The State Department this morning rushed to emphasize that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were ongoing – “sustained and serious” was Foggy Bottom’s exact language – after Palestinian negotiators reportedly called off a meeting between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the aftermath of an incident this morning in which three Palestinians were shot and killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the Qalandiya refugee camp.
Border police spokesman Shai Hakimi said officers were on a raid to apprehend a terror suspect, who was released from prison a month ago, when over 1,500 Palestinians poured into the streets and attacked the officers with firebombs and rocks.
Military sources said that the troops used crowd dispersal means, shot at the rioters’ legs and were aided by a rescue force who employed similar riot control means.
A video posted by Palestinians shows Palestinian youths standing on roof tops at the refugee camp hurling rocks at an IDF jeep that found itself stuck in an alley.
Posters of the three Palestinians killed in the clashes described them as martyrs, and members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades terror group attended the funerals for the three. An Israeli border police spokesman described the scene as marked by “large violent crowds.”
