US changes mind on closing PLO office in Washington

The Trump government has backtracked on its decision to close the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s office in Washington.

The White House said that it would merely impose limits on the office, which it expected to be lifted after 90 days.

US officials said last week that the Palestinians had breached a provision in US law that required the office to close if their leadership tried to have the International Criminal Court prosecute Israelis.

The move triggered a major rift in US-Palestinian relations, which threatened to scuttle president Donald Trump’s attempt to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. But the US delayed closing the office for a week, saying it was working out the details with the Palestinians, then reversed course late on Friday.

State department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said the US had “advised the PLO office to limit its activities to those related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians”.

Mr Vasquez said even those restrictions would be lifted after 90 days if the US determined that the Israelis and Palestinians were engaged in serious peace talks.

Led by Mr Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, US negotiators have been preparing a comprehensive peace plan to present to both sides in the coming months.

“We therefore are optimistic that at the end of this 90-day period, the political process may be sufficiently advanced that the president will be in a position to allow the PLO office to resume full operations,” Mr Vasquez said.

Officials had said the office had to close because Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, in a UN speech in September, had called on the ICC to investigate and prosecute Israel.

But that same law says that the president can let the office reopen after 90 days, despite an ICC push, if serious peace talks are under way.

Officials said US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, in a strict interpretation of the law, determined that Mr Abbas’s speech had crossed the legal line.

The Palestinians threatened to suspend all communication with the US in response.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused the US of bowing to pressure from Israel “at a time when we are trying to co-operate to achieve the ultimate deal”.

Mr Vasquez said the government had never intended to impose pressure.