Abbas: Palestine will reconsider deals with Israel, US amid annexation plans

President Mahmoud Abbas announced that Palestine will reconsider the deals and understandings reached with both Israel and the US, should Israel annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

“We will hold the American and Israeli governments responsible for all the consequences,” Abbas said.

The televised announcement comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated the new Israeli government has “the right and the obligation” to decide if and how it wants to apply sovereignty over the occupied West Bank during his one-day visit to Israel yesterday.

“I reminded them that, at the end of the day, this is an Israeli decision,” said the top US diplomat in an interview with the Israel Hayom daily. “They will have both the right and the obligation to make a decision on how they are going to do it.”

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However, Pompeo noted the issue was complex and required coordination with Washington, which has formed a joint team with Israel to map out new territorial lines in the West Bank in accordance with Trump’s Middle East plan.

Abbas accused Israel of turning its back on the agreements that had been reached with the Palestinian side.

He also noted that “Israel, which is encouraged by the US”, was planning to annex lands in Palestine, mainly in East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

“This fact will compel us to reconsider all the agreements, treaties and understandings which had been either reached with the state of occupation or with the US,” added Abbas.

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