The deputy head of Hamas on Tuesday urged President Mahmoud Abbas to put an end to security coordination with Israel.
Cairo-based Moussa Abu Marzouk said that "If I were in Abu Mazen’s place, I would put an end to security coordination with Israel, which enabled settlers to swallow Palestinian lands while we stood watching them."
In an interview, Abu Marzouk added that "I would also re-examine the Paris Protocol, making sure the Palestinian economy is not subordinate to the Israeli economy, but rather supported by Arab countries."
He added: “The economic conditions in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem were much better before Oslo.”
Commenting on a proposal by Israel’s defense minister to unilaterally disengage from the occupied West Bank, Abu Marzouk said that such a plan "is nothing new."
"Israel has generally ended the two-state solution and stopped negotiations. They want to unilaterally disengage from the West Bank leaving very small areas for the Palestinian people, and these areas will remain under Israeli control," Abu Marzouk said.
He added that Israel had essentially cancelled the Oslo agreement, leaving only the parts which are beneficial to Israel such as security coordination and the Paris Protocol.
“The PA does not want to think of any other options either of their own choice, or imposed from outside. They seem to like their positions and they don’t want to leave these positions.
“Otherwise, what does it mean to freeze negotiations — all this with Israel showing no commitment at all to the Oslo agreement while the Palestinians are committed to all agreements?”
Those who signed Oslo a decade ago do not want to admit they made mistakes with these agreements, neither do they want to correct their mistakes, he added.
“What worries me about the cancelation of Oslo is that the occupation of the Gaza Strip legally comes to an end, then occupation is practically maintained in the West Bank.”
With regard to a proposed peace plan introduced by the Israeli party Meretz, Abu Marzouk said he could not take any proposals coming from outside the ruling coalition in Israel seriously.
“It is either an ideological proposal or propaganda,” he said.
(Ma’an)
