The 23rd ordinary meeting of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), Palestine’s parliament in exile, ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee on Thursday to suspend its recognition of Israel pending the latter’s recognition of the State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders.
PNC also stipulated that Israel should halt all its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and annul its annexation of East Jerusalem as a prerequisite for once again recognizing Israel.
Meanwhile, the final communiqué of the PNC ordinary meeting declared that, “Taking into account the disavowal of the occupying power (Israel) towards all its obligations under the signed agreements, as well as [Israel’s] termination of these agreements de facto, the PNC declares that the transitional period stipulated in the Oslo, Cairo and Washington agreements, with all their obligations, no longer exist.”
PNC reiterated its rejection of any interim solutions such as a state with temporary borders, and stressed that the issues of Jerusalem, the refugees and the Israeli settlements shall remain key issues in any future solutions.
PNC also stressed the need to implement the decision of the Palestinian Central Council in its last session to halt security coordination with Israel in all its forms and to free from the economic dependency on Israel established under the Paris Protocol.
PNC further condemned accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that President Mahmoud Abbas was an anti-Semite and that he was opposed to peace negotiations.
