Abbas threatens to dissolve PA over settlements

First Published: 2010-12-05

Palestinian leader says 'cannot be the president of a non-existent authority' under Israeli occupation.

Middle East Online

'The situation cannot remain unchanged' RAMALLAH, West bank - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has threatened to dissolve the Palestinian Authority if Israel does not stop building settlements on occupied land. "If Israel does not stop settlement building and if US support for the negotiations collapses, I will strive to end Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories," Abbas told Palestinian television on Friday. "I cannot be the president of a non-existent authority as long as Israeli occupation of the West Bank continues," he said. Asked if he was referring to a dissolution of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, Abbas said: "I say that to the Israelis: I inform them that, as occupiers, they can stay put. But the situation cannot remain unchanged." The 1993 Oslo peace accords formally launched the peace process and led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, which was tasked with governing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip until a final agreement. But after 17 years of largely fruitless talks, Israel and the Palestinians are no nearer to reaching an agreement, with the latest attempt at negotiations running aground over continuing Jewish settlement building. Direct talks began on September 2 but stalled three weeks later with the expiry of an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction, which the Jewish state has stubbornly refused to reimpose. Abbas has repeatedly threatened to quit the talks if Israel does not begin a new freeze, particularly in annexed east Jerusalem which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that Washington is "working intensively" to break the impasse in Palestinian-Israeli talks and would make announcements next week about the peace process.