Israel Matzav

PLO Washington office to be shut if they pursue unilateral statehood?

The House Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee has proposed shutting down the PLO's Washington office in the event that it unilaterally pursues 'statehood' in the United Nations.

The bill, referred Wednesday by the foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to the full committee, for the first time restricts the broad presidential waiver that applied to the 1988 law that originally banned setting up a Palestine Liberation Organization office on U.S. soil.

Instead of simply saying the president may waive the ban if doing so "is important to the security interests of the United States," the bill also requires the president to certify that "the Palestinian Authority is not attempting to establish or seek recognition at the United Nations of a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians" and "the Palestinian Authority is moving to halt anti-Israel incitement in Palestinian Authority-controlled electronic and print media and in schools, mosques, and other institutions it controls, and is replacing these materials, including textbooks, with materials that promote tolerance, peace, and coexistence with Israel."

Presidents have routinely waived the ban since the launch of the Oslo process in 1993. What had been known for years as the "Palestine Affairs Center" was renamed the PLO mission in 1994. Last year the Obama administration allowed the mission to fly the Palestinian flag for the first time.

...

Restrictions on Palestinian aid take up 10 pages of the 186-page bill, and the language has the backing of Democrats and Republicans, who otherwise are sharply divided over the Republican majority's introduction of cuts in assistance to other parts of the world and of bans on assistance to family planning clinics that provide information on abortions.

Maybe the PLO house of cards will finally fall. Unless the Israeli government stops it.

What could go wrong?

Labels: House Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, PLO, PLO mission, unilateral declaration of statehood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:26 AM