Palestinian Authority to Resume Coordination with Israel

The Palestinian Authority will resume the civil and military coordination it had severed with Israel due to the latter’s announced annexation plans. PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh announced the renewed cooperation on Tuesday on Twitter. Al-Sheikh said in a series of tweets that the PA had received a letter from Israel declaring a commitment to past agreements it had signed with the PA. This paved the way for the restoration of coordination, which was suspended in May after Israel announced plans to annex parts of the West Bank, territory it had captured during the 1967 war. “The relationship with Israel will return to how it was,” al-Sheikh tweeted, adding: “The deal of the century is no longer on the table.” He was referring to the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan unveiled by the Trump Administration in January 2020, which was perceived by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a green light for annexation. Sheikh’s announcement comes as the Fatah Party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas holds talks in Cairo with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, regarding reconciliation following a split in 2007, when Hamas booted Fatah authorities from the coastal enclave. The resumption of PA-Israel coordination could harm these talks, as Hamas rejects any cooperation with Israel.