BICOM

Palestinian leaders have urged the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to suspend its formal recognition of Israel.

The PLO Central Council voted last night 74-2 for the PLO Executive Committee, an 18-member body made up of leaders of several Palestinian factions, to suspend recognition of Israel until Israel recognises a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 borders, cancels its decision to annex East Jerusalem and ceases construction in settlements.

The members of the Central Council did not lay out a timetable for the Executive Committee to suspend the PLO’s recognition of Israel, but said that the interim stage decided upon in the 1993 Oslo Accords no longer existed, nor any of the commitments in them.

The Central Council also decided to renew a decision it made in 2015 to end security cooperation with Israel “in all its forms”. All of the Central Council’s resolutions must be approved by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas welcomed the vote but said in a statement that the “real test” would be “to implement it effectively on the ground and put in place the necessary mechanisms”.

The Central Council supported Abbas’s decision to end the US role as the sole mediator in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, saying: “As long as the Oval Office does not renege on its stance regarding Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in occupied territories, any deal or American peace initiative should be rejected.”

The Central Council also called for the Palestinian leadership to use the UN and its Security Council in order to achieve the recognition of a Palestinian state, and that international organisations, such as the International Criminal Court, should be approached so that Israel could be prosecuted.