Withdraw recognition of Israel, Abbas told
Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Central Council says it should no longer be bound by 1993 Oslo peace accords
Palestinian leaders called on President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw recognition of Israel and break off security cooperation, in a move that follows the Trump administration naming occupied Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Central Council declared it should no longer be bound by the 1993 Oslo peace accords and that its leaders will never recognise Israel as a Jewish state, according to a statement released at the end of a two-day conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. It said Palestinians will again seek full statehood recognition from the United Nations.
“The immediate goal is the independence of the state of Palestine, which requires moving from the status of an authority with self-rule to the status of sovereignty,” the statement said. Palestinians will restore their recognition of Israel when Israel accepts Palestine as a state, it said.
Abbas has cut off diplomatic contact with the US since President Donald Trump said last month that occupied Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and intends to move the American embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Abbas, who will make the ultimate decision whether to implement the council’s recommendations, opened the conference on Sunday by declaring that Palestinians will “slap back” at Trump and seek to replace the US with other international players in future peace negotiations with Israel.
Trump said in a Twitter message last week that the US gives the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars each year and gets “no respect or appreciation”. His ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has said the administration is considering a cut in aid to the UN agency that takes care of Palestinian refugees.
The administration is reviewing a proposal to send less than half of a planned $125 million payment and demand that other countries pay more, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.