By Jacob Jaffa

Copyright thejc

Senior Israeli security officials are reported to be pressing the government to impose sanctions on Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership in retaliation for the international push to recognise a Palestinian state. PA President Mahmoud Abbas, PA Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh and several others have been raised as prospective targets for the new measures, per Army Radio. It is understood that potential restrictions include limitations on the leaders’ free movement, including within the West Bank itself, as well as economic penalties on goods imported by them and their families from abroad. Under current rules, PA leaders have complete freedom to travel within the West Bank and are provided with Shin Bet security as they do so. One official, quoted by the Times of Israel, reportedly said: “Steps like these are unequivocally appropriate and correct. “We can’t live with a situation in which leaders of the PA do irreversible damage to us on the international front, and at the same time receive privileges from Israel that, with the years, have become a norm.” However, the security establishment is understood not to favour any sanctions that would affect the wider Palestinian population in the West Bank or the PA as a whole. It comes after US President Trump presented a “21-point peace plan” during a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders at the UN General Assembly earlier this week. “We had a very productive session. We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza,” said US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, adding: “I think it addresses Israeli concerns and, as well, the concerns of all the neighbours in the region. “We’re hopeful, and I might say, even confident that in the coming days, we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.” Witkoff did not provide further details as to what the 21 points were, but Axios has reported that the main principles of the plan include freeing all of the remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire, gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, a post-war plan for governance that does not include Hamas, a security force including Palestinians and soldiers from Arab and Muslim countries, funding from Arab and Muslim countries for administration and reconstruction, and “some involvement of the Palestinian Authority”. And the “day after” proposal was, according to the Times of Israel, based on the framework developed by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), details of which were recently leaked.