Abbas Told Arab Summit Israel Has “Cancelled Oslo”

Abbas Told Arab Summit Israel Has “Cancelled Oslo”

11/10/2010 Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas told Arab leaders over the weekend that Israel has in effect scrapped the 1993 Oslo accords it has signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP on Monday.

He accused Israel of having stripped the Palestinian Authority of much of its limited powers in the occupied territories and of "intruding on a daily basis" into areas governed by the Palestinians, Erakat said. "If Israel does not respect agreements or adhere to implementing them then how can the PLO and the Palestinian Authority adhere to them?" he asked.

Erakat said that Abbas, at the Arab summit in the Libyan city of Sirte, also spelled out several alternatives to direct negotiations should Israel continue to build in the occupied territories.

Abbas said other options include demanding full membership from the UN General Assembly and the Security Council or requesting an international mandate to govern the Palestinian territories, Erakat said.

"Abbas did not say he would resign or dissolve the Palestinian Authority," Erakat said, referring to far more drastic steps to which the Palestinians have alluded in the past. "But he said that since Israel has cancelled the Oslo accords and the other agreements and stripped the power of the Palestinian Authority over Palestinian lands, why should it remain in place?"

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