Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas declared on Thursday that the P.A. would cease implementation of all agreements with Israel, including on security coordination, and announced the formation of a special committee to that end.
“After all the violations against our people, we announce the cessation of all agreements signed with Israel,” he wrote on Twitter, noting that his statement included security coordination.
Abbas said the decision came in the wake of Israel’s insistence on negating all agreements signed with the Palestinians. He also spoke out against the so-called “bias” of the U.S. administration.
And he addressed the demolition on Monday of 12 apartment buildings in the Wadi al-Hummus area of Sur Baher, an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood, calling it “an act of ethnic cleansing and a crime against humanity.”
Earlier in the week, he threatened to lodge a complaint in the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the measure.
On Thursday, the United States blocked a U.N. Security Council proposal condemning the demolitions.
Israel has argued that the demolished buildings—many of which were still under construction—had been built too close to the security fence, in contravention of a 2011 military order. Residents argued that the buildings were in Area A of the West Bank, under full P.A. control. Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled against the residents earlier this month.
Abbas accused Israel of failing to comply with signed agreements, such as the provision of Palestinian tax revenues. Israel has argued that it has withheld $138 million in value-added tax, import duties and other taxes collected on the P.A.’s behalf in protest against its policy of paying monthly salaries to convicted terrorists and their families.
