Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to continue security cooperation with Israel, despite the United States cutting all security assistance to the P.A.
In front of a gathering of Israeli and Palestinian activists on Wednesday, Abbas said that Ramallah has a “joint agreement to fight terrorism” with Israel and “will not violate it” because were the P.A. to do so, “nothing will remain.”
Abbas’s remarks come as the United States officially ceased last week all $60 million in security assistance to the P.A. in addition to the U.S. Agency for International Development closing its operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
The cut-off in such assistance and the USAID closure occurred in accordance with the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA), signed into law in October, that provides protections for American victims of international terrorism.
Israel has reportedly urged the Trump administration to fix the ATCA to preserve the security assistance.
The P.A. slammed the move despite Palestinian official Saeb Erekat telling AFP that “we don’t want to receive any money if this will take us to court.”
