The prime minister of the State of Palestine Authority  Mohammad Shtayyeh  (credit: wikipedia )

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The Palestinian Authority has resumed security and civil coordination with Israel, six months after PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced the cessation of ties with the Jewish state over its  plan to annex parts of the West Bank. The PA ended cooperation after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was preparing to annex portions of the occupied West Bank in line with President Trump’s plan for the Middle East. Prime Minister of the  PA Mohammad Shtayyeh confirmed the move Tuesday during a virtual  Zoom meeting hosted  by the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Israel is ready to commit itself to the signed agreements with us.”

-PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh,   Nov. 17, 2020. 

The PA prime minister said Israel responded to overture by the PA to resume ties.  “We asked them. Israel responded to us,” Shtayyeh said.

PALESTINIAN Authority Encouraged by New  U.S.  Joe Biden Presidential Administration  

“We see encouraging changes (U.S.-Palestinian relations). The number one thing is the change in the U.S. administration. “

-PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh

However, Shtayyeh is cautiously optimistic about the Biden Administration.

“We know the U.S. has a strategic relationship with Israel regardless if it is a Republican or Democratic administration. But this new administration is saying some new things. What we need is a Palestinian-American relationship that is not Israel-centered.”

President Trump took a hardline one-sided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace issue by embracing an unflinching pro-Israel policy at the detriment of Palestine.  In 2017, President Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump next announced his decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem inserting himself smack in the middle  of the decades-long conflict over Jerusalem. In September 2018,  the Trump administration  closed the Palestinian delegation’s office in Washington D.C.

“The U.S.  actions have caused a total breakup with our relationship with Israel. The  U.S. Trump administration is not friendly to our cause. They really hit our cause below the belt. This has encouraged Israel to take more adverse actions.”

-PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh

 U.S. Ambassador Craft Welcomes PA-Israel Cooperation 

UNSC VTC: The U.S. welcomes the Palestinian Authority’s announcement that it will resume security cooperation with Israel. We call on this Council to put decades of diplomatic failure behind us and support the Israelis and Palestinians in their efforts to settle their disputes. pic.twitter.com/akvMACx9bJ

— Ambassador Kelly Craft (@USAmbUN) November 18, 2020