A month after the Trump administration ordered the delegation for the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, to end operations in Washington DC, consular staff vacated their four-story red brick building yesterday afternoon in the upscale Georgetown neighborhood.
The “unusually hostile decision,” said consular affairs officer Shahinaz Wafi, strips the Palestinians of its only representative office in the U.S., “thus severing diplomatic and political ties between the two governments.”
In a September 10, 2018, letter, the State Department told the PLO that its bid to sanction Israel at the International Criminal Court is a violation of an obscure U.S law. The result was the staff would lose their status but were given an additional 30 days to move out.
That initial announcement was soft-toned, and State spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters last month that she would like to see the office stay open. But when asked if State “would… like to see the office reopen and relations resumed?” yesterday another spokesperson said he would have to get back to reporter on the question.
Hours after the PLO Mission closed, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a gala for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America Awards Dinner in Washington DC “I actually signed a memo today with respect to the Taylor Force Act denying $165 million that would have been appropriated to the Palestinian Authority,” he said referencing a law passed by Congress in March to withhold money from the Palestinian government.
When Donald Trump first took office, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with him four times, including once in Washington. It was the most any U.S. president has conferred with a Palestinian leader. Yet relations began breaking down last December when President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Shortly after, Abbas and Trump abruptly stopped talking. In May, Ambassador Husam Zomlot was recalled to Ramallah just as the U.S. relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Over recent weeks the Trump administration cut more than $300 million to support for Palestinian refugees, with more cuts announced yesterday.
At the same time the U.S. special envoy Jason Greenblatt and the president’s son-in, Jared Kushner, pressed forward with crafting what they have billed as a comprehensive deal for a Middle East peace agreement with Israel, albeit without Palestinian participation.
“The Unites States government was supposed to be the guide,” Samer Khalaf, president of the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told a media scrum outside the PLO office moments before a plaque was removed. “What Donald Trump has done the last year or two has sort of laid bare the truth of the matter. The truth that the Americans were never really a neutral mediator.”
Head of the Arab American Institute, James Zogby, said the Mission was opened in the context of the Oslo Accords in 1994, which gave Palestinians a direct channel in Washington. Over the last 25 years, Israel, he charged, “violated every single condition of that peace accord and has never been sanctioned, and not only that, but is receiving increasingly more aid and acceptance of all of their illegal policies.”
By contrast, “The weakest party,” the Palestinians, “was always expected to do the heaviest living, has been repeatedly sanctioned, and today their office is being closed.”
Zogby continued, “What we’re here to say quite simply is, you can close the office and you can silence the voice, but the Palestinian people will not go away they remain they remain on their land, they remain in their camps waiting to return, and we here, as a community, remain as their voice, the voice of the Palestinian people.” He described Palestinians’ treatment as “the wound in the heart of the Arab world that never healed.”
“They have not given up before, and they will not give up now,” he said.
There are also practical matters. Without a diplomatic post in the U.S. many Palestinian-Americans are in a quagmire when it comes to travel documents and buying or selling properties held in the West Bank.
“There are land issues, there are burial issues, there are registration issues. Babies want to be registered Palestinian, to get a Palestinian ID,” Zogby explained. “Like Cuba used to operate out of the Swiss embassy, they will seek one of the Arab embassies to allow them to have consular services and the State Department will have to approve that.”
The PLO’s Wafi later told Mondoweiss no such alternative venue is lined up. “We are waiting for our government to decide, this is going to be soon because we are not going to leave our people without someone to take care of them.”
When asked if two oversized Palestinian flags perched street-facing would be lowered, Wafi said, “It’s going to stay up.” She would not confirm rumors that the State Department has requested the flags come down. The building itself was purchased by Palestinian haircare billionaire Farouk Shami, a former longtime business associate of Donald Trump who appeared on the president’s show, “The Apprentice.”
If this guy is a billionaire and a friend of Trump, why isn’t he donating bigly to the Republican party and various PACs so as to put Palestinian interests forward? Seems to me his money would be as well-received as Adelson and Singer’s. Zionist influence doesn’t come out of thin air; it requires cheques to be written. Couldn’t wealthy Palestinians copy the model?
Zionist evil permeating in DC. I guess if the Palestinians, like Saudi Arabia, bought weapons from us, for billions of dollars, and Kushner was a good buddy with them instead of Nutty, this would not be happening today.
For the record:
https://israelpalestinenews.org/sheldon-adelson-spending-100-million-total-to-keep-control-of-u-s-policies-on-israel/
“If Americans Knew Blog,” Sept. 23/18
“Sheldon Adelson spending $100 million to keep control of U.S. policies on Israel”
“Casino billionaire’s total contributions on behalf of Israel in 2016 & 2018 reported to surpass $100 million, possibly making him the largest single donor in American politics today”
By Amir Tibon, reposted from Ha’aretz
EXCERPT:
WASHINGTON – “Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson is reportedly spending at least $55 million during the upcoming midterm elections in order to keep Republicans in control of Congress. Adelson’s spending commitment was first reported on Saturday by the New York Times, in an article describing how Adelson has become the most influential donor in the Republican Party during U.S. President Donald Trump’s time in office.
“According to the report, Adelson’s total spending on behalf of the Republicans in the 2016 and 2018 election combined, will surpass $100 million, probably making him the largest single donor in American politics today. Adelson had previously spent tens of millions of dollars during the 2012 election in a failed attempt to help Mitt Romney, that year’s Republican nominee, oust Barack Obama from the White House.”
(2)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50387.htm
Sheldon Adelson: “Best Government Money Can Buy” By Philip M. Giraldi
October 6/18
EXCERPT:
“Very few Americans know who Sheldon Adelson is and fewer still appreciate that, as America’s leading political donor, when he speaks the Republican Party listens. By virtue of his largesse, he has been able to direct GOP policy in the Middle East in favor of Israel, which might well be regarded as his true home while the United States exists more as a faithful friend that can be produced at intervals whenever Israel finds itself in need of a bit of cash or political cover.”
Also:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mid…
“Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign aid to Israel, Jeremy M. Sharpe, Specialist in Middle East Affairs, April 10, 2018.”
“Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $134.7 billion (current, or non inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance. At a signing ceremony at the State Department on September 14, 2016, representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledges to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This MOU replaces a previous $30 billion 10-year agreement, which runs through FY2018.”
This article goes a long way to explain the current status of Palestine.
Has there ever been any doubt the US stands firmly for the right of Jews to live in Historic Palestine and to have access to West Jerusalem?
Abbas’ response to Trump’s declaration on West Jerusalem was to cut diplomatic relations. When Trump tested that and sent his VP for talks, he was insulted. Trump warned he would not pay the bills without diplomatic contact.
Abbas apparently thought he could pressure Trump into changing his declaration by spitting in his face. He would do well to study how other world leaders deal with that giant ego.
Where have been the Palestinian intellectuals to point out Palestinian muscle will not achieve a state, that part non-violence will not work and renders ineffective peace activists?
America has long been a system of competing interests where ideas can resonate. Trump clearly said he would be good with one state or two, so long as both sides agreed. Netanyahu defended against the one state (the opening position of the newly formed PLO) by creating his nation-state law instead of a plausible 2SS. He knows he could stand alone against the world on equality.
Palestinian people should expect their leaders to become effective at converting their fortunes and injustices into gains. If they can’t get to independence via two states, they will do well to get advice on how to turn toward one.
Annie, thanks again,
I see your sense of fairplay and indignation with Trump. Probably “no respect” should apply to most Americans, all Administrations, all Congresses and media organizations for the last 70 years as well. Trump has not earned the respect of Europe, China, Russia, Canada, etc. but that has not translated in overt rebukes. Sophistication influences how anger is shown. It saddened me to see Abbas and Erekat, lacked the savvy and sophistication to contend with the circumstances.
My tendency is to analyze based on the political landscape and psychological dynamics.
involved. All Presidents I remember kissed up to Israel to position themselves to make a difference later on. That has been determined by the landscape not a sense of fairness. Is it your opinion Netanyahu is confident in Trump? Perhaps you know what Trump has in mind, I’m not sure I do.
Having spent much of my adult life trying to make a difference with Congress and the media, I’m keenly aware how the issue of violence/non-violence plays out. Probably thats was my main point. Wondering if you’ve had much time on Capitol Hill offices or have an opinion on how violence has played into the cultivated narrative. And yes I know very well who perveys the great majority of violence. If Palestinian violence dies down, Israel incites for more of it. The “security ” argument is a successful double game.
In short, I’m uncomfortable moving forward on the necessity to bring America down and see it more reasonable to manipulate it to a better endgame. Abbas has said, he’ll go one state if he’s disrespected in negotiations. If he plays a good hand, Netanyahu could have to confront our Congress along with the whole world on equality.
My Senator, Tim Kaine, understood my suggestion to him that the key to the Palestine Question was “equality”. He asked David Friedman during his confirmation hearing if he thought in a one state arrangment, Palestinians would settle for less than full equality. After a long pause, Friedman said, “No, I don’t think they would”. Later when I thanked Kaine for that, he, with some excitement said, “Did you notice he gave me the right answer?” This is what I mean by “safe political ground” for a politician to stand on.