Palestinians demand Abbas end security deal with Israel after 4 killed

SMA NEWS – RAMALLAH
Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in Ramallah and Jenin in a 12-hour period, with 15 Palestinians being arrested in the West Bank, leading to growing calls for President Mahmoud Abbas to end security coordination with Israel.
Public mourning was announced in Jenin for the victims killed at dawn on Thursday as the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year reached 164.
The bloodshed has pushed senior Fatah leaders to call on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to immediately halt security coordination with Israel, especially after the country’s election of a far right-wing government under Benjamin Netanyahu that has vowed to subject Palestinians to unprecedented punitive measures.
Abbas told Al Arabiya that “security coordination is part of the agreements, and we have a theory that combating terrorism should be done wherever it is (needed), and here is an important point that no one may know. We concluded agreements to combat terrorism and violence with 85 countries in the world, led by the US, UK, Canada, Russia and Japan.
“Today we signed an agreement with Cyprus; we are, in principle, against terrorism and violence. Also, with Israel, we are against terrorism and violence, but if Israel continues with its actions, why should I complete and be committed to the security agreement? I will cancel my commitment to the security agreement if Israel continues to strike casually.”
When asked why Palestinian security services fail to confront Israeli troops who storm Palestinian cities, Abbas said that the security services “work as much as they can, but I do not want matters to reach the point of armed confrontation (with the Israeli army).”
The Palestinian Authority has about 35,000 security personnel in the West Bank, including the Presidential Guard, National Security, General Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Preventive Security and Civil Police.
Palestinian political analyst Hani Al-Masri said on Facebook that Abbas is “confused and is confusing the world with him.”
He added: “He can abandon them (the security agreements with Israel) at any moment if the Israeli government continues to not abide by them.”
Abbas said that he would deal with the next government under Netanyahu, maintaining his position that “all Israeli governments are the same. All of them commit massacres.”
A Palestinian youth activist in Ramallah told Arab News: “There is no difference between a left-wing government and a right-wing government in Israel when it comes to killing Palestinians. Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a friend of Mahmoud Abbas, has overseen the killing of scores of Palestinians since the beginning of the year.”
Security experts told Arab News that due to Palestinian security coordination with Israel, recruitment in the state’s security forces has slumped over the past year.