remarked to TNA.

"The entire logic is security-driven, without mention of the political plight of Palestinian people," they added. "It's a summit for Israel's interests, not for ours." 

Similarly, several Palestinian armed factions also rejected the PA's participation.

In a press statement, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said that the PA's participation at the Sharm Al-Sheikh summit "provides a cover for the occupation to continue its crimes against our people".

For its part, The Palestinian Islamic Jihad - PIJ condemned the PA's participation, considering it "an acceptance and a reward for the occupation's massacres".

Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) described the PA's participation in the Sharm Al-Sheikh as "a blatant treason to the blood of martyrs and a stab in the back of our people".

The PA's delegation to Sharm Al-Sheikh included the PLO's executive committee secretary Hussein Al-Sheikh, the head of the PA's intelligence Majid Faraj and the Palestinian president's advisor for diplomatic affairs Khaled Al-Khaled.

The same delegation represented the PA at the Aqaba security summit in early March, which was also opposed by Palestinian factions and met by protests in several West Bank cities.

Both Aqaba and Sharm Al-Sheikh summits followed a visit to the region by the US secretary of state Anthony Blinken, in which he presented a security plan to counter Palestinian armed activism in the northern occupied West Bank, especially Jenin and Nablus, through Palestinian security forces.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to raid Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank. Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces have killed at least 88 Palestinians in military raids in the occupied West Bank, including 17 minors and two elders, according to the Palestinian health ministry.