Tel Aviv ignored Palestinian president’s proposal on resuming security ties: Israeli lawmakers

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Tel Aviv authorities have rejected his proposal on resuming security ties, a group of Israeli opposition lawmakers say.

Abbas told a delegation of Israeli lawmakers from Israel's left-wing Meretz party that he had proposed rolling back his month-old suspension of security coordination with Israel, according to a statement issued by the lawmakers.

Israeli authorities, however, didn’t respond to the proposal, the Palestinian president told the lawmakers.  

"We recently communicated with them (Israeli officials) in an attempt to resume some kind of cooperation," Abbas was quoted as saying.

"But they have not returned an answer, something that has prevented progress in thawing ties," the statement by the delegation read. 

On July 21, Abbas announced that the Palestinian leadership would freeze all contact with Israel, as mass protests over new Israeli security measures at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound turned deadly. 

In a brief televised speech, Abbas said all official contact would be suspended until Israel removed metal detectors installed at the holy site. "I declare the suspension of all contacts with the Israeli side on all levels until it cancels its measures at al-Aqsa Mosque and preserves the status quo."

On July 25, Israeli authorities removed metal detectors installed at the gates of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, but kept surveillance cameras to monitor Muslim worshipers.

Palestinian officials rejected Israel’s moves in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds, saying Tel Aviv should lift all restrictions on the compound.

Abbas also stressed in his last month’s speech that security ties with the Tel Aviv regime would continue to be halted despite Israel’s removal of the metal detectors. “All new Israeli measures put in place since July 14 must be removed so things can go back to normal in Jerusalem [al-Quds] and we can resume our work regarding bilateral relations.”

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

Also in early February, in an address to France's Senate, Abbas had warned that Israeli 'colonization' could force Palestinians to end security cooperation.

Abbas told France’s Senate during a visit to Paris that he would suspend security cooperation with Israel if it continued to take drastic steps with regard to illegal settlement activity. “If the colonization continues, I would have no other choice, it would not be my fault.”

According to data released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, expansion of the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank soared by 70 percent between April 2016 and March 2017.

The figure does not include Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

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