Abbas stops deals with Israel

GAZA - Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday he has decided to stop implementing agreements with Israel amid worsening relations between the two sides.

"We announce the leadership's decision to stop implementing the agreements signed with the Israeli side," he said in a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He said the Palestinians would immediately form a committee to study how to implement the decision.

The two governments work together on matters ranging from water to security, and withdrawing from agreements could impact security in the occupied West Bank.

Abbas, 84, has made similar threats before and not implemented them.

Palestinian officials have also threatened in the past to stop implementing all accords with Israel, but Abbas had previously not spoken so definitively. Relations between Abbas's government, based in the West Bank, and its Israeli counterpart have worsened in recent months.

In February, the Jewish state decided to deduct around $10 million a month from tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, corresponding to the amount it said the Palestinian Authority pays to families of prisoners or directly to inmates in Israeli jails.

Israel sees such payments as encouraging attacks while Palestinians see them as support for families who have often lost their main breadwinner.

The Palestinians have in response refused to take any of the roughly $180 million in monthly tax revenues until the full amount is transferred, leaving Abbas's government in financial crisis.