The Trump administration is expected to announce Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington administration officials said Sunday night widening a U.S. campaign of pressure amid stalled Middle East peace efforts.
“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally Israel” national security adviser John Bolton planned to say in prepared remarks he is scheduled to deliver Monday according a draft reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
“The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel” he planned to add.
According to The Wall Street Journal Bolton also planned to threaten to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it moves ahead with investigations of the U.S. and Israel.
Among the responses Bolton says the U.S. would ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the country.
The PLO office in Washington has long been the focus of controversy. The Trump administration warned last year that it might close the office after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for the investigation and prosecution of Israeli officials by the ICC and other bodies.
Saeb Erekat a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator responded at the time that such a move would undermine prospects for peace. The PLO opened its mission in Washington in 1994 and joined the ICC after receiving observer state status at the U.N. in 2012.
The closure which Bolton says would be formally announced by the State Department on Monday follows other steps by the Trump administration that have angered Palestinians including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and ending funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees.
“The United States supports a direct and robust peace process and we will not allow the ICC or any other organization to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense” Bolton also planned to say according to the prepared remarks.
A particular concern has been a request last year by the ICC prosecutor to investigate U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency personnel who served in Afghanistan for detainee abuse and possibly other war crimes.
In the prepared remarks planned for Monday Bolton offers an extended critique of the court which he asserts is rife with abuses and vows that the U.S. will use “any means necessary” to protect American citizens and those of friendly allies from prosecution by the court.
According to the same source nations that cooperate with ICC investigations of the U.S. and its allies will also risk losing foreign aid. Other responses include economic sanctions against the court itself. The U.S. also will consider asking the U.N. Security Council to constrain the court’s authority.
