REVISE OSLO ACCORDS, SAYS ABBAS AS HE SLAMS TRUMP ‘DEAL’
▶ Palestinian leader tells of US ‘slap’ and says Israel’s failure to abide by agreements means they must change
Palestinian leaders met yesterday to continue discussing their response to US president Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The rare meeting of the Palestinian Central Council, a high-ranking arm of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, began on Sunday evening in the West Bank city of Ramallah and was expected to last two days.
Top of the agenda yesterday was reviewing the Oslo agreements that the PLO signed with Israel in the 1990s, Fatah central committee member Azzam Al Ahmad said. Fatah is the leading member of the PLO.
Addressing the opening session of the council meeting on Sunday, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas called for the Oslo Accords to be revised because of Israel’s failure to abide by them.
With talks between the Palestinians and Israelis stalled since 2014, Mr Trump has sought to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. But Mr Abbas has said the US president’s stance on Jerusalem meant that America could no longer be the mediator in peace talks.
Palestinians want the annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
“We said ‘no’ to Trump, ‘we will not accept your project’,” Mr Abbas, 82, said on Sunday evening.
“The deal of the century is the slap of the century and we will not accept it,” he said, referring to Mr Trump’s pledge to reach the “ultimate deal” between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Mr Abbas instead called for
The Palestinians’ relations with Mr Trump have deteriorated rapidly since his election
an internationally mediated peace process.
But Israel is unlikely to accept any other mediator than the US, accusing UN General Assembly and Security Council of systematic bias against it.
The Palestinian council delegates began meeting yesterday morning, with talks expected to end in the evening with a statement.
The last meeting of the council, in 2015, called for ending security co-ordination with Israel, but this decision was non-binding and never implemented.
The Palestinians’ relations with the US leadership have deteriorated rapidly since Mr Trump’s election. Mr Trump came to power promising to lead the most pro-Israel administration in history, but also to pursue a peace deal.
His envoys, including senior adviser and son-in-law Jared
Kushner, had been shuttling between the two sides in search of common ground.
But Mr Trump also infuriated the Palestinians by refusing to commit to the idea of an independent Palestinian state, and recently threatened to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in US aid.
The controversial Jerusalem announcement made last month prompted the Palestinians to freeze ties with the government and Mr Abbas is expected to shun US vice president Mike Pence when he visits the region next week.
On Sunday night, Mr Abbas attacked the US ambassadors to Israel and the UN, David Friedman and Nikki Haley, calling them a “disgrace”.
Both Trump appointments, they have been strong supporters of Israel, with Mr Friedman having backed Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Mr Abbas also said that Mr Trump had accused the Palestinians of refusing to engage in peace negotiations.
“May God demolish your house. When did we refuse?” he asked.
US officials have said the Trump government is preparing to withhold tens of millions of dollars from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, cutting the year’s first contribution by more than half or entirely, and making additional donations contingent on major changes to the organisation.
Mr Trump has not made a decision, but appears more likely to send only US$60 million (Dh220.4m) of the planned $125m first instalment to the UN Relief and Works Agency, said the officials.
Future contributions would require the agency, which is facing heavy Israeli criticism, to demonstrate changes in operations, the officials said.
One suggestion under consideration would require the Palestinians to first re-enter peace talks with Israel.
The US state department said on Sunday that “the decision is under review – there are still deliberations taking place”.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the matter.
The government could announce its decision as early as today, the officials said.
The plan to withhold some of the money is backed by secretary of state Rex Tillerson and defence secretary James Mattis, who offered it as a compromise to demands for more drastic measures by Ms Haley.
She wants a complete cut-off in US money until the Palestinians resume peace talks with Israel.
But Mr Tillerson, Mr Mattis and others say ending all assistance would exacerbate instability in the Middle East, notably in Jordan, a host to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and a crucial US strategic partner.