Palestine halts security coordination with Israel after Jenin massacre

The decision came after Abbas held a meeting with other leaders of the PA.

Abbas has temporarily suspended coordination with Israel a number of times in the past during previous rounds of escalation.

Palestinian leaders have called Israel’s largest military operation in Jenin in 20 years a “new war crime” after at least ten Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded.

A spokesman for Abbas has urged the international community to “break its shameful silence and take serious action”.

“What the Israeli occupation government is doing in the city of Jenin and its camp is a new war crime against our defenceless people,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

“The Palestinian people will not surrender or raise the white flag but will remain steadfast on their land in the face of this brutal aggression until the occupation is defeated and freedom is achieved,” he added.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described the Jenin operation as a “barbaric aggression”, saying it was part of Israel’s official policy “of using military force in dealing with the defenceless Palestinian people as an alternative to political solutions to the conflict”.

It called for urgent international action to “immediately stop the aggression” and urged the International Criminal Court to “start holding the Israel war criminals accountable”.

The Palestinian ambassador to the Arab League has also called for an urgent meeting on Tuesday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The meeting will “discuss ways of effective action at the Arab and international levels to stop this Israeli aggression, hold its perpetrators accountable and request protection,” it stressed.

The Palestinian mission to the United Nation has asked the international community if it is not “duty-bound” to act when a civilian population – which is already under occupation – is attacked with “absolute disregard for human life” by a foreign force “armed to the teeth” and in flagrant breach of international law.

“Is it not clear for all the world to see that Israel’s terrorism and aggression against the Palestinian people is escalating and becoming ever more brutal, invasive and hateful as it becomes ever more emboldened by the inaction of the international community,” the mission announced in a statement amid the Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.