PLO announces suspension of economic and military coordination with Israel, claims it will not recognize Israel until Palestinian state with east Jerusalem within ’67 borders is recognized; Abbas: If the Balfour Declaration passed, this deal will not pass.
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The PLO announced it no longer recognizes the State of Israel as well as a halt to security coordination with Israel.
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council made the announcement on Tuesday from Ramallah after a two day meeting by Palestinian officials. It also announced its immediate withdrawal from agreements with Israel, including the Oslo Accords. Economic ties and security coordination are to halt until Israel recognizes a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The PLO claimed on Monday that due to Israel’s “continued denial of the signed agreements” and “occupying power” the PLO would “suspend recognition of the state of Israel until its recognition of the state of Palestine on the June 4, 1967 borders with east 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.”
A special committee is to be formed and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would need to approve.
The move by the PLO follows Oman’s call for recognition of the State of Israel as well as reports that Saudi Arabia recently acquired spy systems and equipment in a $250 million deal with Israel. The deal was reportedly mediated by the Trump Administration and followed numerous secret meetings between Saudi and Israeli officials.
On Sunday, Abbas reiterated that the Palestinian Authority would never accept a peace deal from the Trump Administration, claiming “If the Balfour Declaration passed, this deal will not pass… Jerusalem, you swallowed it and moved your embassy to it.”
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