PA slams killing of 2 during IDF operation at Kalandiya

Says Kalandiya killings were Israeli attempt to stir up region; Netanyahu denies he scuttled talks between Peres and Erekat.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
E. Jerusalem security barrier at Kalandiya 311 (photo credit: Marc Sellem Israel/The Jerusalem Post)
E. Jerusalem security barrier at Kalandiya 311
(photo credit: Marc Sellem Israel/The Jerusalem Post)
The Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned the killing of two Palestinians from Kalandiya refugee camp during a pre-dawn IDF operation and accused the Israeli government of seeking to thwart its statehood bid at the United Nations.
Hamas urged the PA to stop chasing “resistance fighters” in the West Bank so that it could “resume its role in defending Palestinians.”
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Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of attempting to “create an atmosphere of escalation before September,” when the PA is scheduled to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.
Abu Rudaineh also condemned “continued settler assaults” against Palestinians and their properties.
The two victims were identified as Ali Khalifa, 27, and Mutasem Adwan, 22.
Khalifa was a member of the PA’s Military Intelligence Apparatus in the West Bank.
The two men were killed during a routine IDF operation to arrest suspects in the refugee camp north of Jerusalem. The soldiers who entered the camp were pelted with stones and bottles, the army said.
Sources in the camp said that Ma’moun Awad, 24, was shot and seriously wounded during the operation. Another two Palestinians, Wajeeh al-Khatib and Anas Manasra, were detained by IDF soldiers, the sources said.
The PA, meanwhile, said it was still working on the wording of its application to the UN for statehood recognition.
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The IDF said that the Central Command was investigating the incident.
Military sources said that troops from the Kfir Brigade were attacked during a raid in the refugee camp by a violent mob after they entered the camp to arrest two terror suspects.
Five soldiers were injured in the clashes and one was evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem.
The PA is facing immense pressure from the US and Israel to abandon its plan to go to the UN in September, Wasel Abu Yusef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said on Monday.
Meanwhile,Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday denied reports in the London based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he scuttled a meeting last week in Amman between President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas because he did not give Peres any new message to convey.
Netanyahu, asked about the report in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the report was “incorrect.” He said he worked in “full coordination” with Peres, with “transparency and understanding.”Previous meetings and conversations Peres has had with Abbas have been with his okay and knowledge, the prime minister said.
Peres reportedly held a detailed meeting last week with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to look for a formula that would forestall the Palestinian statehood recognition bid at the UN in September.
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.