Palestinian Authority ‘On the Brink of Collapse,’ Mahmoud Abbas Admits
Mahmoud Abbas. Image by Getty Images
The Palestinian Authority is “on the brink of collapse,” its president, Mahmoud Abbas, told Israeli TV.
In an interview with Channel 2 broadcast Thursday night, Abbas also warned of “chaos” if the security cooperation between the P.A. and Israel stops.
“There will be rifles and explosions and armed militants everywhere,” Abbas said, according to i24news.
Abbas said he is sticking to his demand, reported by Haaretz, that the Israel Defense Forces stop all operations in West Bank cities that are officially under Palestinian control per the Oslo Accords. Recent security talks collapsed after the Palestinians rejected Israel’s offer to stop operations in Ramallah and Jericho as a test; the Palestinians said the offer did not go far enough.
“Give me responsibility for the Palestinian territories, and test me … if Israel has specific intelligence information, give it to me and I’ll handle it,” he told Channel 2 reporter Ilana Dayan, Haaretz. “But they don’t give me the intelligence information. So what am I doing here? Where is the security cooperation? You want me to be your employee. Your agent. I don’t accept this. I want to do it myself.”
According to Haaretz, Abbas said in the TV interview that he is “prepared to meet [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu anywhere, any time.” He also denied that he is encouraging Palestinian youth to stab Israelis and noted that Israelis are unaware of Palestinian security forces’ efforts to prevent stabbings.
Noting that Palestinian security searches schools for knives, Abbas said, “In one school we found 70 students with knives,” which security forces confiscated, “telling [the students] it was wrong.”
However, he noted, teens attack Israelis because they have “no hope.” Abbas also accused Israelis of engaging in incitement, referring to Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s recent statement that non-Jews who don’t follow certain Jewish laws should be deported to Saudi Arabia. Yosef retracted the statement, saying it was “theoretical.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
