The US State Department has announced that it is in the national security interests of the United States to impose consequences and hold the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable for failing to comply with their commitments and undermining peace prospects.
Both the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization represent the Palestinian people, advocating for the recognition of a Palestinian state on the international stage. However, the State Department reported to Congress that these groups had violated international agreements, including the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002.
Specifically, the State Department condemned the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization for attempting to “internationalize its conflict with Israel” by seeking recourse at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It further accused the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization of “continuing to support terrorism including incitement and glorification of violence” and “providing payments and benefits in support of terrorism to Palestinian terrorists and their families.” As an example, the State Department cited textbooks as a means through which these groups have allegedly supported “terrorism.”
Context and Broader Implications
Israel has been engaged in a nearly 22-month-long conflict in Gaza, which human rights experts at the United Nations have likened to genocide. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign, with more at risk of dying from hunger due to its blockade of the territory. Meanwhile, since the war began on October 7, 2023, illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have expanded, as has violence against Palestinians there. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in attacks, some by settlers and others by members of the Israeli armed forces.
As a result of these actions, Israel faces several international legal challenges. For instance, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, based on accusations of war crimes in Gaza. Other countries, including South Africa, have brought cases before the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The US, however, has remained an unwavering ally of Israel throughout its war in Gaza, providing the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military aid. It has also opposed efforts in international courts to hold Israel accountable for human rights abuses, arguing that neither the US nor Israel are subject to the courts’ jurisdictions. However, Palestine is a non-member observer state at the UN, which governs the International Court of Justice, and it is also a member of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court.
The State Department’s directive on Thursday comes as several Western countries, including France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have pledged to recognize Palestine’s statehood at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September. Trump, however, has dismissed such efforts as inconsequential. He has also warned that recognition of Palestinian statehood would serve as a “reward” to Hamas, a group that has contended with the Palestinian Authority for power.
In recent months, the US has issued a series of sanctions seemingly aimed at weakening individuals and entities critical of Israel. In June, for example, it sanctioned judges on the International Criminal Court involved in the decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Earlier this month, it also sanctioned a UN special rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, whose role is to monitor the human rights situation of Palestinians. At the time, the US accused Albanese of waging a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel.” In response, the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, called for an end to the “attacks and threats” faced by international observers.
Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett explained that the United States is now “collectively targeting, with visa restrictions, members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and also the Palestinian Authority.” However, she noted that Trump’s unconditional support for Israel may be at odds with emerging trends within his Republican Party. Halkett stated, “This is a position that, for the president at least, is increasingly at odds with members of his own Republican Party — namely the so-called MAGA wing or Make America Great Again wing — that have started, in the last week or so, to use the word genocide to describe Israel’s starvation tactics.”
