Palestinian official says Trump's decision shows that the US is willing to disband International system in order to protect Israel crimes

The US is set to close the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Washington in the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to close and defund pro-Palestinian institutions.

 

Officials said the announcement would be made on Monday, one day after the 15th anniversary of the Letter of Mutual Recognition that saw Israel and the PLO recognise each other's legitimacy. the Wall Street Journal reported.

 

According to a draft speech seen by the newspaper, national security advisor John Bolton will blame the Palestinians for failing to restart peace negotiations with Israel.

 

“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” he will say.

 

“The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel."

 

Saeb Erekat, PLO secretary-general, said on Monday that Washington's move to close down the diplomatic mission is "another affirmation of the Trump administration’s policy to collectively punish the Palestinian people, including by cutting financial support for humanitarian services including health and education."

 

He said that the US decision "shows that the US is willing to disband the international system in order to protect Israeli crimes and attacks against the land and people of Palestine as well as against peace and security in the rest of our region."

 

Erekat affirmed that the rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale.

 

"We will not succumb to US threats and bullying and that we will continue our legitimate struggle for freedom, justice, and independence, including by all political and legal means possible. Accordingly, we continue to call upon the International Criminal Court to open its immediate investigation into Israeli crimes."

 

Trump has pledged to reach the "ultimate deal" (as well as to strike the "deal of the century") - Israeli-Palestinian peace - but has declined to commit to a two-state solution, for years the focus of international diplomacy.

 

He has also sided with Israel on core issues in the conflict, such as recognising the disputed city of Jerusalem as its capital, while publicly asking for no concessions in return.

 

Those moves have delighted Israeli politicians who oppose a Palestinian state, but dismayed supporters of a two-state solution.

 

As the 25th anniversary approaches of the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords - which created a degree of autonomy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and created a framework for a two-state solution - few Palestinians will be celebrating, as Israeli settlement building has multiplied in the West Bank on land Palestinians see as part of their future state.

 

Some 600,000 Israeli settlers now live there and in occupied east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital.

 

ICC sanctions

Increasingly, as prospects for a negotiated solution retreat, Palestinian leaders have sought other means to challenge Israeli actions in the territories occupied after the 1967 war.

 

In May, the Palestinian Authority submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling on the body to open an investigation into "settlement expansion, land grabs, illegal exploitation of natural resources, as well as the brutal and calculated targeting of unarmed protesters, particularly in the Gaza Strip".

 

Bolton, a longtime opponent of the ICC, will announce on Monday that the US will impose sanctions against court officials who attempt to investigate either the US or Israel.

 

“If the court comes after us, Israel or other allies, we will not sit quietly," Bolton will say.

 

He said the US was prepared to ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the country in these circumstances.

 

“We will sanction their funds in the US financial system, and we will prosecute them in the US criminal system. We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.”

 

The US said last month it would cease all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), which helps some three million needy refugees across the Middle East.

 

Palestinian leaders see these moves as part of an effort to "liquidate" their cause.

 

Bolton will also announce that the US will oppose any ICC probe into alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

 

"The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," he is expected to say.

 

East Jerusalem's hospitals

The US also announced on 9 September that it was cutting $25m in funding to Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and directing the money elsewhere.

 

The aid cut is the latest in a number of actions by the Trump administration that have alienated Palestinians, including the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

 

At the gates of two of the East Jerusalem hospitals affected, medical staff were aware of the decision but refused to comment.

 

One of the centres, Al Makassed hospital in the Mount of Olives, said in a statement that the US aid cuts come as the “hospital is going through a suffocating crisis as a result of the lack of flow of financial aid, and the piling up of debts and funds held back by the Palestinian government”.

 

It said it had received 45m shekels ($12.5m) of the US money to treat patients from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Dr Bassam Abu Libdeh, Al Makassed's CEO “questioned the justification behind mixing political issues with medical and humanitarian issues.”

 

Source: Middle East Eye