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Israel says cooperation remains after Palestinian vote recommends cutting security ties
The Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), to which most major Palestinian factions are affiliated, voted yesterday to recommend that the Palestinian Authority (PA) end security cooperation with Israel.
The Central Council resolved that, “Security coordination in all its forms with the authority of the Israeli occupation will be stopped in the light of its (Israel’s) non-compliance with the agreements signed between the two sides.” The decision is thought to be designed to pressure Israel to make concessions, in particular to release tax money it has collected on the PA’s behalf, but which has been withheld due to the PA’s attempts to target Israelis at the International Criminal Court.
The PLO Central Council is one of several influential Palestinian bodies, with others such as the PA’s Legislative Council having been inactive for years. PA President Mahmoud Abbas is also head of the PLO’s Executive Committee and would have to approve the Central Council’s recommendation to end security cooperation with Israel to bring it into effect.
Such a move would likely have a serious impact on security and stability in the West Bank. Coordination between Israeli and PA forces has been a crucial factor in the relative quiet in the West Bank in recent years, despite attempts by Hamas to inflame violence against both Israel and the PA.
This morning, Israeli officials told Army Radio that both civil and security cooperation with the PA is continuing unimpeded. Reuters also said that an Israeli security official reported no change in security cooperation.
Last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that “If the Palestinian Authority ceases or were to cease, security cooperation … then we would be faced with yet another crisis that could also greatly impact the security of both Palestinians and Israelis.”
Also yesterday, COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for administering borders with Gaza lifted restrictions on some exports from the Gaza Strip into Israel for the first time since Hamas violently seized power there in 2007.