Shaath: PA may stop using the shekel

The Palestinian Authority may end its currency union with Israel, Nabil Sha’ath, a senior Fatah official, announced on Monday.

Sha’ath, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a former PA foreign minister, said that the boycott of the shekel was one of a number of “daring and decisive” decisions that the PA leadership would take if Israel continued to violate agreements signed with the Palestinians.

In an interview with the Al Watan Voice online newspaper, Sha’ath said that the currency decision was part of the PA’s “unusual” planned decisions in response to the Israeli “violations,” which he said also included IDF military operations inside Area A of the West Bank, which under the Oslo Accords is supposed to be under exclusive Palestinian control.

He said that the PA’s planned decisions were divided into political, economic and security aspects.

On the political front, relations between the PA and Israel are suspended, Sha’ath noted.

“With regards to the economic aspect, we will work toward imposing a full boycott against the occupation and its products, specifically the Israeli shekel, which will be replaced with other available currencies,” he explained.

Sha’ath repeated PA threats to halt security coordination with Israel.

The top Fatah official said that the preoccupation of the Arab countries with their internal problems and the “recession” of Arab and international support for the Palestinian issue were forcing the PA to delay its planned decisions.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to convene a meeting of PLO and Fatah leaders in Ramallah in the coming days to discuss the “unusual” decisions, he added.