Official: Palestinian head under pressure to talk to US

RAMALLAH

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to negotiate with the US although he was under pressure from Arab countries, a Fatah movement official said Sunday.

“President Abbas is facing unprecedented pressure from Arab brothers and the international sphere to negotiate with the US administration and take the customs revenues cut by Israel, but he does not accept it,” Mahmoud Al-Aloul, deputy chief of Fatah told the official Palestinian television channel H.

He said everyone knows that Israel tried to liquidate the Palestine cause but Palestinians choose to stand up against the oppression.

The Palestinian Authority will never return to its previous situation and stopped coordinating with Israel, he said.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed US-sponsored agreements Sept. 15 to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority and resistance factions denounced the deals, saying they did not serve the Palestinian cause and ignore the rights of Palestinians.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar