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UN envoy ‘no longer acceptable’ for Palestinians
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Oct 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The
Palestinian leadership will no longer work with the UN peace envoy, a senior
official said Thursday, accusing him of overstepping his role by seeking a
deal between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.
Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO)
executive committee, said it had informed the UN secretary general that envoy
Nickolay Mladenov was “no longer acceptable” to the Palestinian government.
Mladenov had “gone beyond his role” in seeking agreements between Israel
and rival Palestinian faction Hamas, which controls Gaza, he said, adding
that his actions impacted “Palestinian national security and the unity of our
people.”
There was no immediate comment from Mladenov or confirmation from the
United Nations.
“After the Palestinians said ‘no’ to Israel and ‘no’ to the Americans, they
are now saying ‘no’ to the UN as well,” Israel’s ambassador to the United
Nations Danny Danon said in a statement. “In this decision, Abu Mazen
(Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas) is continuing to lead the Palestinian
Authority to international isolation, which ultimately harm the
Palestinians.”
Mladenov, alongside Egypt, has been seeking a long-term truce agreement
between Hamas and the Jewish state, without including Abbas’s internationally
recognised government in the indirect negotiations.
The talks have stalled, partly due to pressure form Abbas, but on Tuesday a
smaller UN-brokered agreement was reached for Qatar to finance much-needed
fuel deliveries to Gaza for six months.
Abbas’s government was not involved in that deal and Mladenov’s strategy
has angered Palestinian politicians.
The Palestinian Authority headed by Abbas has semi autonomy in parts of the
occupied West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in a near-civil war in
2007.
The international community has since worked with the PA.
The PLO has recognised Israel and signed a series of peace treaties with
it, while Hamas has fought three wars with the Jewish state since 2008.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0834 HRS