WarSclerotic

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central ‎Council declared that it was suspending its ‎recognition of Israel until Israel agrees to acknowledge an ‎independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders ‎and with east Jerusalem as its capital, Ramallah’s Wafa news agency reported Monday.‎

The council further decided to suspend all security ‎and economic ties with Israel, as outlined in the ‎‎1994 Paris Economic Protocol.‎

The decision, announced after a ‎two-day meeting ‎in Ramallah, is declarative and nonbinding, the ‎report said.‎

According to the report, the PLO essentially wants ‎to cease compliance with the 1993 Oslo Accord, on ‎which the Israeli-Palestinian peace ‎process is founded. ‎

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would ‎‎have to ratify the council’s decision for it to ‎‎actually spell the PA backing out of the Oslo ‎‎Accords. ‎

‎”In view of Israel’s continued denial of the signed ‎agreements, the PLO Central Council, in confirmation ‎of its previous decision and considering that the ‎transitional phase no longer exists, hereby decides ‎to end the commitments of the PLO and the ‎Palestinian Authority toward its agreements with the ‎occupying power, suspend recognition of the State of ‎Israel until its recognition of the State of ‎Palestine on the June 4, 1967 borders with al-Quds [‎Jerusalem] as its capital; end security ‎coordination in all its forms, and disengage ‎economically from Israel on the grounds that the ‎transitional phase, including the Paris Economic ‎Protocols, no longer exist,” the PLO said in a statement ‎quoted ‎by Arab media.‎

The organization further asserted that the Trump ‎administration is “a partner of the Israeli ‎occupation government and a part of the problem, not ‎the solution,” and lauded Abbas’ efforts “in ‎continuing to reject the so-called ‘Deal of the ‎Century’ proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and ‎confronting it with all available means.”‎

According to the report, Abbas was inclined to endorse ‎the council’s decision, saying that “the time has ‎come” to put into actions previous council ‎resolutions. ‎

He called on Palestinians to unite behind the PLO as ‎the “sole legitimate representative” of the ‎Palestinian people.‎

The PLO’s Central Council‎ further stated that it ‎‎holds Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group that ousted ‎Abbas’ Fatah government from the Gaza Strip in a ‎military coup in 2007, for the prolonged failure of ‎the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation efforts between ‎the rival Palestinian factions.‎

It further affirmed its rejections of “various ‎suspicious projects” meant to “split Gaza from the ‎West Bank,” referring to recent Egyptian and U.N. ‎efforts to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel ‎and facilitate an agreement that would alleviate the ‎dire economic crisis in Gaza.‎

Abbas has admitted his government has been actively ‎trying to torpedo these efforts, which exclude ‎Ramallah, claiming that no such agreement can be ‎reached without the Palestinian Authority’s ‎involvement.‎