Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to run his administration to the ground to prevent Israeli from pursuing its plan to apply sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, a senior Palestinian official told The New York Times on Monday.
According to the report, Abbas plans to slash the wages of tens of thousands of functionaries and police officers, as well as the $105 million in monthly aid it sends to the Gaza Strip.
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In addition, any Israeli citizens or Arab residents of Jerusalem arrested in the West Bank will be tried in Palestinian courts instead of being handed over to the Israel Police, the report noted.
These provocative steps seek to prevent Israel from pushing ahead with the controversial annexation move. The sovereignty move has been endorsed by the Trump administration as part of its "deal of the century" but has met fierce objection from the Palestinians.
The European Union and United Nations have warned Israel against making any unilateral moves, saying annexation would doom the already moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
According to Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian official in charge of relations with Israel and one of Abbas' closest advisers, the Palestinian leader wants to effectively force Israel to shoulder full responsibility, "as a military occupier," for the two million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
"We are not nihilists, or fools, and we don't want chaos," Sheikh told NYT. "We are pragmatic," he added. "We don't want things to reach a point of no return. Annexation means no return in the relationship with Israel."
Abbas has already suspended security cooperation with Israel, a strategy that Sheikh said "aims to remind the Israelis of the burdens they would assume if the Palestinian Authority disbanded, and to demonstrate that they are willing to let the authority collapse if annexation comes to pass."
He warned that if the Palestinian would be left unable to pursue statehood, "The Palestinian Authority would be reduced to performing civil functions, making it effectively an agent of the Israeli occupation. I will not accept that my role is a service provider. I'm not a municipality or a charity."
As part of the steps already taken, the Palestinian Authority has refused to accept the monthly tax funds Israel collects on its behalf.
Sheikh, however, admitted that rejecting the funds would send the already cash-strapped PA to the brink of economic collapse.
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He also confirmed that Ramallah plans to suspend its aid to the Gaza Strip, which mostly covers the salaries of Hamas government officials.
Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Egypt, ousted Abbas' Fatah from Gaza in a military coup in 2007, but the PA still supports the rival faction's clerks.
The move is likely to further destabilize the volatile coastal enclave.
Still, Sheikh said that despite cutting security ties with Israel, the PA's 30,000-strong police and intelligence officers would continue to maintain law and order and fight terrorism.
"We will prevent violence and chaos," he said. "We will not allow bloodshed. That is a strategic decision."
But security coordination with Israel was a means to a political end, Sheikh noted, saying, "I want peace and two states. But I'm not a collaborator with Israel."
