The State Department said Friday that it was confident it won’t have to follow through with its threat to close the Palestinians’ office in Washington.
NBC News reported last week that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had determined that the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, had violated a provision of U.S. law that allowed the group to staff a mission to the United States as long as it didn’t lobby the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis.
A State Department official said last week if President Donald Trump determines after 90 days that the Palestinians are “engaged in direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” the restrictions could be lifted.
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A spokesperson for the State Department told NBC News on Friday night that the Trump administration has “thus far found both parties to be cooperative, constructive and prepared to engage in negotiations.”
“We therefore are optimistic that at the end of this 90-day period, the political process may be sufficiently advanced that the president will be in a position to allow the PLO office to resume full operations,” said the spokesperson, who insisted that the threatened closing of the PLO mission wasn’t intended to create leverage with the Palestinians.
The PLO is the group that formally represents all Palestinians. Although the United States doesn’t recognize Palestinian statehood, the organization maintains a “general delegation” office in Washington that facilitates Palestinian officials’ interactions with the U.S. government.