Islam Times - Canceling Accords With Tel Aviv Fatal Blow To Deal Of Century: Expert

Islam Times - President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has recently announced his decision to cancel all agreements with the Israeli regime in protest to massive destruction of the Palestinian homes in Sur Bahr neighborhood of Al-Quds (Jerusalem.)

He announced formation of a special committee to adopt the decision.

This move indicated that the Palestinians were no longer committed to the accords made after 1993 in Oslo, Norway and that they were no longer credible for any future mediation between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority by the US.

This raises questions: Which agreements did exactly Abbas call void? What consequences could this decision bring to him? Alwaght has talked to Sabah Zangeneh, an expert on international affairs, asking him for some clarifications.

Commenting on the main matters Abbas said Ramallah will no longer be committed to, Mr Zangeneh said that a majority of the agreements the Palestinian Authority has reached over the past three decades with the Israelis revolve around security. Besides security, the two sides made economic and political agreements, with much less importance compared to the security area.

He said that when it came to implementation, the US as a mediator ignored or violated many of them. Washington, for example, closed down the representation office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington in September 2018. In the same month and year, it ended aids to the Palestinian refugee body the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Near East (UNRWA) that provides services both in West Bank and Gaza Strip. The US also supports the Israeli regime at the UN Security Council as the Israelis continue to violate the agreements with Ramallah and international law.

“The Americans over the past few decades played a big role in facilitating the Israeli lack of commitment to the Oslo accords and other agreements by vetoing the legitimate UN Security Council resolutions against the Israeli regime. Moreover, the Tel Aviv leaders have usually implemented only the parts of agreements that serve their interests and violated any parts that do not comply with their demands on the strength of the US backing. The most important instance is the unilateral announcement of seizure of the whole Al-Quds and also the continuation of the occupational policy marked by launching growing settlement projects in West Bank and other Palestinian areas.”

The international affairs expert in another part of his comments said that certainly in the current circumstances Abbas has no other way but to declare void all of the security and political accords with Tel Aviv as he is in front of the brazen and big American and Israeli failure to adhere to the agreements and the pressures he is exposed to at home. “Unlike the past, the Palestinian leaders have concluded that they should materialize their threats of exiting the agreements with the Israelis. If they delay their threats, the opposite side will make progress towards its aims.”

Mr Zangeneh also commented on the consequences of the cancelation of the agreements with the Israeli side by the Palestinian president, saying that should Abbas materialize his words on the ground, part of the agreements will be canceled.

“As a result, the other Palestinian groups will be provided with the chance to intensify their actions and capacities against the Israeli regime. This creates concerns in Tel Aviv and this is evident now in the Israeli media. If we look at the Israeli media, we can see that all are extremely worried about stepping up of the attacks by Palestinian resistant groups. If these accords are scrapped, the Palestinian forces will have an open hand to deal blows to the Israeli military forces.”

He also touched on the reflections of the Abbas decision on the deal of the century which is promoted by American President Donald Trump’s administration, reiterating that we should know that the cancellation of the agreements by the Palestinians and on top of them the Abbas-headed Fatah Movement will discredit the Trump’s “deal of the century”, an initiative which seeks to legalize the Israeli occupation and settlements and scrap the Palestinian refugees’ right to return home.

“Essentially, we need to take into account that the deal of the century was wide range. What is important is that we should see to what extent it is implementable. The field realities show that after the Palestinian officials’ recent remarks on the agreements, the initiative no longer has a ground of materialization and insistence on its implementation will only make things more combustible and chaotic.”