The Palestinian Authority has ended intelligence co-operation with the CIA, senior official Saeb Erekat said on Thursday.
President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday cancelled all agreements with Israel, including on matters of security, over its plans to annex large areas of the occupied West Bank.
Mr Erekat's disclosure is the first tangible example of the break in co-operation between the Palestinians and the Israeli government, and its backers in the Trump administration.
It was Mr Abbas's strongest response so far to the US-backed annexation plan promoted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week formed a unity government with rival Benny Gantz.
“As far as the direct co-operation between the American intelligence agencies and the Palestinian intelligence agencies, I think it stopped as of the end of the president’s speech,” Mr Erekat said.
“They kept insisting on their ideological religious path, as if we do not have enough religious elements here in this part of the world.
"So once this administration crossed the line, turning this conflict into a religious one, we had to take a stand."
The PA's security services – the Preventive Security Organisation and the General Intelligence Service – have long had an intelligence relationship with the CIA.
The particular focus of the arrangement was Hamas, the rival militant group who control the Gaza Strip.
It was reported in 2009 that Palestinian and American security agents were working closely to detain Hamas supporters in the occupied West Bank, with hundreds believed to be held.
The PA, the US and Israel fear that Hamas, with its stronger, military line on the Israeli occupation, could usurp the authority.
The group, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, won the last Palestinian elections in 2006 to take control of Gaza.
Mr Abbas’s Fatah party, with the reported backing of the CIA, launched a bid to oust Hamas in 2007. It failed.
CIA chief Gina Haspel is reported to have paid a visit in February to Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government.
The trip was aimed at upholding the intelligence link despite Palestine's opposition to the Trump peace plan, which would allow Israel to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
The Palestinians cut all political ties with Washington after President Donald Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognising it as Israel’s capital, in May 2018.
But Mr Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority created under the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, conceded this year that security ties had continued despite the rift.
Mr Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator and secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, did not disclose to what extent those ties had been severed.
He would not give the specifics of how Palestinian-Israeli co-operation would be dissolved. All sectors of co-operation were still being reviewed, Mr Erekat said.
“The whole system is about to shut down in its entirety," he said.
"It does not mean that we will allow lawlessness on our streets. "We will maintain the rule of law.
“The minute the president finished his speech, he instructed two of my colleagues to inform, officially in writing, the Israelis and the Americans that security co-operation would stop immediately, and that’s what happened.”
Mr Erekat was speaking from his home in the West Bank city of Jericho, which is part of the area Israel plans to annex.
Such co-operation has become vital to the Palestinian economy and to the protection of the government that administers limited self-rule in the West Bank.
The authority governs and provides basic services to heavily populated areas of the occupied West Bank.
Dismantling it would risk chaos and leave tens of thousands of civil servants unemployed.
But by referring to the "state of Palestine," Mr Abbas appeared to leave room for it to continue in its present form under a different, and contested, name.
Mr Erekat said the Palestinians had no choice, despite the economic harm the break could cause.
“What are my options?" he asked. "That I should accept to be a slave?”
The Palestinians are calling for an international conference to restart talks with Israel on a two-state solution based on the lines before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Mr Erekat said he had contacted European and Arab officials about the proposal, and Mr Abbas discussed his decision with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday evening.
Among the international voices that have expressed concern about Israel's annexation plans are Mr Trump's Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden and Pope Francis.
Mr Erekat again launched criticism at Mr Trump’s Middle East team, including son-in-law Jared Kushner and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, for backing the right-wing Israeli government's objectives.
“Show me a single nation that said yes to the Trump plan. Not a single one.”
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Fixtures
Wednesday
4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)
5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)
6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)
8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)
Rankings
ATP: 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 10,955 pts; 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 8,320; 3. Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,475 ( 1); 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 5,060 ( 1); 6. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,845 ( 1); 6. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,600 (-3); 7. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4,110 ( 2); 8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3,960; 9. John Isner (USA) 3,155 ( 1); 10. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3,140 (-3)
WTA: 1. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7,030 pts ( 3); 2. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6,290 ( 4); 3. Simona Halep (ROM) 5,582 (-2); 4. Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,307 ( 1); 5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5,100 ( 3); 6. Angelique Kerber (GER) 4,965 (-4); 7. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4,940; 8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,430 ( 1); 9. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 3,566 (-6); 10. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,485 ( 1)
The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
WHY%20AAYAN%20IS%20'PERFECT%20EXAMPLE'
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RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,200m
Winner: Shafaf, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Ahmed Al Mehairbi (trainer)
5,30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,200m
Winner: Noof KB, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: The President’s Cup Listed (TB) Dh380,000 1,400m
Winner: Taamol, Jim Crowley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
6.30pm: The President’s Cup Group One (PA) Dh2,500,000 2,200m
Winner: Rmmas, Tadhg O’Shea, Jean de Roualle
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Listed (PA) Dh230,000 1,600m
Winner: Ihtesham, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: AF Mekhbat, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
QUARTER-FINAL
Wales 20-19 France
Wales: T: Wainwright, Moriarty. Cons: Biggar (2) Pens: Biggar 2
France: T: Vahaamahina, Ollivon, Vakatawa Cons: Ntamack (2)
Brief scores:
Everton 0
Leicester City 1
Vardy 58'
The%20specs%3A%20Taycan%20Turbo%20GT
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Rebel%20Moon%20-%20Part%20One%3A%20A%20Child%20of%20Fire
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
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%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES
Mar 10: Norwich(A)
Mar 13: Newcastle(H)
Mar 16: Lille(A)
Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)
Apr 2: Brentford(H)
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
UAE Rugby finals day
Games being played at The Sevens, Dubai
2pm, UAE Conference final
Dubai Tigers v Al Ain Amblers
4pm, UAE Premiership final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons
