Palestinian activists have called for mass demonstrations in the West Bank on
Friday to demand an end to the Oslo Accords and other agreements signed between
the PLO/PA and Israel.
The call came as public transportation workers
and social activists announced that they have suspended their protests against
the high cost of living until Sunday.
The decision to suspend the
protests came despite calls from many youth groups to continue demonstrating
against Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Some activists
said they have come under heavy pressure from the PA leadership to suspend the
protests that swept through the West Bank in the past 10 days.
The
activists said that the PA leadership was worried that “outside elements” were
taking advantage of the protests to incite against PA President Mahmoud
Abbas.
PA leaders were also concerned that the protests could plunge the
West Bank into anarchy and lawlessness and “benefit the Palestinians’
enemies.”
The protests were initially directed only against Fayyad and
his government’s economic policies.
But in the past few days Palestinians
also started demanding the resignation of Abbas and the cancellation of the Oslo
Accords.
On Wednesday, an anti-corruption group in the West Bank issued a
call for mass demonstrations to demand an end to the Oslo Accords.
Signed
by the Coordinating Committees of the Palestinian Revolution Against Corruption
and Dependency, a statement published in Ramallah said that the demonstrations
would be held under the motto “The Friday of National Dignity.”
The group
said that it was also demanding the cancellation of the Paris Protocol, which
regulates economic ties between the PA and Israel.
In his weekly radio
address to Palestinians, Fayyad renewed his appeal to Arab countries and Western
donors to provide the PA with urgent financial aid to ease the economic
hardships.
He said the PA has been suffering over the past two years from
a severe financial crisis because of lack of international aid and that the
current crisis was the worst since the establishment of the PA in 1994.