Palestinian Central Council suspends recognition of Israel

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Central Council (PCC) on Wednesday suspended its recognition of Israel until Tel Aviv recognizes a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 border.

In a statement at the conclusion of its meetings in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the PCC said it decided to end commitment to all agreements with Israel.

“The council also decided to halt all forms of security coordination” with Israel, said the statement read out by Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee.

Al-Ahmad said the PCC assigned the committee with setting the necessary mechanism to enforce Wednesday’s decisions.

But Palestinian experts opine that giving the task of enforcing the PCC decisions to the PLO’s Executive Committee will make them ineffective.

The PCC also called on the US administration to meet its commitments towards implementing the two-state formula and halting Israel's settlement-building activities and the forced eviction to Palestinian families from their homes.

The PPC meetings were boycotted by a number of Palestinian factions on the ground that the meetings were held in the absence of national consensus.

The PCC is a smaller assembly emanating from the National Council, the highest legislative body for Palestinians at home and abroad, and is affiliated with the PLO.

Notably, the PLO does not include, so far, the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

Palestinian factions accuse the Fatah movement of "excluding" the leadership of the Palestinian people and of not taking real steps to end the internal division, which the movement denies.

Fatah is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party PLO.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar