Abbas threatens to scrap agreements with Israel if Netanyahu includes the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened on Tuesday to pull out of agreements signed with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fulfills his promise to occupy the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea.

In a statement quoted by the official Palestinian news agency, Abbas said that the agreements signed with Israel will expire if it imposes its sovereignty on any part of the Palestinian territory, adding, "We have the right to defend our rights and achieve our goals by all means available whatever the results."

Abbas also considered that Netanyahu's decisions contradict decisions of international legitimacy and international law.

Palestinian factions
Netanyahu "does not want peace or settlement, does not create a Palestinian state, rejects a two-state solution, covers the deal of the century," he said. .

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, said the annexation of the Jordan Valley was a war crime and a consecration of the apartheid regime. "If the annexation is implemented, Netanyahu will have succeeded in burying any prospect of peace for the next 100 years," .

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi described Netanyahu's statement as a "flagrant violation of international law" and "land theft and ethnic and destructive cleansing of all chances for peace."

"In every election we pay the price of our rights and our land," Ashrawi told AFP. "It is worse than apartheid. It displaces a whole people with history, culture and identity."

Hamas has accused the Israeli prime minister of trying to find votes for the right. "The Netanyahu still fancy that he can keep the occupation of the Palestinian land, the Palestinian people will continue their struggle until the occupation is expelled from its land and establish an independent state," said spokesman Hazem Qassem.

Hamas leader Bassem Naim warned that the annexation would "cause things to explode," adding that "without the American cover and international silence, especially the European Union, Netanyahu could not have taken these steps."

Arabs and Turkey
In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers that the ministers condemned Netanyahu's plan, which violates international law and UN resolutions, saying it undermines the chances of any progress in the peace process and undermines all its foundations.

For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who is participating in the Arab League meetings, condemned Netanyahu's declaration as a dangerous escalation that undermines the foundations of the peace process and pushes the entire region towards violence and fueling the conflict.

He also said that it constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and electoral employment, the cost of which would be to kill the peace process and undermine the right of the region and its peoples to achieve peace, calling on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and declare its rejection of the Israeli declaration and condemn it and uphold international legitimacy and the two-state solution.

"The electoral promise of Netanyahu, which sends all kinds of hostile and illegal messages before the elections, is to establish a racist state," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a tweet on Twitter.

International positions
On the other hand, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that "the position of the Secretary-General has always been clear that unilateral steps will not help the peace process," warning that any decision taken by Israel to impose its laws, provisions and administration in the West Bank will have no international legal basis. .

He stressed that "such a possibility would be devastating to the possibility of reviving the negotiations and regional peace and the essence of the two-state solution."

In Washington, Reuters quoted an official of President Donald Trump's administration that US policy towards Israel and the Palestinian territories remains unchanged, adding: "We will issue our vision of peace after the Israeli elections and work to determine the best path forward to bring security, opportunity and stability to the region."

This comes after Netanyahu said in a televised speech, "There is one place where we can apply Israeli sovereignty immediately after the elections," adding in a letter to voters: "If you have a clear mandate to do so ... I announce today my intention to establish Israel's sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea." ... This is important because this is the eastern border of Israel, with the Golan Heights on which Trump recognized our sovereignty. "