Intel: Palestinian Authority to suspend cooperation with CIA over US support for Israeli annexation
The secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, says his government has suspended its contacts with the CIA over the Trump administration’s support for Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told reporters today that his government has suspended its contacts with the US Central Intelligence Agency over the Trump administration’s support for Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in Ramallah on Tuesday that Washington’s support for Israel’s annexation plan frees his government from its obligations under all treaties and agreements with the United States and Israel, including those involving the Oslo peace process.
Reuters reported that Erekat told reporters during a video call that intelligence cooperation with the United States had ceased “as of the end of the president’s speech.”
Why it matters: Abbas has threatened before to cut security ties with Israel and the United States but has never fully followed through. The CIA has acted for decades as Washington’s troubleshooting tool whenever tensions rose between the PLO and the Israeli government.
