'Abbas may halt security cooperation with Israel unless Palestine is created'

An unnamed international diplomat well-versed in the vicissitudes of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations of recent years told Israel Radio on Thursday that “it is not inconceivable to envisage a scenario in which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would put a halt to security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.” Israel Radio quotes the official as saying that if the Palestinian leader feels he has exhausted all other options in his quest to establish an independent state on the West Bank, he would in effect abdicate the provisional government's responsibility – as per the terms of the Oslo Accords – to combat rejectionist violence from organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The official predicted that the United States would move to renew the peace process shortly following Israel's upcoming parliamentary elections. According to Israel Radio, the official believes that Washington would block unilateral Palestinian efforts to win statehood through UN Security Council resolutions by applying various levers of pressure. In years past, Abbas has threatened to dissolve the provisional government in Ramallah as a means of applying pressure on Israel to produce more forthcoming concessions.

'Abbas may halt security cooperation with Israel unless Palestine is created'

Israel Radio quotes unnamed diplomat well-versed in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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