Abbas: ‘I do not have weapons, but I will not end my life as a traitor’
In Egypt, PA president threatens to cancel Oslo Accords, halt security coordination with Israel, reiterates refusal to deal with Trump over recognition of Jerusalem
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday night said all agreements with Israel were in jeopardy, including the Oslo Accords and security coordination, due to the moribund state of the peace process. He added that he did not intend to negotiate on US President Donald Trump’s expected peace plan due to America’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“We are dealing with three issues that we can not accept: the situation with the US, the situation with Israel and the situation with Hamas,” Abbas told reporters during a visit to the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
“The doors are closed to the US,” he continued. “As long as it does not retract its decisions against the Palestinian people, no Palestinian should meet with the American leadership, no matter what their role is.”
Abbas went on to state that the Palestinian Authority was reexamining its security coordination and agreements with the Jewish state. “The future is dangerous,” he said. “I do not have weapons, but I will not end my life as a traitor. I can say ‘no,’ and I have a people that can say ‘no’ beside me.”
Abbas was set to meet in Egypt with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah.
Fatah officials have accused Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip of having prevented Fatah members Monday from lighting a torch in Gaza City to commemorate the 54th anniversary of their party’s founding.
Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel, and Fatah have been at loggerheads since 2007 when the former ousted the Fatah-dominated PA from Gaza.
While the rival parties have signed a number of agreements to advance reconciliation, they have failed to implement them. Most recently, Fatah and Hamas signed an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation agreement in October 2017, but did not succeed in executing it on the ground.
Nabil Shaath, Abbas’s adviser for foreign affairs, told The Times of Israel ahead of the trip that the Palestinian leader would ask Sissi “what he thinks needs to be done on the matter of reconciliation because things are not moving in the right direction.”
In the recent past, Egypt has been the primary mediator between Hamas and Fatah.
Shaath also said Abbas and Sissi will discuss Israel’s recent advancement of more than 2,000 new settlement units. Last month the Defense Ministry committee responsible for authorizing settlement construction advanced plans for nearly 2,200 homes in West Bank settlements.
