RAMALLAH, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will not stop security liaison with Israel despite the breakdown of peace negotiations.
Abbas, in an interview with a Palestinian newspaper, also said he will not dissolve the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in response to the lack of chances to build an independent state.
"The security coordination occurs for the benefit of the two sides: the Israeli and the Palestinian ones," Abbas told the Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam newspaper. "We seek the security of the Palestinian citizen, so everything being said in this regard is cheap auctions."
Several Palestinian factions, especially Islamic Hamas movement, called on Abbas to stop the security liaison. Hamas, locked up in bitter rivalry with Abbas's Fatah party, says the liaison harms its members and supporters in the West Bank, accusing the PNA of presenting information to Israel about Hamas.
Israel says the mutual security cooperation reached its peak in recent years, apparently after Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and took over Gaza in 2007. The coordination helped maintain calm in the West Bank.
Abbas said that the PNA "faces crisis and there are many reasons weakening it," but he stressed not to dismantle it. Abbas was responding to local calls to dissolve the PNA for failing to reach a peaceful settlement with Israel.
Those who call for dismantling the PNA argue that it helped Israel keep its occupation of the West Bank by being responsible for services to the Palestinian population and so easing the burden on Israel.
Meanwhile, Abbas renewed his position regarding a solution with Israel emphasizing that the solution should be based on two-states. He pointed out at "perils engulfing that solution because of the continuation of Israeli settlement building."
The Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stopped when Israel resumed the building in 2010.
Front Page Features