The PA is very satisfied with the decision of the UN special committee to accept the proposal initiated by the Palestinian Authority, according to which the organization will ask the International Court of Justice in Hague to provide a legal opinion on the consequences of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
The General Assembly of the United Nations will convene next month to ratify the decision, the Palestinians have a majority there and Israel will not be able to prevent the decision.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad l-Maliki welcomed the decision at the UN and said that “Palestine achieved an important victory” and that a new era has begun in which Israel will be forced to bear responsibility for its actions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem estimates that the opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel will strengthen the global BDS movement and may encourage countries to stop purchasing products from Judea and Samaria.
In preparation for the formation of the right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, PA Chairman Abu Mazen has launched an international campaign against Israel, he is going against it with all his might and taking advantage of international concerns about the participation of Knesset members Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich In the new government.
Senior PA officials say that the participation of the two extreme religious Zionist leaders in the Netanyahu government is a “great gift” to the Palestinians and will help the PA chairman to convince the world more quickly that Israel is an apartheid state.
Abu Mazen himself is full of a fighting spirit, at the end of last week he spoke on the phone with Joseph Borrell, who is responsible for the foreign and security policy of the European Union, and warned him against unilateral measures that the new Netanyahu government is about to take, including the annexation of territories from the West Bank to Israel.
The chairman of the PA urged Joseph Burrell to start a political process that will lead to the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital according to the international decisions.
Security officials in Israel are expressing concern at the rhetoric of escalation being used by Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen, who also called on the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death last week, to confront Israel in preparation for the annexation of the territories it is planning in the West Bank.
According to them, these are lies because there is no such planned move by Israel and this incitement could lead to the worsening of the current wave of terrorism and violence.
The fear in Israel is that Abu Mazen will try to follow Yasser Arafat’s method and ride the current “tiger of violence”, and try to use it to for political needs.
The assessment in the Israeli security establishment is that Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen will tighten cooperation with King Abdullah of Jordan, who enjoys a close relationship with President Biden, in order to act against the Netanyahu government.
The King of Jordan and the Chairman of the PA have common interests, King Abdullah fears that the Netanyahu government is planning to annex the Jordan Valley and that he may lose the special status that Jordan has on the Temple Mount according to the 1994 peace agreement with Israel.
Senior Likud officials estimate that Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu will reevaluate the policy towards the PA that was in place during the Bennett and Lapid governments and formulate new rules for the PA.
According to them, Netanyahu is not interested in bringing about the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, he will continue the policy of separating the Palestinian Authority from Hamas in the Gaza Strip and will avoid a clash with the Biden administration on the Palestinian issue, but on the other hand, he will respond to Abu Mazen’s new campaign against Israel in the international arena.
Israel has enough political and security tools to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen himself.
However, Israeli security officials estimate that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority needs Israel’s help in the economic field and managing day-to-day life in the West Bank and therefore he will not implement the Central Council’s decisions of the PLO to suspend the Oslo Accords and security coordination with Israel.
