The Palestinian Authority has threatened to retaliate against the United States following the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington DC by ending its coordination on security affairs with the US, Kan reported.
On Monday, the PLO announced that the US had ordered the closure of its Washington DC mission. The US State Department later confirmed the move, stating that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had consistently refused to engage with the US government or to support peace talks with Israel.
"We have permitted the PLO office to conduct operations that support the objective of achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between Israelis and the Palestinians since the expiration of a previous waiver in November 2017," a State Department spokesperson stated.
In response to the closure, Kan reported, the PA threatened Tuesday night to end its security cooperation with the CIA. A senior PA official said Tuesday night that Ramallah was ‘reassessing’ its cooperation with the US, and was weighing the possibility of ending all joint efforts, including security cooperation.
Despite the PA’s protest over President Donald Trump’s December 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, Ramallah had maintained contact between its General Intelligence Service, led by Majid Faraj, and the CIA.
Faraj has met regularly with CIA representatives, and the PA’s GIS and the CIA exchange information on a regular basis.
A final decision on the possible cutting of contact between the GIS and CIA is likely to be made in the next few days, a senior PA official said.
“The coordination is important for America, not for us. They benefit from us.”