FOREIGN POLICY/PALESTINE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Palestinian leadership has frozen communications with the Trump administration following the White House’s threat to close the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington.
Ashraf Khatib, a spokesman for the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, confirmed the move to CNN on Tuesday [11-21-17].
The decision comes after the Trump administration threatened to shut down the PLO office last week, citing a rarely invoked 2015 law saying that if the Palestinians move against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the US can close the PLO’s base in the US capital.
The US believes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ran afoul of the law in September when he called on the ICC to investigate and prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes against the Palestinians.
According to the law, President Donald Trump can waive the closure if the Palestinians are involved in ‘direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.’
The threat to close the office could be a point of leverage for the US, as the Trump administration seeks to engage the Palestinians in peace talks with Israel.”
-Abeer Salman and Oren Liebermann, “Palestinians freeze communications with Trump administration,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Nov. 21, 2017 01:55pm