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Palestine’s decision to stop contact with Israel can be reviewed but not soon — diplomat

"What is happening in Jenin today can happen in Ramallah or Nablus, or anywhere tomorrow. The Israelis may say that this is revenge against Palestinian terrorists and wage an attack. They do this every day," Abdel Hafiz Nofal said

MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Palestine may reconsider its decision to stop security contact and coordination with Israel when the situation normalizes but that is unlikely to happen soon, Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow Abdel Hafiz Nofal said on Tuesday.

"Naturally, this decision may be revised if the situation goes back to normal. But so far, Israeli attacks continue. There will be no coordination as long as Israel attacks us every day. Communication will not be resumed in the near future. I am sure of that," he told TASS.

According to the Palestinian diplomat, coordination between Palestine and Israel on security-related matters was disrupted some time ago but yesterday it was officially announced. "We don’t know for how long, but it was stopped," Nofal said.

He stressed that the situation around Jenin is very tense. "Ten people have already been killed in Jenin, more than a hundred have been wounded. The situation is very tense," he explained, adding that more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 have been wounded since the beginning of the year.

"What is happening in Jenin today can happen in Ramallah or Nablus, or anywhere tomorrow. The Israelis may say that this is revenge against Palestinian terrorists and wage an attack. They do this every day," he said.

He recalled that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called an emergency meeting with the leaders of all Palestinian groups to discuss anti-Israeli actions. Such a meeting, according to Nofal, may take place "within days."

Israel staged a large-scale operation in Jenin and a nearby camp for Palestinian refugees on Monday night. During the operation, Israeli forces spotted and seized a makeshift rocket launcher system and delivered several airstrikes on terrorist targets, the Israel Defense Forces said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday evening that the anti-terrorist operation in Jenin will continue as long as it takes to ensure the security of Israeli citizens.

According to the Kan radio station in Israel, the operation is geared to "restore Israeli deterrence" of radicals in the northern part of the West Bank. The previous such operation in Jenin was conducted by Israel on June 19 when the declared goal was to detain wanted persons.

Since April 10, 2022, Israel has been staging anti-terrorist operations and raids on the West Bank following a series of terror attacks in Israeli cities.