Scepticism over PA security suspension
THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas last Thursday night that the Palestinian Authority would be suspending all its ties with Israel — including security coordination — has been met with disbelief among bothPalestinians and Israelis.
Mr Abbas made the announcement in an impassioned speech at an emergency meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, called after Israel demolished a number of buildings in Tzur Baher, a village in south-east Jerusalem. Israel’s Supreme Court authorised the demolition as they had been built adjacent to the “separation fence” and were considered by the Defence Ministry to be a security risk. The move enraged the Palestinians as some of the buildings are in Areas A and B of the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority officially has planning powers. In his speech, Mr Abbas called the demolitions “ethnic cleansing.”
“We announce the leadership’s decision to stop implementing the agreements signed with the Israeli side,” Mr Abbas said in his speech and one of his advisors confirmed he was referring to security coordination in the West Bank as well. However both Palestinian and Israeli officials expressed in private their scepticism that any steps would be carried out in the foreseeable future.
Part of this scepticism is because this is not the first time the Palestinians have said they would suspend all agreements with Israel and end security coordination. A similar resolution was passed in May 2018 by the Palestinian National Council but was not implemented. Neither was a previous decision in January by the council to rescind the PLO’s recognition of Israel. In this case as well, Mr Abbas did not make it clear how and when the suspension would take place, instead saying at the end of his speech that a committee would be appointed to discuss the matter.
Israeli security officials said this week that they have seen no change in the level of coordination and they doubted they would. “The coordination is every bit in Abbas’ interest as it is Israel’s,” said one Israeli officer. “His biggest fear is that Hamas will take over the West Bank in the same way it took over Gaza and he needs coordination with Israel to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Anger over the demolitions has not resulted in violent protests. The Palestinian leadership has more urgent concerns at present, including uncertainty over the future of the United Nations UNRWA agency, the main source of jobs, education and financial aid in the West Bank and Gaza, following the publication of an internal UN report that detailed allegations of severe corruption by UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl and other senior staff members. UNRWA was financially hit last year when the United States announced it was ceasing all funding but has since announced that it received new pledges from other countries to make up for the shortfall. However a crisis in confidence in its leadership will make it difficult to collect these pledges.
Other funding concerns have arisen from the intense social media battle between Palestinians and Saudis over what is perceived as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman trying to shift his country’s foreign policy towards a more pro-Israel stance. The Saudi kingdom is currently the largest single contributor to the Palestinian Authority’s budget. One online video in particular, in which Palestinians can be seen organising a cursingcompetition of the Saudis and Bin Salman personally, has caused a stir and PA officials and diplomats rushed to condemn it and praise the Saudis for “standing by the Palestinian people.”
Anger over demolitions has not resulted in violence’