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Palestinian vote to halt to security coordination with Israel worries UN | |
(3 months later) | |
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon expressed concern on Friday at a decision by Palestinian leaders in the West Bank to halt security coordination with Israel and called for the international community to push for a Middle East peace deal. | |
The Palestinian Central Council, whose votes are usually binding on the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, said on Thursday it made the decision because Israel had breached bilateral agreements, including withholding tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians. | |
An end to the agreement on security coordination, which dates from the Oslo peace accords of the mid-1990s, could have an immediate impact on stability in West Bank cities such as Hebron, Nablus and Jenin, where anti-Israel unrest is common. | |
It was unclear whether the PCC decision would immediately go into effect. An Israeli security official said on Thursday there had been no changes in security cooperation. | |
“[Ban] urges both parties to exercise utmost restraint and reverse their unhelpful cycle of actions and counter-actions,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “The secretary general repeats his call on Israel to resume the transfer of tax revenues legally due to the Palestinian Authority.” | |
Israel has frozen $127m of monthly Palestinian tax revenues in protest against President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to apply for membership of the International Criminal Court and pursue war crimes charges against Israel. | |
The tax money covers around two-thirds of the Palestinian budget and is used to pay tens of thousands of public-sector employees. | |
Relations between Israel and the Palestinians have grown dangerously brittle since the collapse of US-brokered peace talks in 2014. | |
“In the absence of effective international engagement, the situation may further unravel,” Dujarric said. | |
“The secretary general urgently calls on the international community, including the Security Council, to exercise leadership and help create conditions for a negotiated final peace agreement,” he said. | |
Under the security coordination accord, Palestinian security forces also require Israeli permission to send patrols into some areas of the West Bank to preserve law and order. |