Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas will convene a meeting of the PA’s top echelon in the coming days to discuss the implications of an Israeli move to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. The PA’s official Wafa news agency reported on Monday that the PA leadership would discuss the response to the move, how to retaliate, as well as the implementation of the recent decision to renounce all agreements signed with Israel and the United States. Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee, said in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio that "the US policy which is biased in favor of Israel has eliminated the possibility of peace between the parties or reaching an agreement to resume negotiations between them." Ahmed called for "a continuation of the popular resistance against the annexation plans through a peaceful resistance." In Palestinian Arab terminology, "peaceful resistance" also includes violent activities, including terrorist attacks. The coalition agreement between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, which stipulates that the government can apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria this coming July, has caused an uproar in the PA and the Arab world. The PA has also condemned the perceived US support for the sovereignty move. The PA “justice minister” recently threatened the US with lawsuits for supporting it.
