Qalandiya raid was provocation by Israel

As talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) appeared to be on the brink of collapse on Monday, Fatah's Central Committee member Abbas Zaki condemned Israel for provoking the region through its continued settlement activity and aggression against the Palestinian people. Zaki’s comments came as a Palestinian official said peace talks with Israel slated for Monday were cancelled after three Palestinians were shot dead and 19 wounded by Israeli soldiers in the Qalandiya refugee camp in West Bank early on Monday, according to medics. However, Washington insists the return to the peace process, stalled since 2010, has not been cancelled. Speaking to Arab Today on Monday, Zaki said: “The acts of the Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, reinforce the fact that this is a government of colonisation and crimes, and does not want peace nor seek it.” Calling the Qalandiya killings a “terrible crime”, the Fatah official said this “escalation” by Netanyahu, at a time when talks with the PA were just getting underway, was “reminiscent of the what the government of Ehud Barak did in 2000 during the negotiations [of Camp David 2], and the consequent outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada”. Israel is “continuing in its crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people, and carries out the most heinous crimes and cold-blooded, barbaric killings," he added, calling on the international community to denounce Israeli crimes. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah strongly denounced the Qalandiya camp killings, saying: "These crimes require urgent and effective intervention of the international community to compel Israel to stop its ongoing violations, and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people." Palestinian government spokesman Ehab Bessaiso called for the formation of an international commission to investigate the deadly shootings, urging more international pressure to be placed on Israel to stop its continued violations, which he said reflect its lack of interest in the success of international efforts to bring about peace talks. Bessaiso said: “The continuation of international silence about Israeli crimes against our people must end, as well as formation of the international commission of investigate what happened in Qalandiya refugee camp”. The Palestinian presidency also denounced the Qalandiya raid. In a press release, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that Israeli crimes and the continued construction of settlements reflect Israel’s true intentions towards the peace process, and called on Washington to intervene to prevent the collapse of US and international efforts to bring about negotiations. The killing of three men ate Qalandiya refugee camp comes just days after a man was killed and several others wounded by Israeli soldiers at Jenin refugee camp.