Trump admin retracts decision to close Palestinian office in DC
The administration of US President Donald Trump has backtracked on a decision to shutter the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington, DC, after facing heavy backlash.
Last week, US State Department officials said the PLO could not stay open because of its support for a Palestinian bid to prosecute Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Friday that the US had "advised the PLO office to limit its activities to those related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians."
Instead, he said, the State Department would put some limitations on the office that it expected would be lifted after 90 days.
"We therefore are optimistic that at the end of this 90-day period, the political process may be sufficiently advanced that the president will be in a position to allow the PLO office to resume full operations," Vasquez said.
According to a law passed by the US Congress, Palestinians would be stripped of the right to have a mission in the US capital if they support an ICC investigation of Israelis for committing crimes against them.
Apparently, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held the view that Palestinian leaders had run afoul of that law but it was up to Trump to make the final decision, the Associated Press reported, citing a State Department official.
The news triggered a major rift in US-Palestinian relations, with Palestinian officials threatening to cut all communications with the US in case Washington pushed ahead with the plan.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also reacted harshly, accusing the Trump administration of bowing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "at a time when we are trying to cooperate to achieve the ultimate deal."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in his September speech at the United Nations, said his country had "called on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials for their involvement in settlement activities and aggression against our people."
The tensions threatened to scuttle Trump's efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a plan led by adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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