Spokesman for the Palestinian presidency Nabil Abu Rudeina on Tuesday announced that contacts with the US have been suspended in response to the closure of the Washington office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Abu Rudeina said in a statement that the next stage is going to be crucial regarding the Palestinian-American relations affirming that despite the challenges involved they will remain faithful to the national interests.
He asked Hamas to take advantage of these brave positions to commit to national legitimacy and not to allow anyone to interfere in the Palestinian internal affairs.
For his part the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in an interview with al-Arabiya TV channel “Practically they have frozen all Palestinian-American meetings by closing the office. We only made it official.”
Hamas in a statement on Sunday condemned the US decision to shut down the PLO office and urged the Palestinian leadership to reject all pressures and support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people by achieving reconciliation and ending the division.
Hamas affirmed that the US State Department’s refusal to renew the license of the PLO office in Washington and linking this decision to the cases filed recently against the Israeli occupation at the international Criminal Court (ICC) confirm that the US is completely biased to Israel.
PLO secretary Saeb Erekat on Saturday said that the Organization had been informed by the US Secretary of State of a decision not to renew the operating permission for the Washington office.
The US move was in response to the Palestinians’ decision to join the ICC and submit files for investigation on several Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.
