Alwaght- The Palestinian Central Council has voted on Monday to order the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend the recognition of an Israeli state, local media reported.
The PCC met in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. It also decided that the Palestinian Authority should stop security coordination with the Israelis, until an independent Palestinian state is recognized by the Israelis.
A statement at the closure of the two-day meeting said that in light of Israel's "denial" of its obligations under agreements signed with the Palestinians, the PCC authorized the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to "end their obligations... towards their agreements with the occupation authorities (Israel).”
The decision follows mounting Israeli violence against the Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and also Gaza, where nearly 2 million Palestinians are under a blockade that makes the Palestinian enclave the world’s largest open-air prison.
On Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians will block any peace plan led by the American President Donald Trump.
“The deal of the Century”
The Palestinians in Ramallah are infuriated as the US plans to unveil a Trump-initiated peace plan, called by the some American administration officials “the deal of the century.”
The deal remains a secret up to now, but some revelations have been made by some sources in the Israeli regime and the US. Some sources have been saying that Washington plans to finalize its recognition of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of an Israeli state as part of the deal. Furthermore, the US plans to recognize the Israeli settlements, many of which are built in West Bank territories which according to a peace agreement should remain under Palestinian control. Also, the right for the Palestinians to return home, reportedly, will be revoked by the US administration.
The intention for the deal has been making Abbas angry. He, also leader of Fatah movement, made more than huge concessions for years to Tel Aviv for the latter’s retreat to the pre-1967 borders.
To his frustration, the Israelis not only declined to keep their promises but also stepped up their occupation over the past few years, building new settlements in the seized Palestinian lands. The latest land Tel Aviv intends to seize for settlement expansion projects is Khan al-Ahmar inhabited village in West Bank. The Israeli authorities say they are determined to demolish the village.
But Abbas is too reliant on the Americans and their Arab allies like Saudi Arabia to take any steps to counter both the Israeli occupation and aggression and Trump administration’s upcoming deal.
Resistance: Only choice
While Ramallah officials set their heart on the negotiations and the Americans for the end of the Israeli acquisitive occupation, their brothers in Gaza, the only Palestinian territory not occupied by the Israeli regime, insist that resistance to the Israeli aggression is the only way out of the crisis.
Hamas has been asserting that compromises to Tell Aviv only make it greedy and emboldened to occupy further.
“The American announcement about a plan that would be presented soon is worthless,” said last week Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri.
The statement came in response to the US envoy to UN Nikki Haley who said last week that the US was nearly ending drafting a peace deal for the region, or the deal of the century.
Tell Aviv several times sought to occupy the Gaza Strip but each time returned frustrated as key controllers there, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, responded to the Israeli military actions.
Tell Aviv waged devastating wars on Gaza, in 2008, 2012, and 2014. None of them touched the two months length, as the resistant movements firmly resisted.
Escalating tensions
Over the past few days, the tensions escalated considerably between the two sides.
On Sunday, the Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Gaza Strip, killing 3 civilians near a fence separating the besieged Palestinian region from the occupied territories. The Israeli military alleged that the targets were “apparently” carrying an explosive device near the protest site.
"A short while ago, three Palestinians approached the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip, attempted to damage it and were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device adjacent to it," the military said in a statement. It added that the military’s "aircraft then fired towards them,” the Israeli Defense Forces statement read.
But the Palestinian sources dismissed the allegations, saying that the teens were peacefully protesting the blockade.
On Thursday, the Israeli jets struck Gaza, claiming that they targeted Hamas positions after a rocket was fired from Gaza into the occupied territories but landed in an open area after the much-vaunted Iron Dome anti-rocket system failed to intercept it.
Last Wednesday, the Israeli military aircraft attacked Gaza sites it claimed from which “incendiary balloons” were flown.
