Annexation of territories in the West Bank: Mahmoud Abbas warns Israel again

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Mahmoud Abbas says he is no longer bound by the agreements signed with Israel and the United States. And he announces the end of cooperation with Israel, including in the security field. This statement by the President of the Palestinian Authority is a response to the plans for the annexation of several parts of the West Bank by the new Israeli government. But Mahmoud Abbas has already threatened several times to sever ties with Israel. 

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From our correspondent in Jerusalem , Guilhem Delteil

For having already brandished this threat in a vacuum, the president of the Palestinian Authority has trouble convincing him of his sincerity. But an annexation would increase popular pressure on the Palestinian government and the speech should not be dismissed too quickly, judge Ofer Zalzberg, analyst at International Crisis Group: "  The price that the Palestinian Authority will pay to continue to cooperate with Israel on full of subjects is going to be higher. And so they must reduce cooperation and show the population that it does not continue in the same way, but in a narrower, more limited and with more reservations  ”.

For Ofer Zalzberg, Mahmoud Abbas does not plan to completely bury the Palestinian Authority. But it could gradually withdraw from the part of the Oslo agreements which manages relations between the two governments. It could thus decide to no longer comply with the agreements governing Palestinian exports to Israel. “  He can export so many clothes and vegetables to Israel. But if he says "no, I want to export more", what will be the Israeli reaction? It is really more a logic of force than negotiation. "

Annexation could thus lead to a change in approach in Israeli-Palestinian relations. But this would be done gradually, not radically as suggested by the speeches of Mahmoud Abbas.

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• Israel
• Palestinian territories
• Mahmoud Abbas