Palestinian factions meet to end West Bank violence

Palestinians hurl stones at Israeli security forces. Pic/AP

Palestinian factions were meeting Sunday in Egypt to discuss reconciliation efforts as violence in the occupied West Bank surged between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The main groups, Hamas and Fatah, have been split since 2007. With repeated reconciliation attempts having failed, expectations for the one-day meeting are low. Those raids have led to some of the worst fighting in nearly two decades in the West Bank.

Palestinians also say the Israeli raids undermine their own security forces and weaken their leadership. According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the gathering in the Egyptian city of el-Alamein on the Mediterranean Sea will discuss "ways to restore national unity and end the division."

The meeting comes amid soaring violence in the West Bank, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah group are based and exert limited self-rule. Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in Palestinian areas of the territory in what it says is an attempt to stamp out militancy, especially in areas where Abbas' security forces have less of a foothold.Agencies

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