Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO)Mission office, representing the PLO, and by extension, the Palestinian Authority, in Washington, DC, was opened in 1994 in order to implement the Oslo Accords, which initiated direct negotiations between the PLO and the Government of Israel. Section 1003 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 ( Public Law 100–204 ; 22 U.S.C. 5202 ), makes it unlawful to establish or maintain an office, headquarters, premises, or other facilities or establishments within the jurisdiction of the United States at the behest or direction of, or with funds provided by the Palestine Liberation Organization or any of its constituent groups, any successor to any of those, or any agents thereof . Using various authorities, the Executive branch has waived the provisions of section 1003 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987. Article XXXI, clause 7, of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the Status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (September 28, 1995) states that Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations . In January 2009, the PLO sent a declaration to the International Criminal Court under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. On October 31, 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to admit the State of Palestine as its 195th full member. Since being admitted, the Palestinians have used UNESCO to pass anti-Israel rulings, including a recent proposal to have the Western Wall classified as part of the Aqsa compound. On November 29, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to accord the State of Palestine status as a nonmember observer state at the United Nations. On April 2, 2014, the PLO joined the Geneva Conventions as well as 13 other organizations. On January 2, 2015, the PLO acceded to the Rome Statute, and on January 16, 2015, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination of the situation in Palestine after accepting jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014 . The PLO’s decision to accede to the Rome Statute as well as several international organizations is an attempt to change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip outside of direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. On January 7, 2015, the Department of State’s Office of the Spokesperson stated, we have made clear our opposition to Palestinian action in seeking to join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. This step is counter-productive, will damage the atmosphere with the very people with whom Palestinians ultimately need to make peace, and will do nothing to further the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a sovereign and independent state. . On February 23, 2015, a jury in a New York Federal court found the PLO and the Palestinian Authority liable for six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 that killed 33 people and injured more than 450 others, including United States citizens among the victims. The Federal jury ordered the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, both of which are headed by Mahmoud Abbas, to pay $218,500,000 in reparations to the victims and their families of these terror acts. On April 1, 2015, the State of Palestine officially became a member of the International Criminal Court. The PLO continues to reward terrorists and their families who commit terrorist attacks, providing a higher reward to those with longer jail sentences. The PLO continues to refuse to disclose all of its financial assets, including the multibillion-dollar Palestinian National Fund
(PNF)belonging to Mahmoud Abbas. The Fund is estimated to have tens of billions of dollars, though its exact amount is unknown. It is allegedly used by Abbas to fund everything from his international campaign against Israel to compensation to the families of Palestinian terrorists.
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- Pub. L. 100-204
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