PLO official: Israel has 1 week to stop punitive measures against PA

A member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Azzam Al-Ahmad, said Israel has one week to stop its punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority officials or the PA will reconsider its relation with the occupation state.

This came after the Israeli security cabinet on Friday approved a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in response to the PA’s successful initiative at the United Nations last week to have the UN International Court of Justice draft a legal opinion regarding Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories.

The measures included stripping VIP benefits from PA officials that allowed them and their families permits to go through checkpoints that are closed to most Palestinians, or to move to the front of the line for faster passage. Other measures included seizing tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the PA and freezing Palestinian construction in Area C of the occupied West Bank

“I am part of the Palestinian people and leadership, and now we are in a clash with the [Israeli] government of the extreme right, and therefore there is nothing new, so let them revoke whatever they want,” Al-Ahmad told Donia Al-Watan news site.

He added that during the last PLO Executive Committee meeting it was decided that Israel would be given one week to cancel its decisions, or the PLO will reconsider its relations with Tel Aviv.

READ: Israel seizes $39m from tax revenues collected on behalf of PA