The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced Tuesday it was resuming its security and civilian coordination with Israel, six months after PA head Mahmoud Abbas froze them.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stated that the PA received a paper from Israel in which it assumes to abide by the agreements with the PA, and therefore it is announcing the resumption of contacts.
“Peace with the Palestinians is what will bring peace to Israel, regardless of the normalization of relations with the Arabs,” he said. “We hope that the Biden administration will support a two-state solution based on the principle of territories in exchange for peace.”
PA officials said that this development is the first fruit of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections.
Hamas responded angrily to the announcement. A Hamas source in Hamas Gaza Strip told TPS that its reconciliation efforts with the PA “have been blocked.”
Hamas says the PA “sold them to Israel and stabbed them in the back.”
In the meantime, reports on the failure of talks between Fatah and Hamas are emerging from Cairo. As previously reported here, Abbas waited for the US elections to make the final decision on the reconciliation with Hamas, knowing that Biden’s victory would lead to a resumption of negotiations with Israel in a way that Hamas would oppose him.
Similarly, Former Arab Member of Knesset said that the “returning to security coordination [with Israel] is more than a sin, it is a grave mistake that the Palestinian people will pay a heavy price for.”
