Palestinian Official: Peace Meeting Cancelled over Israeli Killings

Israeli-Palestinian so-called peace talks slated for Monday were scrapped after three Palestinians were shot dead in the West Bank, a Palestinian official said, although the US sponsors of the process denied the report. “The meeting that was to take place in Jericho … today was cancelled because of the Israeli crime committed in Qalandiya,” he told AFP, referring to a West Bank camp where the three were shot dead in clashes with Israeli occupation troops. But the US State Department, which is mediating the talks, insisted that no meeting planned as part of the ongoing “peace process” had been cancelled. “I can assure you that no meeting has been cancelled,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington. The Palestinian official, who declined to be named, did not set a new date for talks, while Harf refused to say whether or not any meeting had actually taken place. “As we have said the parties are engaged in serious and sustained negotiations,” Harf said. “We are not going to announce when every meeting takes place. But again I can assure you that no meeting has been cancelled.” On the ground, medics said that three Palestinians were shot dead and 19 wounded by Israeli security forces in the Qalandiya refugee camp early on Monday. “What happened today in Qalandiya shows the real intentions of the Israeli government,” said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian president. He called on the US administration to “take serious and quick steps” to prevent the collapse of peace efforts. The martyred Palestinians were identified as Rubeen Abed Fares, 30, and Yunis Jahjouh, 22, both shot in the chest, and Jihad Aslan, 20, who died of brain damage. Hospital officials said all the casualties were hit by live ammunition.