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Analysts have played down a decision by the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend its recognition of Israel as “symbolic”.
On Monday, the PLO said it was suspending its recognition of Israel until Tel Aviv recognized a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
This came in a decision taken during a two-day meeting by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), which functions as part of the PLO, in Ramallah.
The council also decided to end security coordination and suspend economic agreements between Israel and both the PLO and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
The PCC said the decisions were made “in light of Israel’s continued denial of the signed agreements”.
The decision must be approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Council.
“These decisions cannot be applied at once,” Palestinian analyst Talal Okal told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
“They need a plan and mechanisms in order to implement them,” he said.
The Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said late Monday it is suspending its recognition of Israel until it recognizes a state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to Palestine’s official Wafa news agency.Following a two-day meeting in Ramallah, the council said the PLO and Palestinian Authority will also end security coordination and suspend economic agreements as set out under the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol. It also decided to revoke the validity of the Oslo Accords.The council said the decision was made “in light of Israel’s continued denial of the signed agreements”.The decision must be approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Council.The council also called on Palestinian group Hamas to adhere to all agreements that have been reached under Egypt's mediation to prevent divisions between Palestinian factions.A delegation from Egypt’s intelligence service arrived in the Gaza Strip last Wednesday to continue talks with Hamas leaders.The Egyptian delegation has been engaging in shuttle diplomacy between the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Israel for several days, during which they have been meeting with officials of Hamas, Fatah and the Israeli government.The talks are being held with a view to reaching a truce between Hamas and Israel on one side and achieving reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions.Wednesday's visit is the third by the Egyptian delegation to the Gaza Strip within a week.On Oct. 3, a Hamas delegation concluded a four-day visit to Cairo, where they held talks with Egyptian officials on the truce and Palestinian reconciliation.The rift between Fatah and Hamas has prevailed since the latter won an overwhelming majority in parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized control of Gaza after deadly infighting a year later.PLO urges ICC probe into Gaza child killings by Israel
PLO suspends recognition of Israel
Political messages
Sulaiman Basharat, the chairman of the Yabous Center for Consulting and Strategic Studies, described the outcome of the PCC meeting as “symbolic”.
“The decisions are nothing but political messages that cannot be applied for several reasons,” he opined.
He cited that the Palestinian Authority itself was established as a result of the Oslo Accords.
“Accordingly, it enjoys international support on both political and economic aspects and ending commitment to it would mean abolishing international support to the PA,” he said.
Basharat also described the decision to end security coordination and economic agreements with Israel as “unrealistic”.
“On the ground there is a state of integration in the political, security, economic and health fields,” he said, citing dozens of memorandums of understanding that have been signed recently between the PA and Israeli authorities.
"There is a tangled situation that has arisen since the Oslo Accords, whether in settlement expansion and the living conditions of the Palestinians … which means that they cannot be separated,” Basharat added.
Basharat said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated commitment to peace negotiations and security coordination with Israel.
“This means that these decisions cannot be activated by Abbas,” he said.
For his part, Farid Abu Dheir, a professor of journalism at An-Najah National University, said “there is no political will on the part of the executive authority to implement these repeated decisions.”
"These decisions are not easy and need policies and mechanisms to implement them," he added.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Monday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into an Israeli airstrike that killed three children in the Gaza Strip.“The international community and its institutions must break their silence towards the incessant crimes committed by the occupation army,” the PLO said in a statement.Three children aged between 12 and 14 were martyred late Sunday in the Israeli raid near the eastern border of the Gaza Strip.The Israeli army claimed that "the children were trying to tamper with the security fence and apparently planted an explosive device".Video: Abbas attends 30th session of PLO Central CouncilThe PLO accused the Israeli army of “deliberately killing” the three children.“The ICC is requested to launch an immediate investigation into this crime,” it added.In late December, 2014, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Rome convention and appendixes related to the ICC, which accepted the Palestinian request to become one of its members in April 2015.For the last seven months, Palestinians in Gaza have been staging regular demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to demand the right to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948.They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 200 Palestinians have been martyred-- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.Gazan group vows response to Israel’s killing of three kidsTwenty-six Palestinians arrested in West Bank raidsIsraeli airstrike martyrs three Palestinian children
PLO urges ICC probe into Gaza child killings by Israel