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PA Implementing Measures to Disengage from Israel

According to Israeli media, the Palestinian Authority has started implementing measures to disengage from Israel; this, following Mahmoud Abbas’ declared negation last Thursday of all agreements previously signed with Jerusalem. The PA chief’s announcement came in response Israel’s demolition earlier in the week of several apartment buildings under construction in an East Jerusalem neighborhood in which structures have spilled over into an area of the West Bank that is supposed to be under full PA control. While most of the PA’s prospective steps remain a mystery, a high-ranking official reportedly said that one of the first initiatives would be to counter Israel’s control of most resources in the West Bank. As The Media Line’s Arab Affairs Correspondent Dima Abumaria recently reported, the PA was also working to downgrade economic ties with Israel by forging energy-related deals with Jordan and Iraq. While Abbas’ threat also technically includes ending security coordination with Israeli forces, analysts are skeptical that this move will be actualized due to the PA’s dependence on the IDF to prevent Hamas from gaining strongholds in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.