In view of the tense security situation, representatives of the Palestinians and Israel want to create a basis for direct negotiations with regular meetings. The goal is a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace," it said in a joint statement after talks in Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh on Sunday. A new mechanism is intended to help "curb and counter violence, incitement and inflammatory statements and actions". Results should therefore be available at the next meeting in April, which is also to take place in Sharm el Sheikh.

High-level representatives of the US, Jordan and Egypt also took part in the discussions. It took place a few days before the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In previous years, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians had mostly increased during this period. A meeting in the same format a few weeks ago in Aqaba, Jordan, was presumably the first direct meeting of its kind in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in years.

In the statement released by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo, Israelis and Palestinians again pledged to suspend "unilateral measures" for three to six months. As before, they did not give any details. Israel again pledged not to discuss the construction of new settlements in the West Bank for four months and not to approve any new settlement outposts for six months.

The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tense for some time. Since the beginning of the year, 13 Israelis and one Ukrainian woman have been killed in Palestinian attacks. In the same period, 85 Palestinians were killed – for example in confrontations with the Israeli army or in their own attacks.

Almost simultaneously to the meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, an Israeli was seriously injured in a suspected Palestinian attack in the West Bank, according to paramedics.

Israel had conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Today, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there. The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem as its capital.