US to impose sanctions on Palestinian organisations

The United States says it will impose sanctions on the UNHCR for the Palestinians as well as the body it represents on the international stage.

The sanctions affect both the Palestinian Authority (PA) established by the Oslo peace agreements, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was recognized after the same process of the official representative of the Palestinian people in exchange for recognition of Israel and the restoration of violence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would reject visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and officials of the Palestinian Authority.

The timing and language of the statement indicates that the Trump administration’s response to a conference leading this week at the French conference at the United Nations, which was held for a massive support for a future solution to the state.

The meeting came at a time when France, the United Kingdom and Canada are committed to recognition of an independent Palestinian state and an introduction later this year, in some cases subject to certain conditions.

The United States threw these moves, after it warned of special diplomatic consequences if those who attended the United Nations conference issued statements “anti -Israel.”

In the declaration of sanctions, the Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian Authority, with accuracy of taking measures to “internationalize its conflict with Israel, such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Justice Court (ICJ).”

He also pointed to a series of complaints submitted by the United States and Israel that PLO and PA have continued to “support terrorism, including incitement and violence (especially in textbooks), and to provide payments and benefits in supporting terrorism for Palestinian terrorists and their families.”

The Trump administration previously raised sanctions on the violent Israeli settlers who killed the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

One of the prominent Palestinian politicians described the sanctions as “revenge” by the United States of obligations to recognize the Palestinian state by an increasing number of countries.

The Palestinian Authority seemed to have been frequenting this feeling in a statement issued on Thursday.

“These campaigns are escalating in response to the important and successive achievements of Palestinian diplomacy,” she said.

“Especially the recent confessions of the State of Palestine by the main countries, the successful United Nations conference in New York, and the historical declaration issued there.”

Mustafa Bragotti, founder of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), which is part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that the United States is targeting the wrong side.

“The Trump administration, instead of punishing criminals who commit war crimes in Gaza and in the West Bank, which is Israel, is instead … punishing the victim, which is the Palestinian people.”

Israel welcomed the sanctions and thanked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for imposing it.

“This important procedure before [President Trump] Foreign Minister Gideon Sar said: “His administration also reveals the moral distortion of some countries that escaped to recognize a virtual Palestinian state while turning a blind eye to terrorism and incitement.”

The Palestinian Authority has always rejected complaints about the “salaries” that the payments are salaries for the families of all Palestinian prisoners detained under Israel’s military occupation, and many of them are not given in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Palestinians see all those who have been detained and imprisoned by its military courts, which have a rate of 99 percent conviction, as political prisoners. French officials said last week that the Palestinian Authority expressed its willingness to end these payments in response to France’s commitment to recognize the Palestinian state.

The United Nations Conference this week isolated the United States in supporting the way Israel continued the war in Gaza, which criticized many countries at the meeting.

The conference revealed a strategic vacuum that Washington left traditionally leading diplomatic efforts towards long -term peace, which is applied between Israelis and Palestinians.

It may be intended to travel to Palestinian officials as a limited era of a full set of financial sanctions. It is already a long and complex process for PA and PLO officials to get travel visas to the United States, and requires special exemptions that are rarely provided.

It is not yet clear whether this step will affect any officials working on the Palestinian mission of the United Nations in New York. The current Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations and his deputy are both American citizens.