Germany criticized the United States’ decision to close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington, saying it will make reaching a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) more difficult.
“Considering the current lack of communication we are seeing between the Israelis and the Palestinians, we are worried that this renewed unilateral move by the United States will cause the fronts to harden and make it more difficult to resume talks on a two-state solution,” a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry said on Friday, according to Reuters.
The US announced on Monday that the PLO’s office in Washington would be closed due to the fact that the PA had consistently refused to engage with the US government or to support peace talks with Israel.
The PA later threatened to retaliate against the United States by ending its coordination on security affairs with the US.
The US threatened to shut down the PLO mission in New York back in November, when then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a letter to the Palestinian leadership warning that the delegation might be shut down as a result of Abbas's call on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel and prosecute Israelis.
Later, however, State Department officials said that it was decided to keep the delegation open for at least 90 days, and at the end of that period, Trump could announce that he is prolonging its activity because it is vital for supporting "meaningful" Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.