The Palestinian Authority threatened to suspend all cooperation with the United States, in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to close the ‘Palestine Liberation Organization’s’ diplomatic-mission in Washington. According to a senior PLO intelligence source, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah is reexamining its coordination with the U.S. Administration and are considering, among others, the suspension of intelligence coordination with the CIA. The significance of ending all ties with the American Intelligence Agency essentially means “an end to all back-channel dialogue” between Washington and Ramallah, as the connection between the CIA and the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence service is one of the few functioning channels of communication between the Trump administration and the Palestinian leadership. A Palestinian Intelligence official, who spoke to TV7 on condition of anonymity, revealed that “while President (Mahmoud Abbas) had publicly decided to cut all ties with the Trump Administration,” due to Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the consequences thereof, the Palestinian leader “wants to maintain ongoing security coordination and intelligence sharing with the American Central Intelligence Agency.” To secure the ongoing coordination mechanism, Abbas sent a delegation of the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence services to Washington on the 2nd of September, in-spite of a U.S. decision to stop all financial-contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, just two days earlier. The Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Chief Majid Faraj, who is considered to have “friendly ties” with American intelligence officials – including with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who formerly served as the Director of the CIA – headed the delegation to Washington. While TV7 was unable to obtain information from the meetings held in Washington, the Palestinian intelligence chief noted upon return from the United States that the Palestinians, under the directives of President Mahmoud Abbas, will continue to resist the American and Israeli policies. “I think no matter whatever the Americans are trying to do, they or the Israeli occupation, with God’s help and the steadfastness of this nation under the leadership of Mr. President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), these decisions or policies will never defeat our rights and will,” said Majid Faraj. It is important to note that the Trump administration had decided last month to maintain its financial-backing of the Palestinian Authority’s security services and had transferred tens-of-millions-of-dollars to Ramallah’s preventive security forces. To that end, an Israeli intelligence official explained to TV7 that Jerusalem encourages Washington to maintain its support of the Palestinian Authority’s security services, which also maintain coordination with Israel’s security establishment, as they effectively thwart terror related activities across the West Bank.
