Palestinian activists on Thursday tried to prevent a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization from holding a conference at Ramallah’s City Inn Hotel, witnesses said.

They said the activists attempted to break into the conference hall, but that Palestinian police stationed at the entrance intervened.

The protesters accused the conveners of normalization with the Israeli occupation.

“Normalization is treason,” protesters’ signs read. “Inside this hall sits Israeli officers who killed our children.”

Israeli media reported that the Palestinian and Israeli delegations consisted of 15 members each, including former members of the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, in addition to Palestinian ex-prisoners, security officers, and businessmen.

The organization that held the conference is called Israeli-Palestinian Public Negotiating Congress in Ramallah & Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Police officers had originally denied journalists access to the conference hall at the request of the organizers of the conference, witnesses told Ma’an. However, journalists were eventually were allowed to go in and take photos.

The witnesses added that organizers of the conference, entitled “Ordinary People make Peace,” obtained permission from the Palestinian Authority to hold the event in Ramallah.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)