EMET Praises President Trump and National Security Advisor Bolton for the Closure of the PLO Office

(Washington, DC, September 12, 2018) – Today, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) praised President Trump, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and the rest of the Trump administration, for their order to close the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington DC.  The administration cited the refusal of Palestinian leaders to enter into peace talks with Israel, and their attempts to prompt an investigation of Israel by the International Criminal Court, as the reasons for closing the PLO office.

Since 1994, the year after the Oslo Accords, the PLO has maintained an office in Washington DC.  This office was meant to assist with the implementation of the Oslo Accords and to help facilitate a lasting Middle East peace.

However, the PLO, and the Palestinian Authority it created, have been in violation of many of the terms of the Oslo Accords since they were signed 25 years ago.  Among those violations are: 1) the PLO/PA’s violation of their obligation to refrain from incitement to violence; 2) the PLO/PA’s failure to change the PLO Covenant to remove the clauses in the Palestinian National Covenant which called for the destruction of Israel; 3) the PLO/PA’s refusal to stop supporting terrorism; and 4) the PLO/PA’s circumvention of a negotiated settlement with Israel by seeking unilateral statehood at the United Nations and from other countries.

In her written statement, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said“We have permitted the PLO office to conduct operations that support the objective of achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between Israelis and the Palestinians since the expiration of a previous waiver in November 2017.  However, the PLO has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.  To the contrary, PLO leadership has condemned a U.S. peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the U.S. government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise.  As such, and reflecting Congressional concerns, the Administration has decided that the PLO office in Washington will close at this point.  This decision is also consistent with Administration and Congressional concerns with Palestinian attempts to prompt an investigation of Israel by the International Criminal Court.”

“President Trump has yet again given, not only to the Jewish people, but also to the State of Israel, the United States and the international community, a gift by closing the PLO office in Washington,” said Sarah Stern, founder and president of EMET.

She continued, “Today marks 25 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords when the parties were supposed to have developed a sense of mutual trust in order to go to final status agreements.  For 25 years, we have watched as the PLO/PA continued its relentless campaign to demonize Jews using every means possible, to teach that one day all of Israel will eventually become Palestine, and to extoll the virtues of jihad and martyrdom.  Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the PLO/PA has nurtured an entire generation that is steeped in a philosophy of enormous antipathy towards Jews, unrivaled in history since that of Nazi Germany, resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 deaths of Israeli civilians, and 70 Americans.  Up till now, the U.S. has turned a blind eye to these and other flagrant violations of the Oslo Accords, consequently reinforcing their malevolent behavior. Meanwhile, the PLO/PA keeps promising over and over again the same pledges that they had made 25 years ago on the White House lawn.  President Trump, by shuttering the PLO/PA office, is finally signaling that the jig is up.”

About The Endowment for Middle East Truth
Founded in 2005, EMET’s mission is to educate policymakers in Washington and the general public about the importance of Israel to the United States in their common struggle against radical Islam. For more information, please visit, http://www.emetonline.org. Follow EMET on Twitter and Facebook.