Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Flash90)
State Department announces plans to sanction officials from the PLO and the Palestinian Authority over their support for terrorism, anti-Jewish incitement, and use of international courts to conduct lawfare against Israel.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
The United States is moving to impose sanctions on multiple officials from the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization over their support for terrorism and attempts to use international courts to prosecute Israel, the Trump administration announced Thursday morning.
The US State Department issued a statement revealing that it has informed Congress that both the PLO and the Palestinian Authority have violated key commitments to the United States regarding their relationships with Israel.
Specifically, the State Department said that the PLO and PA are not in compliance with their commitments made to the US under the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 (PLOCCA) and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002 (MEPCA).
The State Department cited the PLO and PA’s support for terrorism, “including incitement and glorification of violence (especially in textbooks), and providing payments and benefits in support of terrorism to Palestinian terrorists and their families,” a policy dubbed “pay-to-slay” by critics.
In addition, the Trump administration noted that the PLO and PA have sought to “internationalize” the conflict with Israel by petitioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
These steps, the State Department said, “undermine and contradict prior commitments in support of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.”
The sanctions slated to be imposed include denying visas to PLO members and Palestinian Authority officials.
“It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace.”
The State Department did not specify which PLO and PA officials would be sanctioned, nor how many officials will be blacklisted.
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