RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestine said Saturday its participation in a security meeting with Israel in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh aims to defend Palestinian rights.

Delegates from Egypt, Jordan and the United States will also attend the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday.

On Thursday, Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) not to attend the Sharm El-Sheikh security meeting with Israel.

“We will participate in the meeting to defend the rights of our Palestinian people to freedom and independence,” Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Executive Committee, said on Twitter.

“We will also participate to demand an end to this continuous Israeli aggression against us and to stop all measures and policies that violate our blood, land, property and sanctities,” he added.

On Wednesday, Al-Sheikh met with US Special Envoy for Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr, in the West Bank city of Ramallah to discuss preparations for the five-party meeting.

Last month, Palestinian and Israeli delegates attended a meeting in Jordan, along with Egypt and the US, in an effort to ease tension in the Palestinian Territories.

Participants in the meeting agreed to take steps to advance confidence-building measures and to renew security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Tension escalated across the Palestinian Territories in recent weeks amid repeated Israeli military raids into Palestinian towns.

According to Palestinian figures, more than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since the beginning of this year. Fourteen Israelis were also killed in separate attacks during the same period.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report