Death of Oslo? Palestinian council votes to end recognition of Israel

The Palestinian Central Council on Monday voted on a motion calling for reversing Palestinian recognition of the State of Israel.

By Joseph Wolkin, World Israel News

The Palestinian Central Council voted to suspend its recognition of the State of Israel until Israel recognizes a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. The council made the decision Monday night after a two-day meeting in Ramallah.

“We recognize the right to resist the occupation in all methods that comply with international law,” the Palestinian Central Council said.

The Council, which is the policy making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, (PLO) urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to follow its ruling, which also called for cutting all ties with Israel, including security and economic cooperation.

The decision itself is non-binding, requiring the approval of another committee before reaching Abbas’s desk.

It follows a similar declaration made in January, 2018, a reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s December announcement to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

“Today is the day that the Oslo Accords end. Israel killed them,” President Abbas said at the time.

Another vote in 2015 called for suspending security cooperation. Neither that vote nor the January vote were implemented.

Many see a PA reversal on recognition of Israel as the end of the Oslo Accords, the peace agreement reached between Israel and the PLO in 1993. That agreement required that the PLO recognize the State of Israel. The Palestinian Authority has at various times over the years mulled revoking the Oslo Accords.

The latest move comes as Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt will arrive in Israel to push the president’s “deal of the century” peace plan.