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Talks with US administration useless, Abbas says

April 15, 2019 at 9:41 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) holds the a cabinet meeting in Ramallah, West Bank on 13 April 2019 [Thaer Ghanaim/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah and PLO President Mahmoud Abbas said talks with the US are “useless”, Arabs48 reported yesterday.

During the first meeting with the new PA government, which sworn in on Saturday, he said: “The coming days will witness very difficult developments.”

He added: “The first challenge ahead of the new government is the ‘deal of the century’.”

READ: New Palestinian government sworn in amid factional tensions. 

“We rejected this deal from the beginning because it did not include Jerusalem and we do not want a state without Jerusalem or without Gaza.”

Regarding the Israeli deduction of the PA taxes, he said: “Israel collects the taxes in return for a three per cent fee. It deducts whatever it wants and tell us: this is your portion.”

“So, we said: We will not get the taxes until we agree on every penny you deduct… Israeli officials said they would discuss this issue after the elections… We are waiting.”