By Khaled Abu Toameh, JPost—
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the Palestinians were planning to make “fateful and dangerous decisions on important issues in the next two months.”
He did not specify the nature of the decisions being considered. However, Abbas said that they would be presented to the PLO Central Council for approval.Abbas was apparently referring to previous recommendations by the Central Council and the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s parliament, to sever ties with Israel.
Abbas, who was speaking at a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee in Ramallah on Saturday, again voiced his strong rejection of US President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East, which is known as the “deal of the century” or the “ultimate deal.”
“We have rejected – and will continue to reject – this deal,” Abbas said. “As far as we’re concerned, this deal is finished, and we no longer care about it.”
Referring to Friday’s incident at the Temple Mount, which began when Palestinians threw stones at Israel Police forces, Abbas said that Israel’s “measures at al-Aqsa Mosque were no longer tolerable.”
His remark apparently referred to visits by Jews to the Mount, which Abbas and the PA have condemned as “provocations” and “assaults” on al-Aqsa.
Abbas also repeated his rejection of the new Nation- State Law that was recently approved by the Knesset, saying the Palestinians were considering their response to the law and other Israeli measures. “This is an issue that we can’t accept,” he said in reference to the law.