President Mahmoud Abbas called for an international peace conference towards the end of October to be held early next year. He received a welcoming response from the UN’s Secretary General António Guterres who considered Abbas’ move an initiative to renew the settlement process in the Middle East.

Through such call, Abbas shows that the PA was waiting for the results of the US elections, hoping for Joe Biden’s victory. Indeed, Abbas congratulated Biden and the leaders in the PA were thrilled. Security officials from the occupation expressed their hope for the resumption of security coordination with the PA as Maariv Newspaper reported.

Need for Funds

The clearing funds the PA takes from the Israeli occupation are estimated to be about 700m NIS on a monthly basis; i.e. 60% of the PA’s budget. The PA is currently facing a financial deficit that is reflected in the half-salaries paid to 134,000 employees since last May.

Similarly, the funds taken from Arabs dropped from $267m in 2019 to $38m in 2020 (i.e. 85% down).

It is difficult for the PA to abandon the money that ensures its survival. This is why the chief of the PA’s General Intelligence Service Majid Faraj promised President Biden to accept the clearing funds and proceed with security coordination.

Security Strategy

The PA’s decision is not bound to its need for money only. The coordination decision is the PA’s only choice because its entire existence is based on its security tasks. In exchange for what the PA offers to the occupation, it receives awards in return.

Therefore, the resumption of the security coordination is a matter of time as the new American administration takes lead. Perhaps, the coordination will return fiercer than before so that the PA would prove to the occupation and the American Administration that it would not shift from the settlement project and would show its seriousness in chasing down the resistance movements.

This, of course, means the failure of the Palestinian reconciliation and the cancelation of the most recent agreement’s articles about the activation of the popular resistance. All of this will lead to more clashes between the PA and the resistance.