Incoming and outgoing leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee are circulating a letter calling on President Barack Obama to close the Washington office of the PLO.
Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Howard Berman (D-San Bernadino Valley), Edward Royce (R-Orange County) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) are circulating the letter that says the lawmakers are “deeply disappointed and upset that the Palestinian leadership rebuffed the entreaties of your Administration and the Congress” by requesting nonmember observer state status at the United Nations. The U.N. General Assembly approved the status elevation on Nov. 29.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is backing the letter, while
J Street opposes it.
The note circulating with the letter says it is backed by AIPAC. J Street, which calls for an enhanced U.S. role in the peace process and for pressure on Israel to end settlement expansion, launched an effort on Dec. 10 to discourage House of Representatives members from signing it.
“At a time when the United States should be looking for ways to encourage and deepen diplomacy, talk of ejecting one of the parties from the country defies logic,” J Street said in its action alert.
A Senate amendment proposed last month that would have shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office for the same reason never made it to the voting stage. — jta