PLO Confirms it is Ending All Agreements With Israel, Including on Security
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – In response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank, on Wednesday Palestinian leaders reconfirmed their decision to terminate all agreements and security cooperation with the Israeli and US governments, the Jerusalem Post reported.
President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas had announced on May 19 that “the state of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization are absolved” of all commitments based on agreements and understandings with Israel and America, including on security. “The Israeli occupation authority, as of today, has to shoulder all responsibilities and obligations in front of the international community as an occupying power over the territory of the occupied state of Palestine, with all its consequences and repercussions,” Abbas said.
On Wednesday the PLO Executive Committee met to discuss ways to prevent the planned annexation from proceeding, the Guardian reported. PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat reportedly announced that the Palestinian leaders were having discussions with several countries about the “dangers” of the Israeli plan.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, the PLO Executive Committee “confirmed” Abbas’s announcement about ending all agreements and understandings with Israel and America, the Guardian reported.
This is not the first time the Palestinian Authority has said it will end security cooperation with Israel, and it is not clear what this looks like in practice. Quoted in the Guardian on May 20, Daniel Levy of the US/Middle East Project said: “To pass the bar of credibility as a threat, to show this is not the same as the umpteen threats that they’ve previously issued of a similar nature and that they never acted on, the bar is very high. We will actually have to see Palestinian action.”
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