US, Palestinian political fallout hasn't hampered security ties
Despite political estrangement between the Palestinian Authority and the United States over Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, security coordination continues between the two sides.
While the Palestinian Authority (PA) has upped its rhetoric against the US administration ever since US President Donald Trump’s announcement late last year recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, new reports suggest Ramallah and Washington continue to cooperate when it comes to intelligence matters.
Ever since Trump's Dec. 6 announcement regarding Jerusalem, public contact between the two sides has been suspended. On May 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recalled head of the PLO office in Washington Hussam Zamlat in protest of the US decision on Jerusalem. Yet despite the diplomatic boycott, Haaretz reported May 28 on a meeting in Washington at the end of April between Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj and Mike Pompeo, who at the time was still head of the CIA but was about to become secretary of state. The meeting came as “part of a close relationship between the two intelligence chiefs, which began last winter,” according to Haaretz.
