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 destabilising peace efforts.
Thursday’s announcement from Trump’s Department of State would deny 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 Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization 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 Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization 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 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”.
By way of example, the State Department cited textbooks as a means that these groups have allegedly supported terrorism.
Israel has been waging a years-long 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 against the territory.
Meanwhile, since the war started on October 7, 2023, illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have increased, 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 2024, 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 has also opposed efforts in international court to bring Israel to account for human rights abuses, arguing that neither the US nor Israel are subject to the courts’ jurisdiction.
But Palestine is a non-member observer state at the United Nations, 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’s order on Thursday comes as several Western countries, among them France, the United Kingdom and Canada, pledge to recognise Palestine’s statehood at the upcoming United Nations 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 fought the Palestinian Authority 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 earlier this month, it also sanctioned a special rapporteur at the United Nations, Francesca Albanese, whose job is to monitor the human rights situation for 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 the “attacks and threats” faced by international observers.
