Palestinian officials Thursday rejected Washington's effort to extend an April deadline for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations as Jewish soldiers killed one in the West Bank during a raid, according to Agence France Presse.
Senior Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP, "There is no meaning to prolonging the negotiation, even for one more additional hour, if Israel, represented by its current government, continues to disregard international law."
Erakat's comments follow U.S. Secretary of State's John Kerry's statement that the peace negotiations would extend beyond the expected April deadline.
While tensions rise around the crumbling negotiations process, Israelis and Palestinians clashed along another front Thursday after Israeli army soldiers raided the West Bank town of Birzeit and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man.
Palestinian military sources told AFP that the body of Motazz Washaha, 22 was found dead after Israeli soldiers entered and raided his home Thursday morning.
Israeli soldiers said that Washaha's death was premised upon being suspect of "terror activity."
According to Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem, the IDF has killed at least 27 Palestinians in the West Bank in 2013, over three times the number left dead in 2012.
