Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri has welcomed the Palestinian Authority’s announcement to sever security cooperation with Israel and threatened that there could be a new intifada.
“We are on the verge of a new intifada,” said al-Arouri, “… Washington and Tel Aviv are taking advantage of the current situation to take control of the West Bank. We are sparing no effort to prevent this annexation.”
The severing of the agreements came after PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced Tuesday the Palestinians were no longer bound by agreements with Israel and the US, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to move ahead with applying Israeli law to parts of Judea and Samaria the Palestinians would like to see included in a future state.
Abbas has made similar threats on numerous occasions but has never followed through.