Official: PLO members consider disbanding PA
Published yesterday (updated) 19/04/2014 21:58
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=691203

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The PLO has been considering the option of disbanding
the Palestinian Authority in response to the apparent failure of the current
round of peace talks with Israel, a Palestinian official said Saturday.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanna Amira told Ma'an that there were
"scenarios ... that could lead to the disbandment of the PA."

"The future of the PA has become unclear because when it was established, it
was meant as a temporary stage leading to the establishment of a Palestinian
state," Amira said.

"Thus, if the PA doesn't lead to statehood, things should be reviewed."

Amira's comments come after the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv quoted Abbas
as threatening to disband the PA.

"I don't need Netanyhau. I don't need a chief of staff. Give me a junior
officer or even a lieutenant and I will deliver the PA keys to him. Here you
are, take charge and I will leave in an hour," Maariv quoted Abbas as
saying.

Amira said that Abbas' words reflect the fact that the idea of disbanding
the PA is being discussed among PLO committee members.

Separately, Amira told Ma'an that the PLO Central Council would hold an
important meeting next Saturday.

"It will be a decisive session because it comes only two days before the
agreed-upon nine-month round of talks (with Israel) comes to an end," he
said.

Some critics of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations say that 20 years after the
Oslo Accords, it is time to dismantle the PA and force Israel to take full
responsibility for the territory it occupies.

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under
the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.

Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler
housing units and its army has killed over 60 Palestinians in the West Bank
and Gaza since the negotiations began