From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
PLO officials: Abbas not bluffing, security cooperation over
The New York Times quotes senior Palestinian officials saying PA President Mahmoud Abbas is not bluffing with his announcement that agreements with Israel and the US are canceled, effectively ending security cooperation.
The paper cites Maj. Gen. Adnan Damiri, a spokesman for the Palestinian security services, saying that Palestinian officials understood from Abbas’s words that they are to no longer cooperate on security with Israel or the CIA.
“This decision is for immediate implementation,” Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, tells the paper. “It is not to be studied or discussed in committees.”
Mahmoud al-Habbash, Abbas’s religious affairs adviser, tells the paper that “there’s no room for maneuvering.”
Security cooperation is seen as a vital mechanism for thwarting terror in the West Bank and while Abbas has threatened to cut it off in the past, he has never actually done so.
The Times of Israel Community.