Report: Palestinians Defiant Despite US Threats, Closure of PLO's Washington Office

Rasa - The Palestinian Authority was defiant on Monday despite US threats and measures, the latest was closing the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Washington office.

News ID: 439508

Date: 12 September 2018 - 13:27

RNA - US State Department announced officially on Monday closure of the PLO office, citing failure of the Palestinians to take steps "to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel”, WAFA reported.

It noted that the “PLO leadership has condemned a US peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the US government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise”. It also cited concern over Palestinians going to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute Israeli officials over its war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said that "holding on to Jerusalem and preserving it and our Palestinian people's rights, especially, and in addition to Jerusalem, the refugees' issue and the rest of the rights that our people and leadership are in consensus over, are more important than the relationship with the United States".

"The recent US decision to close the PLO office in Washington will not change our position towards preserving our Islamic and Christian holy places and our commitment to the United Nations resolutions and the decisions of the Arab and Islamic summits related to the Palestinian issue. We have always acted to implement these resolutions," He added.

The Palestinian government also said on Monday the decision by the United States to close the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative office in Washington is regrettable.

“The government regrets President Trump’s administration taking this decision,” government spokesman Yousef al-Mahmoud said in a statement.

“It is a declaration of war on efforts to bring peace to our country and the region,” he stated, adding it gives a green light to the Israeli occupiers to continue with their policies against the Palestinian people and land.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates also condemned the US decision and said in a statement on Monday that it will not stop Palestinian efforts to take Israel to international courts.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a press release on Monday that closing Palestine’s diplomatic mission in Washington is collective punishment against the Palestinian people.

“We have been notified by a US official of their decision to close the Palestinian Mission to the US,” Erekat stated, adding that “this is yet 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”.

The US is also going to warn the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, of not prosecuting any Israeli official as demanded by the Palestinians otherwise it will face serious repercussions.

Erekat warned that “this dangerous escalation 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”.

He reiterated that “the rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale, that 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”.

The PLO official called on the international community to react to the US move.

“Lowering the flag of Palestine in Washington DC means much more than a new slap by the Trump Administration against peace and justice; it symbolizes the US attacks against the international system as a whole, including the Paris Convention, UNESCO and the Human Rights Council among others,” the official added.

He said that as a result of closing the Palestine Mission, the PLO will take the necessary measures to protect the rights of Palestinians living in the US to access their consular services.

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said on Monday that the US closing the General Delegation of the PLO office in Washington DC is an irresponsible move.

"It is ironic that the US is punishing the PLO, the national representative of the Palestinian people and the highest political body that made the commitment to reaching a political and legal settlement of the Palestinian question and that has engaged in negotiations with successive US administrations for decades,” she said in a statement.

“It is also extremely cruel and spiteful to persist in deliberately bashing the Palestinian people by denying them of their rights, giving away their lands and rightful capital of Jerusalem, and defunding UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) and Palestinian institutions, including East Jerusalem hospitals,” Ashrawi added.

“Such irresponsible moves are clear proof of American collusion with Israel's occupation and the rewards, inducements and incentives it provides Israel, as well as a total ignorance of the requirements of a just peace based on international law and respect for human rights,” the PLO official stressed.

“The US would do better to finally understand that the Palestinians will not surrender and that no amount of coercion or unwarranted collective punitive measures will bring the Palestinian leadership or people to their knees. Such policies are cause for global alarm since the US is joining Israel in blatantly violating the will of the international community and creating conditions of lawlessness and instability throughout the region and beyond,” she noted.

Reacting to the decision by the United States to shut down the office, Husam Zomlot, head of the PLO General Delegation to the United States, described the decision as reckless.

"We condemn in the strongest terms, the US administration’s decision to close the Palestinian mission to the US. However, we are not surprised," he said in a statement, adding that "such a reckless act confirms that the administration is blindly executing Israel’s 'wish list,' which starts with shutting down Palestinian diplomatic representation in the US".

"While today is a dark day for peace in the Middle East, for multilateralism, and the integrity of the international political and legal system, we will continue our struggle to pursue all possible legal and political means to achieve peace, independence, and our internationally enshrined rights," Zomlot concluded.

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