The US decision to close down the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s office in Washington is reported to have been made in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s decision to reject negotiations and call for Israel to be investigated at the International Criminal Court. Neither of these decisions is a novelty. The PA has used both as a bargaining tool for its own interests, extending the manipulation of existing delays affecting Palestinian rights. Over many years, the PA has proved its allegiance to the international community, always to the detriment of the Palestinian people.

Why would the PA continue to dissociate one action from the other? Recently, a delegation met with CIA representatives, thus confirming the importance that the PA hierarchy attaches to security coordination with the occupation authorities. The US State Department announcement of the closure of the PLO office, on the other hand, produced howls of indignation. According to Wafa news agency, the US move prompted Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh to state that Palestinian rights “are more important than the relationship with the United States.” Read more.