Abbas allies fear new Israeli government intends to destroy Palestinian Authority

Minister says ultranationalists in coalition want to dismantle body and create new reality in the West Bank'

Senior allies of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have expressed fears that Benjamin Netanyahu's new ultranationalist coalition in Israel will seek to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA), established after the 1993 Oslo peace accords.

The Palestinian social development minister, Ahmad Majdalani, said members of the government intended to destroy the authority, which administers a degree of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and is considered by Abbas as the institutional building block for a future Palestinian state.