The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced sanctions against members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), accusing them of supporting “terrorism” and seeking to destabilise peace efforts.
Thursday’s announcement from the US Department of State denies visas to members of either organisation.
“It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace,” the announcement read.
Both the PA and PLO serve as representatives for the Palestinian people, pushing for the recognition of a Palestinian state on the international stage.
But the State Department said it reported to Congress that the groups had violated international agreements, including the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002.
Specifically, the State Department denounced the PA and PLO for seeking to “internationalize its conflict with Israel” by seeking relief at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
It also accused the PA and PLO 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”.
By way of example, the State Department cited textbooks as a way the groups have allegedly supported “terrorism”.
Israel has been waging a nearly 22-month war in Gaza that human rights experts at the United Nations have compared to a genocide. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign with more at risk of dying from hunger as a result of its blockade of the territory.
Meanwhile, since the war started on October 7, 2023, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, have expanded, as has violence against Palestinians there. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in attacks, some by settlers, others by members of the Israeli armed forces.
Israel faces several international legal challenges as the result of those actions. In November, for instance, 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 been an unwavering ally of Israel throughout its war in Gaza and has supplied the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military aid.
It also has opposed efforts in international courts to bring Israel to account for human rights abuses, arguing that neither the US nor Israel are subject to the courts’ jurisdictions.
But Palestine is a nonmember observer state at the UN, which governs the International Court of Justice. And it is a member of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court.
The State Department issued its order on Thursday as several Western countries, among them France, the United Kingdom and Canada, pledged to recognise Palestine’s statehood at the opening of the UN General Assembly session 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 fought the PA for power.
The US has issued a series of sanctions in recent months seemingly poised to weaken individuals and entities that have been critical of Israel.
In June, for instance, it sanctioned judges on the International Criminal Court who were involved in the decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. And this month, it also sanctioned a special rapporteur at the UN, Francesca Albanese, whose job is to monitor the human rights situation of Palestinians.
At the time, the US accused her 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 “attacks and threats” faced by international observers.
