Palestinians call for protests to end Oslo Accords

Activists call for mass demonstrations in the West Bank on Friday to demand an end to the Oslo Accords, other agreements.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinians protest 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Darren Whiteside)
Palestinians protest 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Darren Whiteside)
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.