PA stops protest against Abbas-Mofaz meeting

Hundreds of young Palestinians clashed with Palestinian security forces in Ramallah on Saturday at a protest against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's scheduled meeting with the Israeli vice premier Shaul Mofaz. The youth gathered in central Ramallah and tried to march on to the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency's headquarters at al-Muqataa, where they were blocked by riot police and plainclothes officials. Witnesses said some demonstrators were badly beaten, adding that three people were taken to hospital but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear. They were identified as journalist Muhammad Jaradat, Hassan Faraj and Waed Barghouti. Other witnesses said there were female security agents assigned to arrest girls and women participating in the protest. President Mahmoud Abbas was slated to meet Mofaz in Ramallah on Sunday, but officials announced Saturday the summit had been postponed indefinitely. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered advisers to request Abbas cancel the meeting due to his own disagreements with Mofaz over new legislation to include ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Israeli military. Mofaz, head of Israel's centrist Kadima party, joined Netanyahu's coalition in May and told reporters this month that he intended to meet Abbas "to examine ways to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinians." Netanyahu's associates denied the claims, insisting Abbas had cancelled the meeting himself because of protests, Haaretz noted.