Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered Palestinian officials to start cutting co-operation with the United States and Israel. AFP
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered Palestinian officials to start cutting co-operation with the United States and Israel. AFP
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered Palestinian officials to start cutting co-operation with the United States and Israel. AFP
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered Palestinian officials to start cutting co-operation with the United States and Israel.

Palestinians end intelligence co-operation with CIA, official says


  • English
  • Arabic

The Palestinian Authority has ended intelligence co-operation with the CIA, senior official Saeb Erekat said on Thursday.

President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday cancelled all agreements with Israel, including on matters of security, over its plans to annex large areas of the occupied West Bank.

Mr Erekat's disclosure is the first tangible example of the break in co-operation between the Palestinians and the Israeli government, and its backers in the Trump administration.

It was Mr Abbas's strongest response so far to the US-backed annexation plan promoted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week formed a unity government with rival Benny Gantz.

“As far as the direct co-operation between the American intelligence agencies and the Palestinian intelligence agencies, I think it stopped as of the end of the president’s speech,” Mr Erekat said.

“They kept insisting on their ideological religious path, as if we do not have enough religious elements here in this part of the world.

"So once this administration crossed the line, turning this conflict into a religious one, we had to take a stand."

The PA's security services – the Preventive Security Organisation and the General Intelligence Service – have long had an intelligence relationship with the CIA.

The particular focus of the arrangement was Hamas, the rival militant group who control the Gaza Strip.

It was reported in 2009 that Palestinian and American security agents were working closely to detain Hamas supporters in the occupied West Bank, with hundreds believed to be held.

The PA, the US and Israel fear that Hamas, with its stronger, military line on the Israeli occupation, could usurp the authority.

The group, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, won the last Palestinian elections in 2006 to take control of Gaza.

Mr Abbas’s Fatah party, with the reported backing of the CIA, launched a bid to oust Hamas in 2007. It failed.

CIA chief Gina Haspel is reported to have paid a visit in February to Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government.

The trip was aimed at upholding the intelligence link despite Palestine's opposition to the Trump peace plan, which would allow Israel to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

The Palestinians cut all political ties with Washington after President Donald Trump moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognising it as Israel’s capital, in May 2018.

But Mr Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority created under the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, conceded this year that security ties had continued despite the rift.

Mr Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator and secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, did not disclose to what extent those ties had been severed.

He would not give the specifics of how Palestinian-Israeli co-operation would be dissolved. All sectors of co-operation were still being reviewed, Mr Erekat said.

“The whole system is about to shut down in its entirety," he said.

"It does not mean that we will allow lawlessness on our streets. "We will maintain the rule of law.

“The minute the president finished his speech, he instructed two of my colleagues to inform, officially in writing, the Israelis and the Americans that security co-operation would stop immediately, and that’s what happened.”

Mr Erekat was speaking from his home in the West Bank city of Jericho, which is part of the area Israel plans to annex.

Such co-operation has become vital to the Palestinian economy and to the protection of the government that administers limited self-rule in the West Bank.

The authority governs and provides basic services to heavily populated areas of the occupied West Bank.

Dismantling it would risk chaos and leave tens of thousands of civil servants unemployed.

But by referring to the "state of Palestine," Mr Abbas appeared to leave room for it to continue in its present form under a different, and contested, name.

Mr Erekat said the Palestinians had no choice, despite the economic harm the break could cause.

“What are my options?" he asked. "That I should accept to be a slave?”

The Palestinians are calling for an international conference to restart talks with Israel on a two-state solution based on the lines before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Mr Erekat said he had contacted European and Arab officials about the proposal, and Mr Abbas discussed his decision with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday evening.

Among the international voices that have expressed concern about Israel's annexation plans are Mr Trump's Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden and Pope Francis.

Mr Erekat again launched criticism at Mr Trump’s Middle East team, including son-in-law Jared Kushner and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, for backing the right-wing Israeli government's objectives.

“Show me a single nation that said yes to the Trump plan. Not a single one.”

Ibrahim's play list

Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute

Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc

Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar

His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach

Also enjoys listening to Mozart

Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz

Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica 

Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

It

Director: Andres Muschietti

Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

Three stars

Dunki
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If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).

FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey 

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If you go

The flights

Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.

The hotels

Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes. 

Profile of Tamatem

Date started: March 2013

Founder: Hussam Hammo

Based: Amman, Jordan

Employees: 55

Funding: $6m

Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media

The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE BIO

Bio Box

Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul

Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader

Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Favorite food: seafood

Favorite place to travel: Lebanon

Favorite movie: Braveheart

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

SECRET%20INVASION
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Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5

Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
​​​​​​​Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km

A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars

KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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HEY%20MERCEDES%2C%20WHAT%20CAN%20YOU%20DO%20FOR%20ME%3F
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Abramovich London

A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.

A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.

Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.

Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.