On Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would resume security and civilian administration cooperation with Israel. Additionally, they announced that they would once again accept tax revenue from Israel. The above ties were severed by the Palestinian Authority in May in protest of the plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria.

Senior PA official, Hassain al-Sheikh, who serves as the Minister of Civil Affairs and Relations Affairs with Israel, made the announcement following written and oral statements from Israel that confirmed that Israel would be bound by past agreements.

“In the light of Mahmoud Abbas’s international contacts…and given the written and verbal commitments we have received from the Israelis, we will resume relations where they were before May 19, 2020,” al-Sheikh said.

The plans for Israel to apply sovereignty to sections of area C in Judea and Samaria were postponed indefinitely when the Israeli government signed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September.

Later in the day, Hamas came out and strongly condemned the move claiming that the PA was “throwing to the wayside all of their national ideals and the results of the historic meeting of officials between the two Palestinian bodies.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)