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PLO officials meet to review relationship with Israel

March 5, 2015 at 11:08 am

Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) officials began a two-day meeting on Wednesday to review the movement’s relationship with Israel. They are expected to take a decision on the suspension of security coordination with the Israelis in a move that will have a major impact on stability in the occupied West Bank.

Relations have worsened considerably between the two sides since the collapse of the US-mediated peace talks in 2014 without any prospect for their resumption.

Security coordination between Israel and the Palestinians is one of the main pillars of the Oslo peace accords signed in the mid-nineties. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war. Suspending such coordination will have an immediate impact on stability in cities such as Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus and Jenin, where unrest breaks out frequently and there are weekly protests after Friday prayers.

The PLO meeting comes in the wake of Israel’s withholding of the taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in response to the Palestinian decision to join the International Criminal Court. The loss to the PA is estimated at more than $100 million a month.

Qais Abu Laila, a member of the PLO Central Council, the second major reference point in the organisation, said before the meeting that this is the “right time” to halt security coordination completely. “There is an initial trend supported by the Palestinian leadership in this regard that calls for reviewing all ties, given that Israel ignores agreements. This has become more obvious, not only over the tax issue but Israel’s ongoing plundering of the land, the expansion of settlements and the Judaisation of Jerusalem.”

American and European diplomats fear that security coordination will be suspended unless Israel transfers the taxes soon. The amount due accounts for almost two-thirds of the Palestinian budget; without it the PA will not be able to pay the wages of security personnel. The EU has increased its transfers to the Palestinian Authority in recent weeks, partly to compensate for the loss of income from taxes.

On previous occasions when Israel suspended transfers it always ended up transferring the tax revenues to the PA within weeks. This time, however, that is not expected to happen until after the Israeli General Election on 17 March and the formation of a new government. The whole process could take several weeks, or even months.

Furthermore, the Israeli power company has cut off electricity supplies to Nablus and Jenin for the past 10 days because it is owed $492 million by the PA. This has fuelled tension, leading to protests and unrest in many cities in the West Bank. Earlier this week, the Israeli army sent 13,000 troops on an unannounced exercise across the occupied territory, a sure sign of growing security concerns.

Despite the fact that some PLO members are determined to suspend security coordination immediately, there will most likely be a partial suspension or simply threats to end it. “It is possible that the decision would be to stop the coordination either completely or partially,” said Jamal Muheisen of Fatah. “We need to listen to our brothers in the security services in order to take a decision that will affect the Israelis adversely but not us.”