PLO suspension of Israel recognition symbolic: Analysts

Analysts have played down a decision by the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend its recognition of Israel as “symbolic”.

On Monday, the PLO said it was suspending its recognition of Israel until Tel Aviv recognized a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This came in a decision taken during a two-day meeting by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), which functions as part of the PLO, in Ramallah.

The council also decided to end security coordination and suspend economic agreements between Israel and both the PLO and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

The PCC said the decisions were made “in light of Israel’s continued denial of the signed agreements”.

The decision must be approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Council.

“These decisions cannot be applied at once,” Palestinian analyst Talal Okal told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

“They need a plan and mechanisms in order to implement them,” he said.

Sulaiman Basharat, the chairman of the Yabous Center for Consulting and Strategic Studies, described the outcome of the PCC meeting as “symbolic”.

“The decisions are nothing but political messages that cannot be applied for several reasons,” he opined.

He cited that the Palestinian Authority itself was established as a result of the Oslo Accords.

“Accordingly, it enjoys international support on both political and economic aspects and ending commitment to it would mean abolishing international support to the PA,” he said.

Basharat also described the decision to end security coordination and economic agreements with Israel as “unrealistic”.

“On the ground there is a state of integration in the political, security, economic and health fields,” he said, citing dozens of memorandums of understanding that have been signed recently between the PA and Israeli authorities.

"There is a tangled situation that has arisen since the Oslo Accords, whether in settlement expansion and the living conditions of the Palestinians … which means that they cannot be separated,” Basharat added.

Basharat said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated commitment to peace negotiations and security coordination with Israel.

“This means that these decisions cannot be activated by Abbas,” he said.

For his part, Farid Abu Dheir, a professor of journalism at An-Najah National University, said “there is no political will on the part of the executive authority to implement these repeated decisions.”

"These decisions are not easy and need policies and mechanisms to implement them," he added.