Palestinian official: PA to halt security coordination with Israel

Abbas: Israel “living in the mentality of the past and closing the door to the two-state solution.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Mahmoud Abbas (photo credit: REUTERS)
Mahmoud Abbas
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Palestinian Authority leadership said it was considering halting security coordination with Israel in response to the killing of two Palestinians near Ramallah on Thursday, a Palestinian security source told the Ma’an news agency.
The source accused Israel of escalating the situation by firing live ammunition at Palestinian protesters during Nakba Day.
A PA official in Ramallah refused to comment on the report.
The two young men were killed in violent clashes with security forces in Beitunya on the day that Palestinians lament the establishment of Israel.
Mohammed Abu Daher and Nadim Siam, were fatally shot when scores of Palestinians attacked IDF soldiers with stones at Ofer Prison.
A third teenager, whose identity was not revealed, was seriously wounded during the confrontation, eyewitnesses said.
Abu Daher is from the village of Abu Shkheidem, while Siam is from the village of Mazra’ah Sharqiyyeh, in the Ramallah area.
The two were among scores of Palestinians who marched toward the IDF soldiers during a demonstration marking Nakba Day – an event marked by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with marches and rallies.
Sirens went off for 66 seconds in many areas of the West Bank marking Nakba Day.
The major rally was held in Ramallah, where some 2000 Palestinians gathered in the center of the city. Similar rallies and marches were held in all major Palestinian communities in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a televised speech, announced that there would be no peace without the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
“After 66 years of the Nakba, we have proved – and will prove – the restoration of Palestine to the geographic map; an independent and sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said. “Palestine has become at the top of the agenda of the world and its leaders – not as a refugee issue, but as a national liberation cause and independence.”
Abbas said the time has come for Israeli leaders to “understand that the Palestinians have no other homeland than Palestine.”
Referring to the stalled peace process, Abbas said that the Israeli government was still “living in the mentality of the past and closing the door to the two-state solution.”
Abbas claimed that Israel’s policies would lead to the creation of a bi-national state or a “racist Apartheid regime.”


Related Tags
Nakba