Fatah: Oslo Accords will cease to exist after UN bid
Abbas Zaki says once Palestine becomes a recognized state, they will force int'l community to take legal action against Israel.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHABBAS ZAKI 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel will cease to exist the day after the UN votes in favor of upgrading the status of a Palestinian state to non-member, Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, was quoted Thursday as saying.Zaki's remarks came as Palestinian Authority officials said that the PA President Mahmoud Abbas was considering asking for a UN vote on November 15 or 29.November 15 marks the anniversary of the declaration of a Palestinian state in Algeria in 1988. November 29 marks "International Day for Solidarity with the Palestinians." Zaki's threats came as several Palestinian officials warned Israel against imposing sanctions on the PA in response to the statehood bid.Zaki said that once the status of a Palestinian state is upgraded, the Palestinians would be able to pursue Israel for "war crimes" in the International Criminal Court."Once we become a recognized state, we will go to all UN agencies to force the international community to take legal action against Israel," Zaki told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.He said that after the UN votes in favor of the PA request, "the case of the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority will be closed. We will have a state parliament and not a Palestinian Legislative Council." Zaki denied that some Arab countries have been exerting pressure on the PA leadership to refrain from the statehood bid."Until this moment, no one has dared to ask us not to go to the UN," he stressed. "We have no other choice. Some European countries, like Britain, have only asked us to delay the statehood bid for three months. But we are determined to go to the UN General Assembly this month."Saleh Ra'fat, member of the PLO Executive Committee, warned that the PA leadership would abrogate economic and security agreements with Israel if the Israeli government imposed sanctions on the Palestinians in response to the statehood bid."The Palestinian leadership will respond if the Israeli government carries out its threats against the Palestinian Authority," Ra'fat told the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds daily.He said that the PA would consider itself free of all its commitments under the agreements signed with Israel, including economic and security obligations.
Ra'fat said that if Israel decides to withhold tax revenues belonging to the PA, the Palestinians will in response call for boycotting all Israeli goods.He also threatened to "escalate popular resistance against Israel."The PLO official said that the PA was planning to call for international conference for peace in Moscow after the UN vote.Jamal Muhassen, member of the Fatah Central Committee, declared that the PA leadership was determined to go to the UN this month despite Israeli and American "threats."He said that the "situation on the ground would change" after the UN vote because "the Palestinian state will be under occupation."Another PLO official, Tayseer Khaled, said that the Palestinian would cancel the Paris Economic Protocol if the Israeli government imposed financial sanctions on the PA after the UN vote. "We will stop importing everything that is Israeli," Khaled cautioned. "We will not remain idle if Israel robs Palestinian money."
