Palestinians Cancel Talks after Israeli Raid
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Palestinian negotiators cancelled a planned round of peace talks with Israel in protest against a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in which Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians, including a UN worker.
Medical sources told Aljazeera that at least 15 others were wounded, six of them seriously, during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians that erupted after the raid on the Qalandiya camp on Monday.
Rami Hamdallah, the Palestinian prime minister, said in a statement: "Such a crime proves the need for an urgent and effective international protection for our people."
Israeli forces often enter Palestinian-administered territories to arrest people.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the beginning of 2013. Israeli forces have killed 14 Palestinians in the occupied territory this year, most of them in clashes, compared with three killed in the same period in 2012.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said one of those killed on Monday, a 34-year-old father of four, worked for them and was walking to work when he was shot in the chest. The agency condemned the killing.
Hours after the killings, hundreds of mourners gathered at the Qalandiya Mosque for the three men’s funeral.
When midday prayers ended, a group of masked Palestinian fighters carrying M16 assault rifles fired bursts of ammunition into the air before the three bodies wrapped in white cloth and Palestinian flags were carried out of the mosque.
The crowd followed behind chanting, “With our blood, with our souls, we will redeem you, oh martyrs.”
