Few moves illustrate President Donald Trump’s arrogance toward the Palestinian people as well as the Sept. 10 decision to shut down the PLO offices in the US capital. Few measures reflect the president’s insensitivity better than his timing in slamming the door in the Palestinians’ faces on the week they marked the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accord with Israel. All that's left of these accords is the legitimacy it granted the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people.
As expected, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who cheered the Trump administration’s move against the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), also celebrated the decision to shutter the PLO’s Washington office. So far, he has remained silent about planned US aid cuts to Palestinian hospitals treating Palestinian cancer patients. A statement issued by his office over the Jewish New Year holiday on Sept. 10 read, "Israel supports these actions that are meant to make it clear to the Palestinians that refusing to negotiate and attacking Israel in international forums will not bring about peace."
It's hard to say whether the Palestinians will give in to US pressure and agree to take Jerusalem off the negotiating table, as Trump tried to do when he moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem in May, claiming the status of the city as Israel’s capital had thus been resolved. Nor is it clear whether the sanctions will force the Palestinians to give up their demand for the right to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.
However, Trump’s latest moves, with Netanyahu’s encouragement and perhaps his inspiration, definitely legitimize sanctions against Israel. If the Palestinian rejection of US mediation in peace negotiations with Israel justifies US political sanctions, why should Israel not be punished for refusing to stop construction in settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law and with tacit US approval? If the United States and Israel accuse the Palestinians of undermining peace prospects by seeking support in international forums, how should one describe Israel’s disregard for UN resolutions, such as Security Council Resolution 1515 that adopted the US Road Map for Peace in the Middle East, including a total freeze on settlement construction?
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