Abbas announces immediate halt to all contacts with Israel

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gives a speech during a meeting of Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 21, 2017, during which he announced freezing all contacts with Israel.

I, on behalf of the Palestinian leadership, announce… a freeze of all contacts with the occupation state on all levels until Israel commits to canceling all the measures against our Palestinian people in general and Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque in particular,” Abbas said to applause from officials convened in PA headquarters in Ramallah.

He specifically castigated the deployment of metal detectors at the Temple Mount compound — placed there by Israel after a July 14 terror attack in which three Arab-Israelis shot dead two Israeli police officers there with guns they had smuggled into the holy site. Abbas called the measures “falsely presented as a security measure to take control over Al-Aqsa mosque.”

The dramatic statement from the PA president came after a day of riots around the Old City and the Jerusalem area. Three Palestinians were reported killed and some 200 others were wounded.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-announces-immediate-halt-to-all-contacts-with-israel/