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US Reverses, Says Palestinians Can Keep DC Office Open: Report

posted on: Nov 25, 2017

SOURCE: THE HILL
The U.S. will allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington to remain open, despite threatening last week to shutter it.

According to The Associated Press, the office will be allowed to stay open with certain limitations, in particular, that the PLO’s activities there be “related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Trump administration could lift the restrictions after 90 days if peace talks have begun between the Palestinians and the U.S., the AP reported. The State Department is reportedly hopeful that will happen.

Last week, the Trump administration warned that it would close the PLO’s Washington office unless the U.S. determined that the Palestinians had entered into serious peace talks with Israel. That development was first reported by the AP.

The threat came after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared the Palestinians in violation of a U.S. law requiring the PLO to shutter its D.C. office if the Palestinians call on the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas apparently crossed that line in September by calling on the ICC to investigate and charge Israelis for alleged crimes against Palestinians.

After the secretary of state determines the Palestinians to be in violation of that law, the administration has 90 days to determine whether “direct and meaningful negotiations” have begun between the Palestinians and Israelis.

The president can waive the requirement that the PLO close its office only if he can certify to Congress that peace talks have gotten underway.

Trump has vowed to broker a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians – a task that has baffled presidents with more experience in the Middle East than the real estate mogul.