The Palestinians on Saturday threatened to suspend all communication with the US if the administration of US President Donald Trump follows through with plans to close their diplomatic office in Washington.
The potential rupture in relations threatens to undermine Trump’s bid for Middle East peace — a mission he has handed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the US decision was “very unfortunate and unacceptable,” and accused Washington of bowing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “at a time when we are trying to cooperate to achieve the ultimate deal.”
“We will put on hold all our communications with this American administration,” Erekat said in a video statement on social media.
There was no immediate reaction from the Trump administration.
Netanyahu’s office said the closure was “a matter of US law.”
US officials had insisted before Erekat’s statement that the move was not aimed at increasing leverage over the Palestinians, but merely the unavoidable consequence of US law.
Cutting off ties would carry great risks for the Palestinians. It could antagonize a US administration they already suspect is biased toward Israel and cut put millions of US dollars of critical US aid in jeopardy.
However, unresponsive Palestinians would deal an embarrassing blow to the Trump administration ahead of an expected peace initiative and potentially prevent it from getting off the ground.
Their stance could also complicate US efforts to promote a regionwide approach by bringing together Israel with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab allies in a joint effort against Iran.
Arab countries might be reluctant to get too close to Israel in the absence of serious progress on the Palestinian issue.
The US administration late on Friday announced that the Palestinians had run afoul of a legal provision that says the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) cannot operate a Washington office if the Palestinians try to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis for crimes against Palestinians.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined that the Palestinians crossed that line in September, when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the court to investigate and prosecute Israelis, US Department of State officials said.
They were not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear when the office would close or whether the Palestinians would have to clear out of the building entirely or just close it to the public.
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad Malki said he was told by the Americans that US and department legal teams would meet today to decide how the new situation would affect the office, the functioning of diplomats and contacts with the Palestinians.
“We will wait to hear back from them,” Malki said.
After that, the Palestinians are to decide how to react.
Under the law, Trump has 90 days to consider whether the Palestinians are in “direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.”
If Trump determines they are, then the mission can reopen, officials said.
PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said the US was “disqualifying itself as a peace broker in the region” by refusing to extend a waiver from the law.
“Conditioning the renewal of the waiver on the Palestinians’ sticking to ‘direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel’ is actually superfluous, since negotiations are nonexistent and the current US administration has yet to present any kind of peace initiative,” she said in a statement.
The US said it was not cutting off relations with the Palestinians, and remained focused on a comprehensive peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese