Analysis

PLO threatens to rescind 1988 recognition of Israel — again

Upcoming meeting of PLO's national council may include leaders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad

By Avi Issacharoff
  • Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel's Middle East analyst, fills the same role for Walla, the leading portal in Israel. He is also a guest commentator on many different radio shows and current affairs programs on television. Until 2012, he was a reporter and commentator on Arab affairs for the Haaretz newspaper. He also lectures on modern Palestinian history at Tel Aviv University, and is currently writing a script for an action-drama series for the Israeli satellite Television "YES." Born in Jerusalem, he graduated cum laude from Ben Gurion University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies and then earned his M.A. from Tel Aviv University on the same subject, also cum laude. A fluent Arabic speaker, Avi was the Middle East Affairs correspondent for Israeli Public Radio covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Iraq and the Arab countries between the years 2003-2006. Avi directed and edited short documentary films on Israeli television programs dealing with the Middle East. In 2002 he won the "best reporter" award for the "Israel Radio” for his coverage of the second intifada. In 2004, together with Amos Harel, he wrote "The Seventh War - How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians." A year later the book won an award from the Institute for Strategic Studies for containing the best research on security affairs in Israel. In 2008, Issacharoff and Harel published their second book, entitled "34 Days - The Story of the Second Lebanon War," which won the same prize.
 27 November 2015, 10:33 am
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds a press conference with United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon following a meeting at the Muqata presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on October 21, 2015. (AFP/Abbas Momani)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestine Liberation Organization officials are once against examining the possibility of canceling the PLO’s recognition of Israel in protest over stalled peace talks.

The PLO’s Palestine National Council is set to meet in the coming weeks, where the measure is expected to be considered.

The plan, proposed by several senior officials, will see the national council announce that in light of the failure to establish a Palestinian state, and in light of Israeli actions during the latest round of violence, the PLO’s recognition is withdrawn.

PLO officials are also planning to invite senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders to take part in the meeting, thought the two terror groups are not members of the PLO.

According to senior officials who spoke with The Times of Israel, many Palestinian Authority officials oppose the move, which could have a dramatic effect on the PA’s relationship with Israel, the economic wellbeing of Palestinians and the ongoing security and civil cooperation between the two governments.

It could also have a deleterious effect on the PA’s standing around the world, including on its ability to draw aid from western countries, the officials said.

The threat to withdraw the PLO’s 1988 recognition of Israel has been raised by PA officials multiple times in recent months, likely as a way to highlight that recognition in light of Israel’s demand that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish nation-state. But Israeli officials contend that merely recognizing Israel’s existence is not enough to tackle Palestinian delegitimization of the Jewish state.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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