President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed today that the Palestinians will not be attending the upcoming Manama workshop, called for by the United States.

“As for the Manama workshop in Bahrain, we said that we will not attend this workshop. The reason is that the economic situation should not be discussed before the political one.” The president told a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee in Ramallah.

“As long as there is no political [solution], we do not deal with any economic [solution].”

On Israel’s withholding of the Palestinian tax revenue, Abbas said the Palestinian government will not accept the revenue if it was not paid in full — a matter that has been underscored by the president during the past few months — but said he was ready to discuss outstanding financial and economic issues with the Israeli side.

“There are other issues that we have to discuss in depth, for which appropriate decisions are to be taken,” he added.