Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was cutting all ties, including security coordination, with both Israel and the US on Saturday, in a lengthy speech delivered at an Arab League meeting in Egypt’s capital denouncing the new White House plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We’ve informed the Israeli side…that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States, including security ties,” Abbas declared.
The US plan would potentially grant the Palestinians a state with restricted sovereignty in Gaza and in parts of the West Bank, while allowing Israel to annex all its settlements and keep nearly all of East Jerusalem.
The summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo was requested by the Palestinians, who responded angrily to the American proposal.
Abbas said that he told Israel and the US that “there will be no relations with them, including the security ties” following the deal that Palestinians say heavily favors Israel.
He said US President Donald Trump’s peace plan was in “violation of the (autonomy) accords” launched in Oslo in 1993 by Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel will have to “bear responsibility as an occupying power,” Abbas said.
There was no immediate comment from US or Israeli officials. Abbas has threatened to cut security ties in the past on several occasions though he has not followed through with action on the ground.
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