The Palestinian Authority (PA) may nullify another part of the moribund Oslo Accords and halt security cooperation with Israel, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo told the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper.
“Everything is subject for reevaluation, but there is no final decision made yet,” he was quoted as saying by the International Middle East Media Center.
Abed Rabbo said a halt to cooperation with the IDF would be in retaliation for continued Jewish development in parts of Judea and Samaria. Under the Oslo Accords, the PA is committed to work with Israel to fight terror as part of its program for self-government.
Although the IDF has been required to carry out arrests of many terrorists, most of them from Hamas and in areas controlled by the PA, the security cooperation has been credited in the past with reducing terror.
However, a steady escalation of deadly firebomb and rock attacks on Israeli motorists in the last several months has left many parts of Judea and Samaria without any security at all. More deterioration in security cooperation could further endanger Jews in Judea and Samaria, with the PA turning a blind eye and the IDF reluctant to act alone and be accused of fueling Arab anger.
Abbas has violated the Oslo Accords several times, including manning a police force beyond the numbers allowed in the agreement and turning them into a military force, also a contradiction of terms.
The United States arbitrarily changed the conditions of the agreement, using heavy pressure on Israel, to skip over a phase for an interim Palestinian Authority. Instead, then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to move ahead for final status for the PA.
After PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas failed to win his political and territorial demands, he violated the Oslo Accords by carrying out a unilateral move to win recognition in the United Nations instead of doing so by talks with Israel. Abbas told the Egyptian television last Friday he plans to make “a dramatic announcement” within 10 days as a reaction to the diplomatic impasse. He may be timing the announcement to coincide with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit in Washington next week.
Abed Rabbo said that Israel’s refusal to slap a second building freeze on Jews in Judea and Samaria has created the current deep freeze in relations, which would be further damaged by a lack of security cooperation.
Israel temporarily halted new building a year and a half ago to satisfy Abbas’ condition for resuming talks for establishing the Palestinian Authority as a state, but he then balked, arguing that the freeze was not comprehensive enough. A de facto freeze still is in effect in most parts of Judea and Samaria.
