In meeting with CIA chief, Abbas calls for pressure on Israeli government

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Ramallah on Sunday with the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns.

The meeting came on the eve of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel and the West Bank, where he too is scheduled to meet with Abbas.

Abbas briefed the CIA director on the “dangerous developments and the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people,” the PA’s official news agency Wafa reported.

It said Abbas stressed the importance of urgent intervention to pressure the Israeli government to halt its “unilateral measures and abide by the signed agreements.”

Abbas also affirmed the need to restore a political horizon on the basis of international legitimacy in order to achieve security and stability for all in the region so that the Palestinians would be able to establish an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital on the pre-1967 lines, according to Wafa.

CIA DIRECTOR William Burns speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing. During a meeting last year with then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, Burns expressed his concerns regarding Chinese investments in Israel (credit: TASOS KATOPODIS/REUTERS)

Burn’s meeting with Palestinian security officials

Earlier, Burns met with Palestinian security officials and discussed with them the latest tensions and violence. The meeting came days after the PA announced its decision to halt security coordination with Israel in protest of the killing of nine Palestinians, mostly gunmen, during an Israeli military operation in Jenin Refugee Camp.

It was not clear whether Burns urged the Palestinians to resume the security coordination with Israel or take other measures to de-escalate the situation.

On the eve of Burn’s visit to Ramallah, the PA leadership announced that it would proceed with implementing its decision to end the security coordination.