Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Wednesday, instructed all Israeli government ministries to refrain from meeting their Palestinian Authority counterparts, and to cease civilian and economic cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.Israeli officials in Jerusalem said that the order did not include Israel’s Army Ministry cooperation with the Palestinians or Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni’s meetings with Palestinian negotiators, the Palestinian News Network has reported.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that only ‘low-level field cooperation’ would be permitted, according to Ma’an..
According to Israeli officials, this decision was made in the wake of the crisis in negotiations between Israel and the PA..
The move comes as an imposition of sanctions against the PA in response to the PLO’s decision to apply to join 15 international conventions, the Haaretz report said.
Palestinian officials say the decision to apply to the international conventions was in direct response to Israel’s failure to release a fourth and final round of veteran prisoners as agreed.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel’s government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, since the negotiations began.
