U.S. Threat to Close Washington Office Is ‘Extortion’ : Palestinian Official

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The flag of the Palestine Liberation Organization is seen above its offices in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
The flag of the Palestine Liberation Organization is seen above its offices in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

The Trump administration has put the Palestinians on notice that it will shutter their office in Washington unless theyโ€™ve entered serious peace talks with Israel, U.S. officials said, potentially giving President Donald Trump more leverage as he seeks an elusive Mideast peace deal.

The Palestinian foreign minister denounced the U.S. move as an attempt at โ€œextortion.โ€

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has determined that the Palestinians ran afoul of an obscure provision in a U.S. law that says the Palestine Liberation Organizationโ€™s mission must close if the Palestinians try to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis for crimes against Palestinians. A State Department official said that in September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crossed that line by calling on the ICC to investigate and prosecute Israelis.

But the law leaves Trump a way out, so Tillersonโ€™s declaration doesnโ€™t necessarily mean the office will close.

Trump now has 90 days to consider whether the Palestinians are in โ€œdirect and meaningful negotiations with Israel.โ€ If Trump determines they are, the Palestinians can keep the office. The official said it was unclear whether the U.S. might close the office before the 90-day period expires, but said the mission remains open at least for now.

Even if the office closes, the U.S. said it wasnโ€™t cutting off relations with the Palestinians and was still focused on โ€œa comprehensive peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.โ€ The State Department official said in an email that โ€œthis measure should in no way be seen as a signal that the U.S. is backing off those efforts.โ€ The official wasnโ€™t authorized to publicly discuss the developments and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Palestinian foreign minister, Riad Malki, told Palestine Radio that the Palestinian leadership โ€œwill not accept any extortion or pressure.โ€ Malki said the Palestinians were waiting for further communication from the U.S. government. โ€œThe ball is now in the American court,โ€ he said.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Although the Israelis and Palestinians are not engaged in active, direct negotiations, Trumpโ€™s administration has been working all year to broker a peace deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Led by Jared Kushner, Trumpโ€™s son-in-law and a senior aide, White House officials have been preparing a peace proposal they intend to put forward at an unspecified time.

The Palestinians, though publicly supportive of the U.S. effort, have been skeptical because Trumpโ€™s close ties to Israel suggest whatever deal he proposes might be unfavorable to them. The threat of losing their office in the U.S. capital could become another pressure point as the Trump administration seeks to persuade the Palestinians to come to the table.

The PLO is the group that formally represents all Palestinians. Although the U.S. does not recognize Palestinian statehood, the PLO maintains a โ€œgeneral delegationโ€ office in Washington that facilitates Palestinian officialsโ€™ interactions with the U.S. government.

The United States allowed the PLO to open a mission in Washington in 1994, a move that required then-President Bill Clinton to waive a law that said the Palestinians couldnโ€™t have an office. In 2011, under the Obama administration, the United States started letting the Palestinians fly their flag over the office, an upgrade to the status of their mission that the Palestinians hailed as historic.

Israel opposes any Palestinian membership in United Nations-related organizations until a peace deal has been reached.

The Trump administration has not revealed any details about its effort to bring about a peace deal that would ostensibly grant the Palestinians an independent state in exchange for an end to its conflict with the Israelis. But Kushner and other top Trump aides have been shuttling to the region to meet with Palestinians, Israelis and officials from neighboring Arab nations as it prepares to put forward a peace plan.

The requirement that the PLO office be closed if the Palestinians back an International Criminal Court move came in a little-noticed provision in U.S. law that says the United States canโ€™t allow the Palestinians to have a Washington office if they try to โ€œinfluence a determination by the ICC to initiate a judicially authorized investigation, or to actively support such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.โ€

Abbas, the Palestinian leader, said in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September that the Palestinians had โ€œcalled 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.โ€

The U.S. law says that if the government determines the Palestinians have breached that requirement, it triggers a 90-day review period in which the president must decide whether to let the office stay open anyway. The president is allowed to waive the requirement only if he certifies to Congress โ€œthat the Palestinians have entered into direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.โ€

The provision doesnโ€™t explicitly define what would constitute direct or meaningful negotiations.

TIME

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102 responses to “U.S. Threat to Close Washington Office Is ‘Extortion’ : Palestinian Official”

  1. Egypt police arrest singer Shyma over racy video. You can find video here: https://lenta.ru/news/2017/11/19/banana/

  2. The preferential treatment for the zionist entity is uncanny… If that is the case why don’t you shut down the Israeli’s embassy as well. This is a case of the aggressor becoming the victim and vice versa. I have been advocating for a two states solution since the beginning of the conflict yet the insistence of warmongers such as nutandyahoodi on grabbing property illegally keeps the Palestinians away from the negotiating table. It is shameful that the Trump administration goes on wrestling the PA into submission while they are the aggressed. At the end, a one state solution will be the demise of Israel a la South Africa.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bykj8Y1EgjI

    1. Is dabka “Phoenician”, too? ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. Of course! It’s origin dates back to Phoenicians while building residences. It is very well documented.

        1. “It’s origin dates back to Phoenicians while building residences.” (sic)

          Do you write in “Phoenician” as well? Sadly, not many people here who can actually understand it. ๐Ÿ™‚

          1. We can write in Phoenician a bit: ???????????????? (Cnaan)

          2. Do you understand this? Rou7 ballit el ba7er ya ayyour… Now THAT is Phoenician!

        2. Hind Abyad Avatar

          “History

          Men dancing dabke, 1880
          The Palestinian dabkeh jumps may or may not have origins in age-old Canaanite fertility rites which reflected the increasing growth of plants. They were used to scare away evil forces and to protect the security and growth of seedlings.[8]

          According to Yazbec, the Phoenicians were the first teachers of the dance in the world, and the dabke is a representative descendant of the Phoenician dances.[9]

          According to one folk tradition, the dance originated in the Levant where houses were built from stone with a roof made of wood, straw and dirt. The dirt roof had to be compacted which required stomping the dirt hard in a uniform way to compact it evenly. This event of cooperation is called ta’awon and from here comes the word awneh, meaning “help.” This developed into the song Ala Dalouna (Arabic: ุนู„ู‰ ุฏู„ุนูˆู†ุงโ€Ž), roughly translated, “Let’s go and help”. The dabke and the rhythmic songs go together in an attempt to keep the work fun and useful.”
          Wikipedia

          1. Right on… But you missed one point. The dirt used on the roof was zionist remains. he he

          2. I guess the Arabs were ki!!ing Jews in 1880. Thanx for confirming.

          3. You got it wrong… Jews and Aramaic were killing each others since 2000 BC. Arabs had nothing to do with it. Jericho? Bible? Ah yup I forgot you do not know history.

          4. Yada yada. We’re talking 1880 in case you weren’t aware.

          5. I’m not… I am talking about the Phoenicians with Hind until your looooooong nose stepped in between without an invitation.

          6. I’m not, I’m talking to you about 1880.

          7. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Crook and MaImequer0 step in without invitation.

          8. No invitations required.

          9. Hind Abyad Avatar

            No class required

          10. Precious…

          11. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Now the’re defending their Wahhabi cousins
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkcYAOs9W-E

          12. Hind Abyad Avatar

            “You got it wrong… Jews and Aramaic were killing each others since 2000 BC. Arabs had nothing to do with it. Jericho? Bible? Ah yup I forgot you do not know history”.

      2. Now answer me this: Is middle eastern cuisine Israeli? Half the restaurents here selling Hummus are Israelis who stole a culture and made it their own. ๐Ÿ˜‰

        1. You know the answer already, pal. It’s always the same, and involves a stream of warm yellowish liquid hitting your face. ๐Ÿ™‚

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Great intellect? Just a vulgar liar and thief.

          2. Thief?? Dunno where this is coming from. I’d never, ever touch any of your stuff. Is probably toxic. ๐Ÿ™‚

          3. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            Her “stuff” is locked in with a secret code (514).

          4. Others know you well.

          5. Hind Abyad Avatar

            I know you and MaImequer well..when he targets me 514 i respond, he know my email to fill it up with Dany Norha fitness links i never subscribed for, all day in 2 days. I’m not the stalker cookie.
            “MaImequer0 Hind Abyad โ€ข 2 years ago
            LOL sweetie… more of the usual crazy lies… And, there is now way that you have a husband or son (you are far too ugly, inside and out).. unless of course they are imaginary like all your other fictional characters…
            However, your terrorist supporting hate can get you in jail now, C51… and, even better, C24, you can be kicked out of Montreal and Canada!!! No anchor baby, real or imagined, and no fake Canadian husband can save you now!!! LOL Nobody cares that you used to sleep with your cousins and it’s not to hard to imagine why your lesbian aunts abandoned you.
            But you are correct on one point… Cookie, Barabie and I did issue orders to Harper, We reminded him that we own Canada and he promised to do exactly as we say.” So go to hell crookie

          6. Check your closet sweetheart, I’m there now. If not in body but your imagination.

          7. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            She slept with her cousins…

          8. Hind Abyad Avatar

            @YaLibnan
            @Rainbow Sponge about me” She slept with her cousins…”

          9. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Were you there? Tic toc..Tic toc

          10. Hind Abyad Avatar

            It’s your closet too cookie

          11. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Re- It’s your closet too cookie;-)

          12. When were the nuptials? Don’t remember the nuptials consummated .

          13. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Wrong reply, if you Insist i’l remember it for you ๐Ÿ˜‰

          14. Whatever floats your boat.

          15. Hind Abyad Avatar

            OK.

          16. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Dunno what your doing here?
            Allied with the Assouad Saudi Moslem Brotherhood..

            Revealing now its ” connections ” to Israel Saudia Arabia
            raises the doubts whether or not it has had anything to do with the assassination of the father of Saad el Hariri,,,,,or not ??” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d312d093d9b1abd023f66444a958012ddfd33e220457af55be88fb3e06d9c1d5.jpg

          17. Another conspiracy theory. Ya know I’m thinking you have more knowledge of the Hariri assassination and the operations pertaining to it. Where were you in 2005?

          18. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            Her existence drove someone to insanity and led them to commit the crime. She’s guilty of transferred malice.

          19. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Are you looking for a lawyer? Al Jazeera drove you to insanity? A virtual existence you put on Price Tag was your crime?
            She died 2 weeks later of heart attack, you’re crazy, who can trust Zionists they have no respect for life.
            Israel is the children kidnapping capital of the World.

          20. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Politics is filled with conspiracy you call “theories”
            Experts in Lebanon are used to them..
            ุงู„ูˆุญูŠ ุงู„ุขู† ุนู„ู‰ “ุตู„ุงุช ” ุจุฅุณุฑุงุฆูŠู„

            #ุงู„ู…ู…ู„ูƒุฉ ุงู„ุนุฑุจูŠุฉ #ุงู„ุณุนูˆุฏูŠุฉ ุชุซูŠุฑ ุงู„ุดูƒูˆูƒ, ุณูˆุงุก ุฃู… ู„ุง,
            ูƒุงู† ู„ู‡ุง ุฃูŠ ุนู„ุงู‚ุฉ ุจุงู„ุงุบุชูŠุงู„ ูˆุงู„ุฏ ุณุนุฏ #ุงู„ุญุฑูŠุฑูŠ ุŒุŒุŒุŒ ุŸุŸ

          21. I don’t speak the lingo, sweetheart. Speaking another language confirms my “conspiracy theory” about you. Keep confirming…..

          22. Hind Abyad Avatar

            “Revealing now its ” connections ” to Israel Saudia Arabia
            raises the doubts whether or not it has had anything to do with
            the assassination of the father of Saad el Hariri,,,,,or not ??”
            Translated up^there.

          23. It does NOT raise doubts. There is way too much evidence against Hezbollah. They are guilty as sin.
            They are, in fact, a proven jihad terrorist mafia whether you chose to acknowledge the evidence or not.

          24. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Will see the evidence.. meanwhile Israel is the children kidnapping Capital of the World, whether you chose to acknowledge the evidence or not.

          25. Not English are not welcomed on yalibnan

          26. Vulgar and cowardly.

          27. When cornered while starting a discussion trash cannot answer intelligently so he resort to vulgarities. Trash begets trash (yes that is your mother).
            More Phoenician for you: rakkib YK 3ala vs waa7ad bye7bal be baghil w teene bye7bal be b3iir.

          28. “Cornered”? You couldn’t corner a 95-year old with Alzheimer’s. ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
    Rainbow Sponge

    Incoming butthurt in 5, 4, 3, 2…

    1. … and Sponge Bob screams OUCH?

  4. Thought I would check out the location PLO office in DC. Not exactly Embassy row. Essentially a small business area with a pawn shop, a couple of small bistros, a couple of salons and a pizza joint.

    1. How much one pays for this kind of location? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea0cff76c88f51a910dda34f9de6cca5a67819fb95318f1eb611b081140e5e20.jpg Is it the entire building that the PLO offices are leasing in Washington, DC?

      1. Washington DC…Georgetown……not cheap. Unlike Embassy Row this area is commercial real estate, fluctuating values but on the lower end.

        1. Is the money coming from our (EU) financial support to the PLO?

          1. Our? you have nothing. You are just another welfare parasite.

          2. Who knows, maybe the employees of the “office” wait tables at the restaurants.

    2. Way too fancy for them. Is there an available location close to some toxic waste dump? ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. Nevada has a place where the US tested their nukes. The PaliArabs could build on the cheap for sure.

      2. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
        Rainbow Sponge

        Kill Buck Road, Great Valley, NY. I don’t know about a toxic waste dump, but I hear there’s a buck cemetery just round the corner.

        1. Hope they like snow!

  5. Hind Abyad Avatar

    “Israeli chief of staff gives first ever interview to Saudi media. Israel so desperate
    to reveal Israeli-KSA collusion, yet Saudis terrified to show it. Like a cheating husband
    w/ a seedy mistress – doomed to live in shadows and stink of vice.”
    Sharmine Narwani
    Lebanese jourbalistWriter
    commentator & analyst covering Middle East geopolitics;
    Former Senior Associate, St Antony’s College, Oxford U.

    1. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
      Rainbow Sponge

      At least put that in quotation marks, thief.

      https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/931983588693807104

      1. Good spot!

        1. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
          Rainbow Sponge

          As I told Omega, I can always tell. And when I saw that I was like holy cow, there’s no way she wrote that.

      2. Hind Abyad Avatar

        I put them 4 hours ago thank you yellow Malaria rag.
        Lebanese know her i din’t post it for the trolls.

        1. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
          Rainbow Sponge

          You posted it cause you have nothing better to do in life. 514 posts a day:

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ecada62bedf701ee54563a2f55697f58b0b8e30727647f8b369d4af4e90fbf5.png

          1. Had no idea that this Abyad Hind is really busy at Yalibnan with these countless posts.
            On Twitter she is like an open book for everyone.
            Diligent with countless retweets and some of her own (Hind Abyad @AbyadHind) meaningless / ridiculous twitts.
            https://twitter.com/AbyadHind/status/931421124688269312

          2. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            It would be understandable if someone actually read, liked or commented on her posts.
            But having checked her twitter, no one even replies to her… so why waste precious time posting crap that no one reads? She must be on welfare or disability allowance.

          3. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Sooo?

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Soo?

          5. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            You spend too much time on the computer…

          6. Hind Abyad Avatar

            You misunderstood, under rated IQ. Soo means useless..

          7. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            Sweetie, I wasn’t specifically concerned with your useless “Soo” comment. And don’t think I forgot about your obsession with Dany Nohra’s wife xoxo

          8. Hind Abyad Avatar

            I wish your wife would know about your double life that you should
            be in dementia guard lock and keys.

          9. Hind Abyad Avatar

            O xoxo Obsession, living in the past.. calling me on the phone
            you know my address phone number and email, a dangerous
            man on the loose.
            US-Canada-Tol Free (Google) 800, country code, doing it from
            your company

          10. Is that character DN a Lebanese?

          11. Hind Abyad Avatar

            Zionist PR Propaganda needed (faithful).. as Christian was not enough.. need a head towel.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66b6599eaba119ec211ea9953014f762b237d9f78aebd511806ba43bc29bb6c6.jpg

          12. I wonder what will happen to his “Christian” a$S if the zionazis get hold of him. They reject even one of their own holocaust survivor because she was baptized as an infant. He must have used the refugee status to become a yankee ๐Ÿ˜‰

          13. Hind Abyad Avatar

            He’s an Israeli Zionist stalking since 2012 has my email my phone number, called today 11.25 AM and every day US-Canada-Toll Free (google)800, country code. Old picture.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8addccb5e2e982bef1b370092cb554116f102265d009fbb5fe2afb3a4033b825.jpg

          14. He has a crush on you ๐Ÿ˜‰

          15. Hind Abyad Avatar

            The worm will be crushed *_*

          16. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            Where were you in 2005?

          17. and you type these words sitting on a d!ck?

          18. Rainbow Sponge Avatar
            Rainbow Sponge

            Sweetie, get your own wife. And even if she was yours she’d leave you as fast as your ex husband did (if he exists) xoxo

  6. “U.S. Threat to Close Washington Office Is โ€˜Extortionโ€™”

    Since the PLO is basically a mafia-type outfit, extortion is the only language it understands. ๐Ÿ™‚

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