Palestinians threaten to cut US ties over PLO mission rift
David Martin
November 19, 2017
Palestinian officials have slammed plans by the Trump administration to shutter the PLO's mission in Washington DC. The rupture in relations could have major implications for the White House's Middle East policy.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Ngan
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Palestinian officials warned on Saturday that the US' unexpected threat to close the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) mission in Washington would hamper any hopes Washington has of brokering a Middle East peace deal.
In a video statement posted on social media, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Palestine "will put on hold all our communications with this American administration," adding that Washington's decision was "very unfortunate and unacceptable."
On Friday, the US announced that it would not renew the PLO Washington office permit which was due to expire at midnight on Saturday. The State Department cited "certain statements made by Palestinian leaders" about the International Criminal Court's charges against Israeli nationals as the reason behind the non-renewal.
It now remains unclear whether the PLO offices will be forced to permanently shut or just be closed to the public. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said he had been told that the US and State Department legal teams would meet Monday to discuss how the new situation would affect the PLO office, as well as the functioning of diplomats and contacts with Palestinians.
The PLO is the group formally representing all Palestinians. Although the US does not recognize Palestinian statehood, the PLO maintains a "general delegation" office in Washington to facilitate Palestinian officials' interactions with their US counterparts.
Why has the US threatened to shut down the PLO mission?
The White House claims that the Palestinians have broken a legal provision that states the PLO can only operate a Washington office provided the Palestinian government doesn't seek to influence the prosecution of Israelis before the International Criminal Court.
According to the Associated Press news agency, citing anonymous US State Department officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined that the Palestinians violated that provision in September.
Speaking at the United Nations in September, President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians had "called on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials for their involvement in settlement activities and aggressions against our people."
What's the risk to the Palestinians?
Palestinian backlash towards the US could potentially put millions of dollars in critical US aid in jeopardy.
The Palestinian government also fears that any measures that antagonize the US will move the Trump administration ever closer towards Israel. Given Trump and Netanyahu's close relationship, Palestinians already suspect US bias towards Israel and fear their interests could be undermined in any peace negotiations brokered by the current White House.
Are there any risks facing the Trump administration?
While Trump has boasted about his government's prospects of achieving an unprecedented peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, a rift with the Palestinians would hamper any sort of upcoming peace initiative before it even gets off the ground.
That would be a major embarrassment for the president's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, who has been tasked with brokering a deal in the decades-long conflict.
Trump's vision for the Middle East is to bring together Israel, Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab states as part of a region-wide joint effort against Iran. However, Arab countries have voiced reluctance towards deepening ties with Israel unless significant progress is made on the Palestinian issue.
PLO: US conditions 'superfluous'
According to the legal provision over the PLO's Washington mission, Trump, as sitting president, has 90 days to waive the decision should he find that the Palestinians are in "direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel." If Trump determines that they are, the mission could then reopen.
However, PLO official Hanan Ashrawi rejected these conditions as "superfluous" because "negotiations are nonexistent, and the current U.S. administration has yet to present any kind of peace initiative."
The United States first allowed the PLO to open a mission in Washington back in 1994, under President Bill Clinton. Then, in 2011, under the Obama administration, the US started letting the Palestinians fly their flag over the office. Palestinians hailed the move as historic and an upgrade to the status of their mission.
A history of the Middle East peace process
For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Camp David Accords, 1978
A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Daugherty
The Madrid Conference, 1991
The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hollander
Oslo I Accord, 1993
The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Sachs
Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000
US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Edmonds
The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.
Image: Getty Images/C. Kealy
The Roadmap, 2003
The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.
Image: Getty Iamges/AFP/J. Aruri
Annapolis, 2007
In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Thew
Washington, 2010
In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Milner
Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues
A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Paris summit, 2017
Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.
Image: Reuters/T. Samson
Deteriorating relations in 2017
Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020
US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.
Image: Reuters/M. Salem
Conflict reignites in 2021
Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.