After it had initially decided to postpone its decision to resume peace talks with Israel, the Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership has agreed to join direct peace talks with Israel, stalled since 2010. This comes following the Israeli cabinet’s approval to release 104 Palestinian prisoners held since before the Oslo Accords.
The decision did not come without opposition, with Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces violently dispersing a protest in Ramallah led by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) against the renewed talks. Hundreds of protesters chanted against the PA and the resumption of negotiations as they tried to reach the PA headquarters.
Interviewed by Al-Monitor, Rabah Mhanna, a senior member of the PFLP political bureau, strongly condemned the PA crackdown on its Sunday protest, and lashed out at the PA, which, he said, “is deeply implicated in shameful collaboration with the Israeli occupation.”
“The crackdown on our protest yesterday will only make us more determined to speak out against the PA’s collaboration with Israel,” Mhanna told Al-Monitor, adding: “We refuse negotiations with Israel and call on all PFLP members and all political parties to join protests against the resumption of negotiations and the PA’s policies which will only compromise more and more of our rights.”
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