Israeli and Palestinian officials meet in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a bid to ease tensions between the sides and rein in a spiral of violence ahead of the upcoming holiday overlap of Ramadan and Passover.The meeting comes a few weeks after the delegations met in Aqaba, Jordan, shepherded by regional allies Egypt and Jordan as well as the US, aiming to end a spike in violence in recent months.Whatever progress emerged out of the previous meeting in Jordan late last month, which ended with pledges to deescalate tensions, was quickly derailed when a new burst of violence erupted on the same day. A Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israeli brothers in Huwara, whereupon Jewish settlers rampaged in the Palestinian town, setting homes and cars on fire.
Palestinian militias are insulting the Palestinian Authority for attending.
Hamas officials called it a "disgrace" to attend the meeting and Hamas issued a statement condemning the meeting.
Islamic Jihad called for more terror during Ramadan, which starts this week.
Fatah responded to these criticisms saying that attending the conference shows courage.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Israel has stopped all arrest operations in the territories for the past two days to try to calm things down before the conference. It also didn't respond to a rocket shot from Gaza at Israel last night.
If the last conference in Aqaba is any indication, the terrorists might be redoubling their efforts for terror attacks today.
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