Special to WorldTribune.com

RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority could decide to
disband the regime in the West Bank.

Officials said the PA leadership has been under pressure to end
governing the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

The officials said elements within the Palestine Liberation Organization argued that such a move would force international intervention to facilitate a Palestinian state.

“Give me a junior [Israeli] officer or even a lieutenant and I will deliver the PA keys to him,” PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said. “Here you are, take charge and I will leave in an hour.”

Officials said Abbas has concluded that Israel would not grant further significant concessions despite the urging of the United States. They said Abbas has come under increasing pressure within the PLO and ruling Fatah movement to take a dramatic step.

“The future of the PA has become unclear because when it was established, it was meant as a temporary stage leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” PLO Executive Committee member Hanna Amira said. “Thus, if the PA doesn’t lead to statehood, things should be reviewed.”

Abbas, in what alarmed the United States, has repeatedly threatened to
resign. The Arab media reported that Abbas, who hasn’t held elections in
nearly a decade, bought homes in several regional capitals, including Abu
Dhabi and Amman.

“Those kinds of extreme measures would have grave implications,” State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on April 21.

Officials said the threat of disbanding the PA was discussed in
the Executive Committee as well as the PLO Central Council. They said the
leadership, struggling to pay salaries to more than 120,000 civil servants,
was examining scenarios in which Abbas could quit and leave behind chaos.

“There are scenarios that could lead to the disbandment of the PA,”
Amira told the Palestinian news agency Maan on April 19.

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