Top Palestinian body calls for suspension of Israel recognition

PCC says recognition should be suspended until Israel recognises the Palestinian state in its 1967 borders.

Palestinian Central Council meeting in Ramallah
The council said PLO and Palestinian Authority will also end security coordination and suspend economic agreements with Israel [Anadolu]

A top Palestinian body authorised the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend recognition of Israel and stop security coordination with Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian Central Council (PCC) – a body of the PLO – said the suspensions should be in place until Israel recognises the Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.

Following a two-day meeting in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the council said the PLO and Palestinian Authority will also end security coordination and suspend economic agreements as set out under the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol. It also decided to revoke the validity of the Oslo Accords.

The council said the decision was made “in light of Israel’s continued denial of the signed agreements”.

The decision must be approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Council.

Speaking on Sunday, Abbas again vowed to block any peace plan led by US President Donald Trump.

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Abbas compared the expected Trump peace plan to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which saw the British government commit to the creation of a state for Jews in historical Palestine.

“If the Balfour Declaration is passed, this deal will not pass,” he said.

In December, Trump decided to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Breaking with decades of US policy that favoured a two-state solution, Trump’s declaration dealt a blow to the Palestinian leadership, which for more than two decades has unsuccessfully attempted to establish a state on the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Source: News Agencies

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